Propagating giant rhubarb (gunnera manicata)?

Question

I have a giant rhubarb I planted this spring and it has leaves about 2 feet wide, and little 3 inch plants clumped on the sides.

Is it OK to cut these little plants off at this size and plant them at this time of the year, or will they not make it through a zone 6 winter?

I'm also concerned about if it will hurt the main plant.

Answer 1

rhubarb grows from the main root , if you want extra plants, cut through the root with a spade, also they are greedy eaters , so feed them well with sheep pellets and plenty of other supplements, those little 3in. plants could well be stalks, so don't touch

Answer 2

My Royal Hort. Society prop. book says divide by division in spring and summer.  This is easy to do just dig the plant out of the ground in one large lump, shake or wash soil from the roots and chop downwards with a sharp spade dividing the plant into a number of plants each with roots then replant.

Perennials are commonly divided like this and many are divided every 4 to 5 years to keep them healthy.  This doesn't hurt the plant.

Unless your clump has been in a number of years and has a lot of crowns I would leave it alone until it gets to a decent size clump and then divide up.  It the plant is not very large or mature these little plants could just be leaves starting out.  You would need each portion to have its own roots for it to succeed.

I've had quite large plant clumps that I have divided up over the years and by the time you chop and miss and make mistakes you don't get the number of whole plants you thought and alot of damaged bits not worth planting.  So you really need a decent size clump to make the exercise worth while.