[hanssg]

hi my rhubarb this year has hardly got out of the ground very spindly why is this.

[Beetroot Queen]

Ours have good stems but no length to them, last year they were visible a foot above the wall this year we cant even see them on the other side 

[hanssg]

i see others on here having same problem somebody said its because of a lack of frost

[grinling]

when did you plant them? are they too close? did you mulch?

[Yorkie]

Also, did you force it last year?  Feed it?

[Yorkie]

i see others on here having same problem somebody said its because of a lack of frost

This is one recent thread about rhubarb problems:
http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=114587.msg1316847#msg1316847

[hanssg]

its three years old got loads last year manured it in spring

[Yorkie]

Two things spring to mind.

1. You harvested it heavily in only its second year - this might have used up too much of its strength so it's recovering this year.

2. As you say, others have reported similar problems and therefore it's something to do with the general growing conditions this year.

Give it TLC and water it a lot this year, and see what it does next year.

[grinling]

if it produces a flower spike, take it off.

[GreyScales]

I speculated that the spindly stems was normal for new plants, as I planted some from seed last year and they all grew every spindly stems that couldn't even hold their leaves up this year. If this is an impact from the lack of frost last winter, then I've learned something new

However after the initial very weak stems at the start, they've now put out much stronger ones.