Rhubarb NEED HELP

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Golden_Eagle Wauseon, OH(Zone 5a) Aug 07, 2008

I planted 3 rhubarb plants back in the Spring and they were doing will about a month ago they dead back to the ground and one of them now came back and has 2 leaves the other 2 I do not see any sign of them are they dead? Will they come back again? Would you hold off in getting 2 new ones?

I heard that the best time to plant Rhubarb is in the Fall of the year is that right?

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WeeNel Ayrshire Scotland, United Kingdom Aug 13, 2008

You are right about fall being the best time to start off your Rhubarb plants, they dont like to be baked in hot sun and they also need a really, really rich soil with plenty animal manure at the roots, over the spring/summer months, they require a good deal of watering as they are very hungry feeders and drinkers. It sounds more like the growing conditions were not quite right for them and the time of year you got the plants possibly meant that they were very dry and week, but dont give up just yet, try to change them to the conditions I have mentioned, dig a really deep and wide planting hole for each plant, add lots of good compost as this helps retain some moisture and also add either horse or pelleted chicken manure to the soil you add to the planting hole, then set your plants into this, have the crown (growing tip) just above the soil in no more and firm the soil in around the roots as you plant, you can leave a slight dip in the hole so that as you water the plants, the water runs into the hole rather than off the top of the soil and wont get to the roots, once your stalks start to grow next year, dont pick them as this will weaken the crowns and they will just die off, they need this first year to build up energy and good strong roots to be able to give good strong stalks years there after, just let the leaves next year die down naturally, if the plants start to flower, cut the flowers off as you dont want the plant to use energy making seed heads, your Rhubarb should then last for generations and if you always leave a few weaker stems end of each picking, you will get loads of good crop/stalks.
Don't know if your aware of the leaves being poisonous to humans so throw them away into the compost heap,when you pick your stalks, run your hand down the stalks and tug them away, dont cut the stalks or you get disease setting in, hope this helps you out. good luck. WeeNel.

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