[Eblana]

Was up the plot yesterday and all my Rhubarb has died (3 plants that are 2 years old)  .  The leaves were all a mushy mess and there was a clear slimey substance in the middle of the plant.  I removed all the leaves and washed off the slime.  Anyone any idea what has caused this and have I lost the plants or will they recover.

[waxwing]

Sounds like rot, probly best to start again. New site and burn the plants. Sorry Hope some one has more positive advice.

[compostqueen]

Rhubarb takes a lot to kill it. If you leave it, it will probably regrow. I'd be surprised if it didn't 

[Oliveview]

MIL had a plant in her garden for 50 years or more, she couldn´t kill it!  It was massive!  Feel sorry for the person who moved in after MIL died!

Pamela

[Plot74]

It probably just needs some tlc
After all the rain we have had you may have a drainage problem or it could be that in feb when we had that really warm spell it got confused.try covering with good quality straw it should come back as said in previous posts it does take some killing.
I had a root given that had been thrown among a pile of weeds and bramble cuttings waiting to be burnt, most of the root was very soft no shoots nothing but a mushy mess really .
I prepared the area for it then just covered with straw .it has now recovered but I will not harvest any this year I will wait till the plant is stronger next year
John

[Paul Plots]

Eblana... if it is dead and doesn't regrow then please let the rest of us know what killed it as there may be a few people on here who would dearly love to know an easy way to rid themselves of the stuff.

It is a real ba-lamb to dig out when you don't want it!! 

On the other hand.... I hope yours survives if your keen to keep it. 

[Eblana]

Was back up yesterday and it appears that this has happened to most of the Rhubarb plants on the site.  We have been told that it is Rhubarb Curculio - it lives on weeds (dock leaves in particular) and then lays its young in the Rhubarb - it won't kill the Rhubarb but I won't get anything from it this year .

The plot next to mine (right beside my Rhubarb plants) hasn't been tended for the past 12 months and is completely overgrown, the person who rented it cleared it, planted a whole load of plug plants this time last year, never went near it until September when he arrived with black sacks and harvested anything that had survived and hasn't been seen since  .  Private Lotties so got the site owners to clear the plot beside me yesterday and have my fingers crossed that if there is a new owner that they will keep it right (one of the advantages of it being a private site is that we can get the owners to sort out any problems for us)

[savbo]

what country are you in eblana? I'm guessing US cos I don't think we get this weevil in UK...

[PembsPanther]

I have read a few threads on various forums about people having problems with rhubarb this year, myself included, I planted 3 different crowns from different sources, when they were planted they all had foliage and looked healthy within 2 weeks they were all but dead.

I dug them up and put them in big pots in the end and slowly but surely they are coming back to life, one has run away and is doing really well the other 2 are only just now showing signs of re-growth. They are thirsty so and so's though so if you do decide to give them a second chance make sure it is a big pot and water them well and regular, I put gravel on mine as a mulch and it has done wonders at keeping the moisture in.

I was thinking of leaving them in the pots for the summer and trying to transplant them into the ground in autumn, we will see what happens then!

HTH

[Eblana]

I am in Ireland.  My allotment is just outside of Dublin on the East Coast.  I looked up pictures of this fella on the internet and I have seen guys that look just like them in my polytunnel so I guess this might be the problem alright. I will try moving one of the crowns to a large pot and see how I get on, if it works for that one I will move the rest.   If nothing else the loss of my Rhubarb has finally gotten the plot next to me cleared (before all the weeds seed and reinfest my plot) so I have gained something from it.

[savbo]

if you're in Ireland then I'm 99% certain it's not Rhubarb Curculio...I can't find any record of it being in UK or Ireland, all UK webpages I've found referencing it eventually track back to US pages

It's very similar to Vine Weevil and a lot of other Weevils, and you could often find these in polytunnels

RHS don't mention it at all - but they do mention Crown Rot...

sav

[frizzy]

My rhubarb seems to have started to come back to life - it was very sad a month ago, but I mulched it with old manure and left the straggly sticks and half eaten leaves to rot back into the plant.  Then we had lots of rain which I think helped, and now it's got a nice strong stick and a big new leaf coming through.  fingers crossed it will make it.  Also, we cut the grass recently so I think all the leaf-eaters that lived in the grass have had their cover reduced. The crown had been transplanted in February to my allotment so I think that definitely weakened it.

The tiny new crown I bought from Wilkinson's (experimental) was eaten within two weeks by something (in March).