[Kleftiwallah]

Good morning everyone,

The title says it all... how can you tell your rhubarb crown could do with a trim, a split (or worse)?

Cheers,  Tony.

[New shoot]

Morning 

Eventually rhubarb crowns can get very woody  and then are not that productive for the space they take up, so  people split them then.

I have crowns that have been in the ground for years without splitting and they are fine, but I do pamper them a bit with mulches.  Plot neighbours sometimes ask if they can take bits, but otherwise it just gets on with it, so it just depends if you feel it is getting too large and you want to reduce it.

If you do decide to dig them up, or reduce the size of the clump, it is best done over winter when the crown is dormant.

[Kleftiwallah]

That sounds very sensible new shoots.  Thanks and Cheers,  Tony.

[lettice]

Have done this a few times over the years, more to give others some crowns.

I split a small piece of crown from one of my many year crowns last November.
Placed it in another area of my veg garden.
It was quite dormant at that time, a piece that was on the edge of the main root.
Worth digging a little if you can to see if that piece is rooting nicely, so the piece you take will have some of those roots.

It will need watering in well, but do not allow it to become waterlogged.
If you are not planting the new crown straight away, just wrap a damp cloth around it to keep it moist.

This years took nicely and has been producing good stems so far this year. I will not be cutting them this year to let the plant mature in its own right, so a good picking next year.