Hi, a few years ago I was gifted with a shovelful of horseradish and just plunked it into an available spot. Not too sunny or shady, moderate. Let me tell you, horseradish is invasive!! It makes a beautiful broadleafed decorative plant. I'm sure you can break up your rootbound cluster and get many more plants out of it but why? It spreads like crazy from year to year. If you plan to eat it then take precautions as it is incredibly hot and vaporous. Enjoy.

I just wanted to second jbann23. Please be careful with this - it WILL take over your garden if you don't work upfront to keep it in check. It doesn't matter how you break it apart - you can't kill it.

I, too, received a 'gift' of the stuff a few years ago. Knowing how invasive it is, I planted it in a 16" plastic pot. Within a year, it had to grown the point where it split the plastic pot open and a piece dropped down on a nearby flower bed. That shoot bundle in the ground is now about 3' in diamter.

It is a lovely plant - looks a lot like tobacco. I am going to have to do something with it this year to get it under control. But my husband and I joke that no one should go near it without someone else present -- "Feed me, Seymour!!!"

I agree with everything that's been said. Either way you won't kill it. Probably best to split it, and be careful...it will spread. Worth the effort, though. There's not much better than a bloody mary with fresh garden horseradish!!!

jbann,hawkfish and dan,

thanks much for your input !

i sure do plan to eat my horseradish ! gettin' tired of payin' big dollars for these teeny weenie little jars of the real thing. that and even the mayonnaise mixed gloop is tasty,but nothing like homemade.

am aware that it is invasive, but growing up we managed to keep it under control. if the leaves are eaten or mowed back constantly it will falter. i wish to split it as i don't have a fenced in garden, per say. i must container garden , and am delving into gardening in my little fenced in fruit tree structures. the horseradish however i'm trying to start "out in the wild". i thought if i started it in maybe 4 "strategic places" i can make a go . if i'm successful i will kill it back to 2 patches and that should keep me going.

never made a bloody mary with it , but i have made the "virgin" version and i concur dan. homemade hot stuff just makes everything better.

thanks again all !

wildlifeman