[leeky]

Hi

Sorry to keep harping on about my Rhubarb again, but it's about the only thing I have growing at the moment!  


You can see where I chopped it accidentally last year, leaving an elongated 'cup' full of rainwater.

Does it look healthy to you folks? Its seems very black and looks almost rotten, but there are signs of life.

 :arrow:

[shaun]

let it grow leeky i'm sure it will fix itself

[leeky]

Righto!  

[richyrich7]

let it grow leeky i'm sure it will fix itself

Ditto    or you could split it and make more plants.

[leeky]

hmm!  I might split it. Need to read this carefully  

http://www.rhubarbinfo.com/rhubarb-propagation.html

[muntjac]

stick some manure around it  close but not touching the leaves and stems

[leeky]

Will do muntjac. thanks  

[Trillium]

Manure or compost around it will help give it a boost, but I'd slowly, note this word, slowly, start building the mound up with a bit of good soil so that by summer's end the rhubarb crown is actually just above the main ground level for runoff so that you don't risk water pooling into the crown and eventually rotting it completely. Looks pretty damp there.  

[leeky]

I really appreciate every bit of advice. thanks Trillium.

[slowcompost]

I'm told that its a good idea to split the crowns and develop a new site for rhubarb every few years.  Dont dig it all up, keep the old site going till the new one is established. This takes a couple of years.

[milkman]

looks fine to me

[freyaluck]

And beware of slugs, they love the nice new shoots :evil:

[leeky]

thanks    heavy rain today, unfortunately.

[toptonk]

its got to be allright because its still shooting stems,id still put some manure around it though and as someone else stated cover the crown.

[muntjac]

we had a plot of rhubarb we used to sell at the louth market . we took acrown of 4 yrs old and dug the lot up .the  taking a CLEAN SHARP  spade we cut it in three . centre the spade in the clump and press down forcefully  making one cut  .now make another cut in the other side taking 1/3 rd of the clump and then again splitting the remaining clump .then you can pul them apart .  take them to the plot  and then dig 3 holes 2 ft deep and about the same square make this holes at least 4 ft apart . fill the bottop with WELL rotted manure /compost / back fill the hole with the clump 6 inches above the level with the surface pull soil up and around the  tubers and press down solidly. do not water allow the clumps to settle down for a few days and then pour a gallon of water on each crown  slowly  it is a good idea to make a ring of soil around the clump to allow the water to pool... DO NOT CUT  rhubarb from the clump /////  PULL IT   with one sharp tug taking the haulm end  , cut the leaves off into a compost bin . incidently it does the plant no good to allow rhubarb to have gert big stems on it  ,pull when an inch across the flat of the stem