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Woody Rhubarb

CartoonyCartoony Posts: 4
in Fruit & veg
I bought a cheap rhubarb crown from Wilko's early last year, planted it & was surprised to see it grow really well. I didn't harvest anything from it in that first year.
In the autumn I moved it about 2 feet, dug up well around it & moved the whole lot.
This year it has grown well already, but the stems are really woody & not very firm. If I pick them they go floppy within hours. I haven't eaten any of them.
What have I done wrong, & is there anything I can do to help the plant?

Posts

  • bcpathomebcpathome Posts: 1,313
    Stop moving it about is my advice . They like to be in the same place and stay there . It could be the type of rhubarb you are growing . Have you planted it deep enough did you feed it ? Is it somewhere it doesn’t get enough rain? 
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    As well as all the advice above, when you pick it you should twist off the green leafy part. That will help keep the rhubarb stems from going floppy too quickly. If not hooking immediately I then wrap the stems in newspaper and put in the salad drawer in the fridge asap. 

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





  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    I wash it and chop it up just as it is and put it in the freezer,  it comes out soft enough to make crumble or cake without needing cooking. 
    Can’t think why it’s woody this early in the season.
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • CartoonyCartoony Posts: 4
    Thanks folks, I've removed the woody stems so let's see what happens. 
    It's in an open spot but I hadn't fed it, I have given it a good feed now though so fingers crossed. 

  • SkandiSkandi Posts: 1,723
    Did it get frosted? Some of mine did and they have woody but oddly soft stems. They'll grow out of it once the next set of leaves comes.
  • Winston_The_Gravity_ManWinston_The_Gravity_Man Posts: 263
    The thing about rhubarb is that there are as many opinions about how to grow it successfully as there are stars in the sky !  Well, maybe not, but you get my drift. 

    Some say you must never move the crowns for to do so will invite catastrophe, but many crowns have been moved with great improvements to the rhubarbly yield.  Others say to manure the crop regularly, yet plants often do very well without fertiliser input of any kind.  As with everything horticultural the rules are there to be broken !  What works for one often doesn't work for another.

    As has been suggested, try removing the leaves as soon as the stalk is pulled (NEVER cut a rhubarb stalk, ALWAYS grasp it firmly and pull it out of the crown as you might introduce nasties into it).  Obviously NEVER eat the leaves, neither cooked nor raw, as a tummyfull of oxalic acid will do you no good whatsoever.  And, as the old gardeners used to say "there bain't be no good fer rhubarb leaves 'cept as fertiliser fer rhubarbs".

     
    When there's always biscuits in the tin, where's the fun in biscuits ?
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