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Damaged rhubarb crown

kelly.dawkins9450k7kF3Lkelly.dawkins9450k7kF3L Posts: 1
in Fruit & veg
Good afternoon! 

I am moving house in a few weeks and  will be leaving my grandparents beloved rhubarb behind. They have been in the family for at least 10 years and thrive every year.

Today I tried to dig up three of the many crowns in an attempt to take them with us and plant them in our new garden. However I underestimated the depth of the rhubarb and seem to have damaged the roots and can see some orange/yellow at the base of the grown. I am concerned I have sliced it in halve.

Are these plants pretty hardy? I have potted them in a mixture of compost With some manure. What are my chances of them surviving? 

Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited October 2021
    Hello @kelly.dawkins9450k7kF3L and welcome to the forum  :)

    Prepare a good patch of ground and dig some well rotted manure in then plant them at the same depth they were in their original home, and give them a good watering then leave them alone.  They'll shut down for the winter, but next spring my guess is that they'll spring into life.

    Don't harvest any stalks next spring, and only a few the following year, and keep them watered ... don't let the roots dry out.  Mulch with organic matter in the spring and autumn.

    By the third year in their new home they should be happy healthy rhubarb plants again. 🤞

     :) 

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





  • Blue OnionBlue Onion Posts: 2,995
    You should be fine, just follow Dove's advice.  I divided my this spring, and by fall they were huge and healthy.  The pieces I planted were rather hacked apart, and more from the edges than the center older pieces.  

    Since it's fall and they still have leaves, you probably ought to cut off quite a few of them to reduce water loss.  They will die off soon anyways.  I would cut off about 3/4 of them.. but others probably have better advice and experience with fall transplanting.  
    Utah, USA.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited October 2021
    My thinking is that because the leaves are shutting down for winter they won’t be transpiring and losing water, so I would leave them to feed nutrition back to the crown, and then remove them as they shrivel.
     
    But either way, I don’t think it’s a matter of life or death. 😊 

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





  • nick615nick615 Posts: 1,487
    kelly.dawkins9450k7kF3L  Excellent advice from Dove on getting the BEST results, but they're very hardy and, in time, any stray piece of root will start to do its own thing.  As with anything that sheds its leaves in winter, their goodness sinks back into the root stock, leaving the rest to decay.  All part of nature's rich system.
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