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Improve rhubarb yield

mike3105Xmike3105X Posts: 5
in Fruit & veg
I have 2 established plants , well spaced apart, each year the first few stems are really thick and long, the following stems grow almost as tall but rather weedy .any ideas?  Perhaps splitting the crown or just thing some of excess stems? 

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  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited April 2020
    What's your 'picking practice'?  It sounds to me as if you may be overpicking and consequently the crown is running out of energy.

    I never pull more than one third of the stems at a time, and stop pulling at the beginning of July, allowing the leaves to do their work of building up the energy in the crown to see it through the winter and produce next year's crop.  

    I also keep the crown well watered in dry spells and feed with Fish, Blood & Bone in the spring,  I also mulch the area around the crown with homemade compost and/or well rotted manure in the autumn and spring.  

    Other thoughts are, how old are your plants?  Are they still producing stalks from the centre of the crown? Do they produce flower stalks?  Are they a named variety?

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • mike3105Xmike3105X Posts: 5
    thanks for those suggestions, I don't think I over-pick as I only pick those stems I think worthwhile, and that's less than a third. It's only been the last couple of seasons the quality of the stems has lessened. They are a named variety but to be honest the tag has faded and I can't remember. I think I will concentrate on feed /water regime this year at the sake of yield and see how things go.
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