How to Grow Rhubarb USA
On this page
Rhubarb (Rheum rhabarbarum) — perennial.
Unlike an annual crop, the work here is front-loaded into establishment: get the planting and the site right and the same plants crop for several seasons.
Core growing advice on this page is checked against named horticultural sources — see References.
Rhubarb (Rheum rhabarbarum)
4 sources cited · Verified
Soil & Growing Conditions
Water: RHS: newly planted rhubarb needs regular watering during dry spells; established plants need water only during prolonged dry periods, and container plants must never be waterlogged. Utah State: for the first 2-3 years "irrigate one to two times weekly so water penetrates to the bottom of the root-ball (usually 6 inches to a foot deep)", then from year 3 "once every 1 to 2 weeks" with water reaching "12 to 18 inches deep".
Growth Stages
| Stage | BBCH | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Planting the crown | 0 | Plant so the crown tip -- where the leaves emerge -- sits just above the soil surface, spaced 75-90cm apart to allow for how much the clump will expand. RHS. |
| Establishment (little or no harvest) | 3 | No stems should be harvested in the first year after planting, and only a few in the second, to let the plant establish; normal harvesting begins in the third year. RHS. |
| Cropping season | 5 | Most varieties are harvested from April or May. Always twist stalks gently to ease them out of the ground rather than cutting, which leaves a stump prone to rotting. Forcing a plant under a jar in midwinter, excluding light, gives earlier, paler, sweeter stalks in about five weeks. RHS. |
| Recovery & division | 9 | Stop harvesting by late June or early July to let the plant rebuild its strength for next year. Mature clumps benefit from being divided every five years or so. RHS. |
Quick Facts
| Factor | Value |
|---|---|
| Soil texture | RHS: "fertile, moisture-retentive soil that doesn't get waterlogged". |
| Drainage | RHS: moisture-retentive but not waterlogged; an "open, sunny site", though rhubarb "will also cope in light shade". |
| Lifecycle | perennial |
| Edible parts | leaf stalks (petioles) |
At a Glance
Harvest & Storage
When to pick: Rhubarb is a long-lived perennial, so readiness is measured in years and stalk length rather than days from sowing -- days_to_harvest is therefore null. RHS: pull a "young stalk about 30cm (1ft) long, with a leaf that has only just fully opened", taking no stems in the first year, "only a few" in the second, and harvesting normally from the third. Utah State: "Stalks are ready for harvest when the petiole is 10 to 15 inches long", with no harvest "for 2 years after planting" and 3 to 4 weeks of harvest in the third year.
Storage
RHS: rhubarb is "best used fresh, but can be frozen or stored in the fridge for a couple of weeks". Utah State: "Fresh stalks can be refrigerated for 2 to 4 weeks in plastics sacks". RHS forcing: cover in "mid-winter" for "four to eight weeks" of growth.
Diseases
Pests
Plan your Rhubarb planting
When to sow and plant Rhubarb depends on your own frost dates. Check the USA vegetable planting calendar, or the month-by-month guides that cover Rhubarb: February, March, May. To work out where it fits in your beds, sketch your plot in the free Garden Layout Planner.
What the research guides add
Rhubarb is a long-lived crop, so the two extension services below agree on the point that matters most: be patient in the first two years.
- A hardy herbaceous perennial that grows 2 to 4 feet tall; the leaves emerge from crown buds when temperatures begin to exceed 40°F in early spring. Utah State says it can live in the garden for 10 to 15 years. (Wisconsin Extension, Utah State Extension)
- Choose a site in full sun where it can remain undisturbed; it likes fertile, well-drained soil high in organic matter. Raised beds help prevent crown rot (Wisconsin). (Wisconsin Extension)
- Plant crowns or divisions about 3 feet apart (Wisconsin), in early spring, with the leaf bud 1 inch beneath the soil and rows 4 feet apart (Utah State). (Wisconsin Extension, Utah State Extension)
- Do not harvest any stalks in the first year; Wisconsin says wait until the second or third year so the roots can establish, and Utah State says not for 2 years after planting. (Wisconsin Extension, Utah State Extension)
- A plant yields 4 to 12 pounds of stalks annually depending on age, variety and growing conditions. The leaves contain a toxic amount of oxalic acid and are poisonous; only the stalks are eaten. (Utah State Extension, Wisconsin Extension)
- Utah State warns that rhubarb is very likely to produce flower stalks, which need removing. (Utah State Extension)
Rhubarb in the USA: climate data
| City | USDA zone | Last spring freeze (32°F) | First fall freeze (32°F) | Freeze-free days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bismarck, ND | 4a | 14 May | 27 Sep | 136 |
| Madison, WI | 5b | 1 May | 10 Oct | 160 |
| Milwaukee, WI | 6a | 19 Apr | 29 Oct | 192 |
| Atlanta, GA | 8a | 15 Mar | 20 Nov | 252 |
| Orlando, FL | 10a | 25 Jan | winter freezes only | 355 |
| San Diego, CA | 11a | none in a median year | none in a median year | 365 |
Dates are the median 32°F freeze dates and freeze-free days from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020; zones come from the USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map (ZIP code of each city centre).
Sources for this section
- University of Wisconsin–Madison Division of Extension: Rhubarb, Rheum rhabarbarum
- Utah State University Extension: How to Grow Rhubarb in Your Garden
Section researched and checked on 25 October 2026 by the SoilCommander Editorial Team. How we check facts: editorial policy.
Growing Rhubarb in another region
Planting dates, frost timing and local advice differ by country. Use the guide for where you garden.
Sources
These source is specific to this region. The full list of 4 sources behind this guide (Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), Royal Horticultural Society, Utah State University Extension) is in the references of our UK guide to rhubarb; they describe the plant itself, which is the same wherever it grows.
Frequently Asked Questions
What problems affect rhubarb?
Our data links 1 disease and 2 pests to this crop. See the sections above for each one and how to manage it.
Plan next season before the problems start
Almost everything on this page resolves to your own frost dates rather than the calendar — the last spring frost moves by roughly two months between zone 3 and zone 10. The USA Garden Planner works from your zone so the timing is already decided before the season starts.
Get the USA Garden Planner →Instant PDF download · Written for US growing conditions
How this guide is put together
The growing data on this page — planting windows, pests, diseases, soil and site requirements — comes from named horticultural sources, listed in References below, checked against USDA hardiness-zone and frost-date data, with Cooperative Extension sources cited directly where one exists for a crop. An automated pipeline assembles that verified data into the page you're reading: it selects which facts to lead with and builds the surrounding prose and layout. It does not invent a date, a source or a number — where a verified value for a field isn't available, the page leaves it out rather than guessing. A person reviews and publishes each page; nothing goes live unverified.
Related Problem Guides
Last verified 2026-10-25
Related guides
More from the same group (plant once, harvest for years):
Growing advice for your part of the USA
Timing and conditions change a lot inside one country. These guides cover frost dates and growing seasons region by region.
Where To Go From Here
Take this crop from reading into a written plan for your own beds.
Keep going
Plan the next step
Use the printable SoilCommander planner for your region to turn this guide into sowing dates, bed layouts and weekly garden tasks.