[raylo32]

My girlfriend makes this crazy good rhubarb jam and her source is gone so I bought a plant. I'd plant it in the ground except the deer would get it so I am considering putting it in a big pot on my upper deck. I watched a couple of good youtube videos on this and and the consensus was that it is possible but the roots, once they spread out to pot wall, are susceptible to heat damage in the summer and freeze damage in the winter. I don't have anyplace to bring the thing inside for the winter, not even room in the garage.

So, has anyone tried this and have any advice? I know that there won't be anything to harvest for a year or 2, but the jam is worth the wait.

 

[DoomsDave]

@raylo32, rhubarb is a big, vigorous plant. I think you'll need a really large pot for it, so large that hernias and herniated discs might result from interactions with it. That combined with the need to renew potting soil, calls me to suggest finding a place in the garden and putting barriers up to keep the deer out.

Admittedly, that's not foolproof, but long-term perennial culture in pots is tough in a cold winter climate in my experience. That includes DC.

Of course, if someone has a better idea, I'm all ears!

 

[raylo32]

I do have a very large pot but it is not something I would be able to move around. I may plant the rhubarb below in the yard off my lower deck, which is the deer feeding zone... and set up one of those motion sensor sprinklers to keep the critters at bay. But if it fails even once I am screwed.

@raylo32, rhubarb is a big, vigorous plant. I think you'll need a really large pot for it, so large that hernias and herniated discs might result from interactions with it. That combined with the need to renew potting soil, calls me to suggest finding a place in the garden and putting barriers up to keep the deer out.

Admittedly, that's not foolproof, but long-term perennial culture in pots is tough in a cold winter climate in my experience. That includes DC.

Of course, if someone has a better idea, I'm all ears!

 

[Cedrus]

I have never grown rhubarb. What USDA planting zone are you in ? A place in the garden with a wire cage is best. Leafs are poison to people...are deer immune ? How about wood 1/2 barrels on your deck. I am not sure, but I don't think it will freeze to death in your area, which is.....5b to 8a ? Think you can divide to keep small and in smaller pots ? You can insulate the pots in the summer with some kind of wrap. 1/2 barrels might be ok in winter and not freeze. Dunno, ask around.


Why not just go to the Farmer's Market and buy some or ask your GF 's non-source for more rhubarb growers or get on a neighborhood chat group and ask around.

 

[raylo32]

The videos I have seen say they grow fine in pots but the roots can be damaged by both heat in the summer and freezing in the winter at the interface with the pot without having the ground as a heat sink.

I have never grown rhubarb. What USDA planting zone are you in ? A place in the garden with a wire cage is best. Leafs are poison to people...are deer immune ? How about wood 1/2 barrels on your deck. I am not sure, but I don't think it will freeze to death in your area, which is.....5b to 8a ? Think you can divide to keep small and in smaller pots ? You can insulate the pots in the summer with some kind of wrap. 1/2 barrels might be ok in winter and not freeze. Dunno, ask around.


Why not just go to the Farmer's Market and buy some or ask your GF 's non-source for more rhubarb growers or get on a neighborhood chat group and ask around.

 

[DoomsDave]

I think the best thing will be a physical barrier of some kind like wire mesh. It will be ugly, but if it's stout enough it will work. I've not found repellents, etc., to be worth diddly.

 

[Oso954]

Deer usually leave rhubarb alone. They seem to know the leaves contain poisonous substances.

My understanding is that people who grow it in hotter climates grow it as an annual rather than a perennial. I’d look for Someone that grows it locally, a good nursery that has experience with it, or a county or university extension service to see what they say about it.

 

[raylo32]

I have read anecdotal reports both ways about the deer. I have the plant so I am going to go ahead and try it in the ground.

Deer usually leave rhubarb alone. They seem to know the leaves contain poisonous substances.

My understanding is that people who grow it in hotter climates grow it as an annual rather than a perennial. I’d look for Someone that grows it locally, a good nursery that has experience with it, or a county or university extension service to see what they say about it.

 

[DoomsDave]

I don't think DC is a warm climate, notwithstanding how hot it gets. It has a lot more in common with Cleveland and Pittsburgh than with Charleston, SC.

I'll almost bet my life that rhubarb will be a relatively easy grow in DC area. And, maybe the deer will leave it alone. They don't mess with oleanders out here, and those are crazy poisonous. How they know, I don't know.

Poisons vary all over the place, including plant poisons. For example lily pollen is lethal to cats.

 

[Old Thomas]

We have a lot of deer, almost every night in our side yard where our rhubarb is planted. They never touch it. I think it needs a winter freeze. Sometimes it is growing up through snow in the spring.

 

[Mystriss]

We have rhubarb in our back yard, the things absolutely insane the way it grows... I personally wouldn't ever consider putting it in a pot, much less a pot that had to be moved...

See that thing on the left against the house? Yeah... The window to the right is a 5' wide window. The thing is MASSIVE, probably 5' square over all. And that's in Alaska, short growing season, harsh winter... and last year we had almost zero rain. The sucker starts coming up before the snow even melts off too.

I will say the moose won't go near it, even in lean years they'd rather eat the bark off my birch trees lol

 

[SeniorSitizen]

We have rhubarb in our back yard, the things absolutely insane the way it grows... And that's in Alaska, short growing season

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And you may have more sunlight hours June, July and August on the north side of the house than Texans have all year on their garden. I thought it kind of neat to play a ball game at midnight without lights on July 4.:smile:

 

[Mystriss]

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And you may have more sunlight hours June, July and August on the north side of the house than Texans have all year on their garden. I thought it kind of neat to play a ball game at midnight without lights on July 4.:smile:

True. Husband and I keep thinking one of these years we're gonna take in stalks to the state fair and win cause the ones at the fair are puny compared to what we get outta this one. I figure it's the dark brown house cause we never water the thing.