[New shoot]

Piccies of my turbo rhubarb taken today. As usual it's up and off already with no protection or forcing of any kind.

No idea what vareity it is as was rescued from the undergrowth when we took over the plot. Managed to salvage 3 small bits from a rotten old crown and they have gone from strength to strength. Anyone got any ideas which kind it could be.

If you look closely you'll see frost damage on some of the leaves, but this lot have been under snow for the last couple of weeks. It will shrug that off and we'll be picking a good 4 weeks before any other rhubarb is ready. Several other plot holders have taken bits of crown and it grows like a triffid whenever, wherever..........Half the site has picking rights as it's usually head height by May and it's the only way to keep it under control 

[DavidT]

Timperley Early. 

[New shoot]

Nope - this stuff makes timperley early look like a right old slouch 

[DavidT]

It can only be Hawkes Champagne then.

[New shoot]

It does not have particularly red stems and they are pretty thick as well. Thought the 'champagnes' were red and a bit more delicate 

[sunshineband]

Are the stems pink , green or speckly?

If they were as red as the picture looks I'd have said Prince Albert

[New shoot]

The stems are only red when very small. They soon go green with light speckling. 

One of the old boys on the site said it's a very old variety that someone got in specially years ago but he can't remember what it is bless him. He's had his plot 40 odd years so we are going back a bit here 

[sunshineband]

Possibly Riverside Giant? That's vast,  and green stemmed 

[New shoot]

You could be right there. Just googled it and found this website

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

Loads of info and recipes

[DD.]

I've no idea what variety it is, as it was found on Mrs Digger's plot, but this was posted on December 17th last year.

It's just starting to show now, been a bit colder.

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=27836.msg333161#msg333161

[New shoot]

The cold has slowed ours down as well - looks like the same triffid to me 

Ours was about 6-8 inches high when the snow hit last Jan/Feb. It shrugged that off with a 'that all you got - not bovvered' attitude so I never worry now if it goes cold once it emerges 

[sunshineband]

You'll have to ask that old guy at the allotments if he recognises this name