Rhubarb http://www.durgan.org/URL/?Rhubarb 28 April 2009 Rhubarb Rhubarb is amongst the first edible plants to start growing in the Spring. Chives is slightly sooner. The stalks are pulled when a suitable length and diameter about 1.5 cm is reached. The stalks are harvested to about the 20th of June, then the plant is allowed to accumulate food for next year's growth.
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?RhubarbC 3 May 2009 First Rhubarb A few of the larger stalks were pulled, and this makes a bowl full of cooked rhubarb.Rhubarb stalks are almost all water, so it takes a fair number of stalks to make any quantity of sauce.
Your Rhubarb look yummy! You have nice healthy looking plants. You must be a good six weeks ahead of us here. My Rhubarb is just starting to come up. I bought a couple of new plants this year as my patch hasn't been doing well. The existing plants are probably getting old and it's a bit shady where they are. I can't decide where to put the new plants. I had better hurry up and make up my mind, as I need to get them in the ground.
quite often pulling up an old plant and splitting it rejuvinates it wonderfully. Also, make sure it's in a sunny position.
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?RhubarbI 12 May 2009 Rhubarb A few of the largest stalks were pulled. The leaves will be used to make an insecticide on a trial basis. Here is the method. Boil 500 grams of rhubarb leaves in a few pints of water for about 20 minutes, allow to cool, then strain the liquid into a suitable container. Add some dish detergent and spray on leaves to kill off all kinds of bugs like aphids and spider mites. NOTE: Rhubarb leaves contain high amounts of oxalic acid. If ingested, your heart will stop and you will die.
The rhubarb concoction is new to me, so I will be experimenting. My understanding about slugs is there is dry bait on the market that is harmless to animals and other insects, except for snails and slugs. My area has a bit of snail damage and a minor bit of slug damage, almost to the point where one could live with it.
This may seem to be a silly question to ask but I am a novice gardener. I got some rhubarb plants that were split off of older ones and planted them. They are doing very well, big stalks and bushy. I have read that you should not take any stalks in the first year. Does that apply to split off plants as well? Also putting the plants to bed in the winter what so you do, cut off the stalks leave them or what? Thanks for helping out.
Durgan, Have you ever seen an 8" to 10" Banana Slug? Thank heaven they tend to stay in the forests etc. But like Texas, "we grow 'em big here". This is the only time I use chemicals - Dead line - with an eye dropper. One drop in the middle of the slug or snail & GONE! barb
There are few slugs in my area. Nothing like you describe. Wow that is some beast. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_slug
Avoid pulling the stalks in the first year, and avoid pulling after about the end of June so the plant can obtain energy for next years stalks. The vegetation will die off naturally in the Fall, and quickly disappear. Also, don't pull more than about one third of the stalks at any one harvest time. These are only general guidelines.
Rhubarb culture. Start with deeply dug soil mixed with lots of compost or manure. Add manure or strong compost late fall or early spring each year. Scratch/dig it into the soil with minimal disturbance to the roots. Lots of sun - no shade. Lots of water. Remove the seed heads as they show. (Lots of seed heads are good - they are a sign of a strong, healthy plant with lots of available nutrient.) If your rhubarb is not growing well, it is not because of the age of the roots. Compare the growth site to the above. Sun, water, nutrient. The best growth of rhubarb I have seen is on the south side of a shed, where it gets lot of sun, and the runoff from the roof. I have found this in Calgary and in Toronto. My uncle had good rhubarb growing in a low spot where it got the runoff from a cow walkway (btween pasture and dairy barn)
