Rhubarb running to seed

160 sticks of rhubarb already?? Goodness...i take it you bulk ordered the bog rolls?

Seriously that's an impressive total....my champagne rhubarb is finally producing...i will be picking the first at the weekend.

I'm letting mine flower....quite a splendid sight.  Can you eat the flowers? I have plenty of fat rhubarb stalks to eat so I'm letting it have its day!  I'll report on what happens to future yields.

I brought home 6 sticks the other day and they weighed 4 1/2 Lb one stick weighed over 1Lb (coor talk about crumble)
Don't know what the variety is as it was already in the plot when I took it over 2 years ago.

Malcolm

It's rarely lack of nutrients for rhubarb since their roots go down very very deep. Flowering and seeding is part of a plant's natural cycle, including rhubarb, and you let it flower at the expense of more edible stalks. We all have to rip out the flowering stalks and usually compost them since the stalks are hollow anyway and useless.

I'm glad I let my rhubarb flower....like nature taking its course.  My theory is that repeatedly cutting out flowering stalks will exhaust the plant more than letting it flower.  Only two heads formed and I have been picking stems quite normally as the seeds have matured.  The seeds are a lovely contrast of gold and pink. Rhubarb is not like brassicas which go to seed at the end of the season.  My rhubarb flowers early but continues to produce nice stems.

My rhubarb hasn't run to seed at all this year, whether it's down to all the manure I put on it last year or the fact it's been wetter I don't know.