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Flowers on rhubarb?

arneilarneil Posts: 313
in Plants
Is there any way to stop these forming ? I have removed several already , but was wondering what I’m doing wrong to get so many this year ?

Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    It sounds as if your plant may be struggling … could it be hungry?  Or thirsty? 
    How old is the crown?  Could it have been over-cropped last year?


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





  • nick615nick615 Posts: 1,487
    Mine are the same.  It should have more than enough food, so I'm removing the flowers as they appear.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Be sure to grasp the flowering stem at the base and twist and snap to remove the flowering shoot at it’s growing point. 

    Maybe it’llbe time to split the crown next winter. 

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





  • arneilarneil Posts: 313
    Thank you both , I tried telling the stem and half the plant came away ! I think it is needing split 
  • arneilarneil Posts: 313
    Pulling , not telling !
  • Shauna2021Shauna2021 Posts: 53
    I never get flowers on Rhubarb to come away like the leaf stems do - I have to cut them
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    Mine are the same this year,  never flowered this early,  usually at the end of summer.
    I’ve picked them all off and the Rhubarb growing well,   Just a nuisance having to keep a check on it. 

     
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    Pull them, cut them, I have never found it makes much difference.  Same with the stems, except you notice the waste.  I assume you must save some of the plant's energy by removing the flowering/seeding parts.
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    If you have the room now I’d start preparing a new area to plant your rhubarb when you split it in the winter. Dig lots of organic matter into the top two feet or so, to give the new plants a good start.  

    Don’t forget that you shouldn’t harvest any stalks in the first year after splitting, to allow the crown to build up. 

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





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