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Is my rhubarb seeding???

CompleterookieCompleterookie Posts: 130
in Fruit & veg
Is my rhubarb seeding?? its only a year old, i do not know the variety 

Posts

  • ColinAColinA Posts: 392
    Its coming into flower so snap it off to save the plants energy
  • CompleterookieCompleterookie Posts: 130
    No worries. Thanks for the info.. Can the pod be planted or doesn't it work like that? 
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    That's the flower stem with the flowers not open yet ...  when pollinated it would set seeds which would then have to ripen before you could sow them.  All that time the crown/root of the plant would be weakened while it was producing and ripening the seeds ... you really need to pull that flowering stem out at the base ... then give the rhubarb a really good watering and mulching with organic matter.  Do not pick any stems this year ... if it is a big strong plant next year you can harvest a few stalks but as it's tried to flower this year it'll be best if you don't pick much for the next two years so that the crown can replace the energy it used to produce that flower stem, and then build up a good reserve of energy for the next year.  
     :) 

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





  • SkandiSkandi Posts: 1,723
    edited May 2021
    Yes it's flowering my rhubarb flowers every single year it's something perennial plants do when they are happy just pull it off and carry on. I certainly do not agree with dove on not picking for two years after flowering a happy plant will flower every year. we don't say our roses are stressed and unhappy when they flower every year why do we for some reason think Rhubarb is a special plant that only wants to reproduce when it's unhappy?
    (yes plants can be forced into flowering when stressed but they flower much better when not stressed and that includes rhubarb, blind plants can also exist but you obviously don't have one)
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    I said don’t pick for two years in this particular case because it’s a seedling plant in its first year ... if it’s already been so stressed that it’s tried to flower so soon (and that is the only reason why a  seedling rhubarb would flower) then it will need more time to build up a crown with adequate resources for generous harvests in future years. 
    😊 

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





  • CompleterookieCompleterookie Posts: 130
    Big thanks, its only a year old so ill let it recharge
  • bertrand-mabelbertrand-mabel Posts: 2,697
    Our rhubarb has been in our garden for some 40 years and never flowered.
    We have had a great harvest from it and whilst it doesn't get big long stems when we have little rain, we still manage to have rhubarb in the kitchen.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Mine never flowers either ... as an artist I’d love to draw the unfurling flower bud (after removing it) but it never happens. 😊 

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





  • barry islandbarry island Posts: 1,847
    My rhubarb seems to flower every year I thought that the hot dry weather that we have been having was the cause but even this very wet spring the rhubarb still flowers, one plant has put so much growth on that it has doubled in size in a few weeks and yet it still flowers.
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