Gardening Tips: Successfully cultivating red rhubarb in Alaska

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTVF) – Among the wide world of vegetables, a popular one to grow in the Alaskan Interior is rhubarb.

Glen Risse, Co-Owner of Risse Greenhouse, said, “Rhubarb is something we enjoy growing, and our customers can’t get enough of. We grow a variety called the Canadian Red, which gives you red stalks and makes your pies much prettier than the green stalks.”

These particular rhubarbs are grown using a technique called separation. “They develop plants underground, and we separate them and put them in pots, and over time, they develop much larger plants,” said Risse.

Separation can be done using a shovel, as long as some of the main stalk is in each half. “We’re going to cut this plant right in half. So, attached to the bottom of this plant are these big, long, brown, underground stems, and what you can do… if you just remove some of the larger leaves so the plant isn’t trying to support a bunch up top, this is a great start right here. You put that in the ground, and it will grow.”

While rhubarbs can be planted year round, spring is the best season to separate them.

Risse noted that the leaves on rhubarb are poisonous. “It also is a high consumer of a minor element called molybdenum, so if you can, what’s best is to take your leaves and tear them up and put them back around the base of your plants. This will ensure that you have the molybdenum you need for your plants to grow healthy.”

When picking rhubarb, Risse recommends going all the way down to the bottom of the stalk for a clean grab. “You don’t want to snap it off in the middle, because that will give you a place where the plant could rot.”

Seed pots, meanwhile, can be torn out from the bottom as well and reintroduced into the soil.

While the color of the rhubarb doesn’t affect its flavor, many prefer a red tint for aesthetic reasons when making rhubarb pie. “If your rhubarb isn’t as red as you like, you can take and get a little bit of some ash out of your wood stove and sprinkle it around the base of your plant. That potash will change the PH and your rhubarb will turn red,” Risse advised.

He added, however, that too much ash can kill the plant.

Risse recommends planting individual rhubarb plants about three feet apart, and cutting rhubarb about an inch away from the leaf.

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