I needed a rhubarb crown for pics for my book, pronto, so I thought the best thing to do was to dig up and divide a rhubarb plant on my allotment. From what I’ve read, November through until March is the best time to divide and replant crowns, as the leaves have died back and all is dormant. In fact, this is similar to planting bare-rooted fruit canes. Having said that, Ben Asquith at Brandy Carr Nurseries (specialist Rhubarb growers) has divided his ‘Timperley Earlies’ as early as August in previous years and the crowns have grown on well since then.
I haven’t divided rhubarb plants before and wasn’t sure how much root I’d be digging up from my 3 year old plant (ordinarily you’d need to divide plants every 5 years or so). The roots are fairly sizeable and try as you may to remove them intact, you can’t help break one or two of the longer roots as some spread out like tentacles for nearly a couple of feet.
When dividing, you’ll need to leave some buds on each new piece of root as the plant won’t regrow without root and bud combined. At first I couldn’t make these out, but if you carefully search through the top of the crown, rounded pinky/brown buds do become more evident. Bearing in mind where these buds were situated, I turned the Rhubarb root side up and then cut into the plant with a sharp spade, creating three new crowns from my original.
After replenishing the planting area with plenty of rich compost, I popped one piece of crown back into its hole and the others I planted up into pots, ensuring the crown was sitting just above the soil level. Rhubarb does grow well in pots, but make sure they’re big’uns to accommodate the chunky roots and again, fill with tons of rich compost before planting. In spring it’s a good idea to feed Rhubarb in pots with pelleted manure and give plants in the ground a good mulch around the roots with well-rotted manure in March. Be careful not to cover the crown when mulching though as this could lead to rotting.
Now divided, I’ll need to let this plant have a good year to settle in again and won’t be harvesting any stalks next summer. Luckily though, I have a couple of other plants growing to keep me well supplied with Rhubarb Crumble.
If you don’t have a plant to divide, but fancy growing a few of these delicious and decorative perennials, Brandy Carr Nurseries in Yorkshire are sending out crowns now. They have packs of 3 different varieties: ‘Grandad’s favourite’, ‘Raspberry Red’ and ‘Queen Victoria’ and they also have a pack of three ‘Timperley Early’ crowns’ if you want to try your hand at ‘forcing’ in years to come.
Out of my shed 
Isn’t rhubarb such a strange plant? That huge clump of root will put forth pretty pink stems as early as January if it’s the Timperley Early variety. I can imagine it looking rather good in big pots – the crinkly lime-green leaves are attractive enough with their pink tinges.
Hi Sue, Yes, I think Rhubarb is a beautifully decorative plant at all stages of its growth. It does look great in pots or in a mixed border and it’s such an easy, trouble free plant to grow. I read a very tasty looking Jamie Oliver rhubarb and pork recipe which I’m itching to try out, and gardening colleague Lizzie says that Rhubarb and mackerel is a traditional combination worth trying too. Roll on springtime!
I love rhubarb. In my experience it’s as tough as old boots and seems able to cope with most things. Although it doesn’t like to dry out too much. I’ve got so much rhubarb at the allotment I don’t know what to do with it. I’ve already given lots away. 😉 Looking forward to seeing the book.
Hi WW, Hoping Rhubarb is tough as old boots as I’ve yanked it about quite a bit this autumn. Looking forward to experimenting with lots of savoury rhubarb recipes (as above) to make inroads into my Rhubarb stems next year.Book in its final stages. Just a few more tweaks…..Out in March-will send you a copy when it’s out if you like?
Haven’t ever tried rhubarb with savouries. Maybe next year. Good luck with the book. I’d love a copy. I’m writing one too, so I’ll be able to reciprocate. :)) I’m just starting out on mine though.
Hi WW, Good luck with book! Would love to see a copy when it’s out.V.best Naomi
Here’s a reply from Stephanie who emailed me her response to this post. Thanks Stephanie!
We read about dividing and replanting rhubarb on your site and would like to add that you can successfully divide and replant rhubarb crowns earlier than you’ve stated in your article. My mother and I have dug up and divided an old crown which she grew from seed called Champagne. I replanted into three very large pots 15 new crowns back at the end of May beginning of June and they are all grow on very well. At the time I did not know that there was any plant material left in the ground but sure enough a sprout has popped up and is flourishing well. We have feed all the plants with pelleted chicken manure as well as kept them well watered with a liquid feed and we hope to start harvesting from the old crown next summer. Perhaps you might like to pass on this information for others to try, and see what other feedback you get.
Is it to early to divide rhubarb up now? I’m moving house and want to take some of the plant that was left in my current back garden by the previous owner, its started to die down I’d that’s any help! Any trjcips would be appreciated!
Hi Richard, I haven’t divided plants in September before, but Ben (above, from specialist Rhubarb Brandy Carr Nursery) has divied his plants as early as August without any problems. If you’re moving now, what’s to lose with having a go. If it’s been there a while sounds like it could be a whopper, and would be good to divide it anyway. Hope all goes smoothly with the operation and please do let me know how it grows next year. V.best
Naomi
Thank you very much for easy to follow instructions about dividing rhubarb and replanting
Len Birchmore
Hi Len, Glad you found the post helpful and hope you have many tasty stems in the years to come. V.best Naomi