Garden

[Stella Dallas]

(Sigh) Every spring I go through this...I have rhubarb growing in my side yard and in the fall, my yard crew slices it down to ground level. And every spring it comes right back up, forming seed heads all over the place.

Plants go to see when they think their live is coming to and end and it's time to get the next generation going. A plant like rhubarb going to see has a very bad taste so of course you want to get those seed heads off as soon as they form.

Since my plant seems to be very healthy (the pies I make from it are heavenly), I go on yard patrol daily to monitor its self-destructive tendency and I often have to pull off seed heads.

One of the difficulties in this is that you must NOT use knives, clippers, whatever to cut off rhubarb stalks (and probably seed heads too); you have to pull them off by hand. I think this is because rhubarb is very prone to getting bacterial or other infections from any kind of instrument except the human hand. So I go out there and yank and yank and yank.

This fall I'm going to tell the guy NOT to cut my rhubarb down to the ground but rather let it die back naturally. I HOPE this will end the tendency to send up a lot of seed heads in the spring, since the near-death experience is probably what causes it to do so.

Any rhubarb veterans have any thought to offer that I haven't come up with myself? Your advice would be greatly appreciated.

TIA

[JustJazzmom]

Put a note on the crop or a sign saying DO NOT CUT!! ???

When plants go to seed or bolt, its an evolutionary thing-- they don't want creatures eating the plant until the seeds are set and the plant is able to go and reproduce. Like many plants that are edible, when a plant 'bolts', the plant leaves become bitter (or in this case probably the stems of rhubarb).

I have tried stemming off this bitterness with lettuce, but have been unsuccessful-- once those seed heads start to form, it sends a signal through the entire plant to turn bitter. Even the leaves that are the furthest away from the seed heads also become bitter tasting.

[mousiegirl]

I made rhubarb chutney many moons ago, and it was wonderful! I got nervous when I realized that the leaves were poisonous as I had many cats and two dogs, so I removed it.

[jaxs mom]

I'm not a veteran, this is only my second year with rhubarb plants. We let our leaves die naturally in fall and in fact didn't even remove the very last of the dried up ones until this years leaves started growing.

I planted transplants last year, not bare root. They got at least 3 feet across. Now I'm not sure how many of my stalks I should harvest this year, if any or how often. Most of the instructions I see assume you planted bare root "first year" stock. I've got some nice big red stalks growing that are a good 8-10 inches already plus a bunch of skinny baby ones.

Any advice?

[jaxs mom]

On 3/21/2015 mousiegirl said:

I made rhubarb chutney many moons ago, and it was wonderful! I got nervous when I realized that the leaves were poisonous as I had many cats and two dogs, so I removed it.

My cats are only allowed outside when we are with them, and one of them loves laying under the rhubarb plants to hide and enjoy the cool dirt but he's never tried to chew the leaves ever.

[AnikaBrodie]

We've planted rhubarb in our garden but every year wee animals get into it and it dies off. I think it's the rabbits!!! I love to use it in my strawberry-rhubarb pies and DH likes it stewed.

[dex]

I am trying to grow it again...have tried all of my 40years of marriage,I finally have it grow but something eats the leaves and marks the stalks.People tell me it grows like a weed which is something I am normally good at.

[depglass]

I am right up there with dex, it just won't grow for me. Its on its fifth year out there and hardly anything to show for it. What do I need to put into that soil, its very sandy. Irises do just fine in that bed.

[JustJazzmom]

On 3/31/2015 depglass said:

I am right up there with dex, it just won't grow for me. Its on its fifth year out there and hardly anything to show for it. What do I need to put into that soil, its very sandy. Irises do just fine in that bed.

Add compost to sandy soil-- it makes it more moisture retentive rather than percolating rapidly through the soil.

[jaxs mom]

Well I just cut off three flower pods today.