[mdjlucan]

Rhubarb What type of food do you give a rhubarb

[snowdrops]

Horse muck in late autumn & winter

[Subversive_plot]

I admit I have not been growing mine a long time, but I started mine in loamy sand soil mixed with well-rotted compost with manure, in 3-gallon containers.  When they were growing well, and large, I provide a teaspoon of 13-13-13 fertilizer top dressed onto the soil in the pot, roughly every month.

I water daily, about a quart per container.  THey never fully dry out.  At this point, in the heat, I think water is more important than the fertilizer.  Mine have survived 102 F (39 C) heat, still growing strong.

[mdjlucan]

Thank you

[Grubbypaws]

I mulch with garden compost in the Autumn and use blood fish and bone in the spring just before buds break into full growth. I dont have access to horse manure; if I did I would use that as Snowdrops does.

This is the advise from the T&M website

    • Spring: Remove rhubarb flowers as they appear in order to direct the plants’ energy into growing tasty stems. A feed of general purpose fertiliser will also give them boost during this time.
    • Summer: Keep an eye on your rhubarb plants and water them during dry periods. You don’t want the soil to completely dry out. Rhubarb that’s grown in containers will need to be watered much more often in order to keep the compost moist.
    • Autumn: When the leaves die back naturally, simply cut back the old rhubarb stalks to leave the buds exposed. Apply a mulch of well-rotted manure around the crown of the plant; this will help to conserve moisture in the soil and keep the weeds down, as well as feeding the plants for the following growing season. But take care not to cover the crown as this may cause it to rot.
    • Winter: Every five or six years you’ll need to lift and divide the rhubarb crowns in order to maintain their vigour and ensure that the plants remain productive. Use a spade to lift each crown before splitting it into 3 or 4 pieces and replanting them separately. Each piece needs a healthy looking bud – this will become the growth point for next year's new shoots.

[lettice]

My main rhubarb plants have sat in the same place for many decades.
They produce wonderful rhubarb from Spring to mid summer.
I just add a load of homemade bin compost in January and that is all they get.
I do through the season pick up off any yellowing lower leaves along with the picking.
never had any flowers on the rhubarb that needs attention, but then I do regularly pick it at least every few weeks through the season.
Its such a vigorous growing plant, that I'm sure its the more regular you pick the more you get like many veg.

Do every few years, as I did this year split a small piece of crown from one of my many long established crowns last November.
Its produced nicely this year and is already a mid sized producing plant, but will be in full swing from next year.

[rowlandwells]

I grew our rhubarb from seed a variety called Champagne grows good especially with a good barrow full of well rotted horse manure in late Autumn as snowdrops suggests