I have never seen rhubard bolt like this. Can anyone tell me wht this
where’s the pic?
Rhubarb will sometimes send up flowers in the spring. Cut them out before the buds open so the plant doesn’t waste the energy on the flowering. You want all the energy going into making those delicious leaf stems.
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Will do. Thanks.
As @zendog has suggested, cut the flowering stalks ASAP if you want it to produce more stems.
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/rhubarb/rhubarb-bolting.htm
Awesome. Thanks.
Anyone ever collect rhubarb seeds and grow them? Are the seeds true to the parent?
It’s happened to me once in the 7 years it’s been growing here. very strange!
My rhubarb flowers every year 
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Nice plant! I’m surprised yours or Matt’s haven’t flowered before. Mine always do and I leave the flowers till they fade because they are beautiful and bees LOVE them. Great polinator plants. I’ve cut out flower stalks, not cut out flower stalks, cut after fade - doesn’t seem to make a lot of difference. There’s always plenty (if not, grow more!). They’re sturdy growers. I have one that has been growing on it’s own, abandoned, in the field, for forty years with no care. Sue
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I’ve planted seed a number of times but never had any germinate. In forty years of growing quite a bit I’ve never seen a little seedling. But different varieties might. They’re very easy to divide though. Sue
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I used to grow it when I lived in the Dakotas but have had no luck growing it in TN. It may make two years but always gets root rot. Is there anyone in the South that grows it? If so, any tips.
Thanks,
Ron
my 2 varieties bolt like 3 times a season. i cut the stalk off before it gets more than 6in. my 4 plants produce so much, i give most away to friends. the new red stalked variety i planted 3 yrs ago grows out under the snow when it gets down to 12in. deep. very vigorous and more tender/ sweet than victoria. i forget what variety it is. only give them a shovelfull of compost to keep them happy.
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my victoria came from my father who got his from my grandfather who got his from my great grandfathers farm back in the 50’s. i grows like a weed around here.
I have collected seed and sown rhubarb seed a few times and have dabbled in breeding superior varieties. I have never had an issue with germination but some varieties may be sterile.
For me it takes 14 months from planting the seed to harvest but it does depend on the variety and how well you look after them. I am sure with most plants you could get a small harvest the first year if you tried hard enough. Mine have taken two years from planting a seed until that seedling is large enough to flower.
From my experience the seed grown plants are never true to type. This is usually due to the polyploid and heterozygous nature of rhubarb. I haven’t heard of any variety that is inbred enough to produce true to type from seed.
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I’ll have to revise my comment above that I’ve never had success germinating seed. Well, I haven’t but apparently birds are better at it. This summer I was walking across the field outside the garden/orchard fence and found a rhubarb plant growing; I assume bird (or wind or mouse/vole?) planted. First “self sown” plant I’ve seen in 40 years. Sue
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I do wonder if it is the variety that is causing issues with fertility?
I was given seed from 6 different varieties and five of them had close to 100% germination and the sixth has not germinated at all. All of them were caged to prevent cross pollination, but every seed grew different from the parent stock.
Very interesting, now if we could get a chance seed that would grow in the South.
My experience is the same ive never been able to germinate the seeds. The plant dies after it goes to seed in my limited experience.