rhubarb

i read the old threads - to which I responded back then - Rhubarb issue
and this thread too
Bad Romance - can this rhubarb be saved?

all i have to go on is old-timer know-how --- as in what the elderly neighbours - the age that grew up during Grt Depression - knew what to do with their produce gardens.

but does rhubarb plant really "tire out" eventually?

is it really a heavy feeder?

our plant was very spindly this year (near the ocean near Vancouver BC)

it has nice morning sun, afternoon shade, easy water, nice soil, good drainage ---- and has done well in previous years.

IF i need to get a new plant from the nursery - what variety does anyone here recommend? Our uses would be for pie, stewing, freezing for later stewing or pie. Most likely stewing.

thank you.

 

Did you let it flower at all, either last year or this year? My gardener grandfather always said never to let rhubarb flower under any circumstances, because it pulls so much nutrition from the rest of the plant. If mine sent up a flower stalk I always chopped it off, and it seemed to work.
Keke

 

no - I have not seen rhubarb flowers at all in the last couple of years --- it is just tired and limp looking - and the stalks (the part we harvest and chop up for pie, fruit stew, etc) are skinny and not very rigid.

maybe if I can get out (work avoidance!) in the garden in the next day or so before our forecast big coastal (predictable for this time of year) storm - I'll have a look at see how it's doing

good point about flowers - thank you.

 

My rhubarb does the same thing--usually the stalks get smaller and smaller as it goes throughout the summer to where they are only about the diameter of your finger. However, I have found that this is the time
of the year to dig in a bag (or two?) of steer manure around the plants. In the last few years, during spring the plants they have produced huge stalks. I suspect they are catching up on nutrition.

KK

 

Another way to rejuvenate rhubarb is to transplant a crown to a new location. Of course, adding manure or compost will ensure large stalks.