Forcing Rhubarb

Forcing Rhubarb is the process of covering the crown of your plant to exclude all light and speed up growth.
You can start forcing Rhubarb from December -January, cover the crowns of your plant with straw then place a bucket or rhubarb pot on top, the clay pots look nice and traditional but can be expensive to buy a bucket works just as well.
When we exclude the light the plants natural reaction is to grow longer to find the light. You may have seen this before when seedlings grow ‘leggy’ searching for light.
The rhubarb when forced will grow long smooth stems quicker than the unforced,by keeping the rhubarb covered for approximately 8 weeks this will give you a much earlier crop, and more tender stems.
It’s important that you don’t try to force the same crown again the following year as the plant will need to recover.