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Rhubarb
Harmy
Posts: 1
in Fruit & veg
I've been given a Rhubarb crown, planted it and it's sprouting nicely. I've been told that you should not eat Rhubarb the first year it shoots? Is this true? Also is this considered the first year as it's from a crown rather than a seed??
0
Posts
That's my understanding of it- as tempting as it will be, leave alone for the first year, take a "few" the second year and fill yer boots from year 3 onwards
Generally you leave it the first year after planting just to build up its strength and root system however if after planting you give it a good dressing with something like 6X chicken manure then you may well find that you get loads of sticks by May or June which means you could take no more than 1/3rd in the 1st year. Also, stop picking by the end of July again this will enable it to recover better for the next season. Rhubarb really loves manure. I feed it liberally with 6X in July and again in Feb and we get masses of the stuff. When you cook rhubarb, don't add water to prevent it sticking to the bottom of the pan, use fresh (carton is fine) orange juice instead and you'll need less sugar!
If it has massive amounts of leaves, pick a few of the smaller ones this year to eat as a treat.. it won't do any harm. If it only has a few leaves, just let it get on alone. All depends on how it's growing. As PP recommended, rhubarb loves a good feed and top dressing. My plants that I planted two years ago were massive last year, so I kept picking right up through fall. I left the central leaves alone after July, but picked the outer newer ones as I needed to add to crumbles, etc. Just see how your plant gets on, and err on the side of leaving too many rather than taking too many. It's a balance, just use your best judgement. Good luck!
When Blue Onion speaks of picking and eating leaves, he means stalks - don't eat rhubarb leaves - they're poisonous - twist them off their stalks and compost them.
I know Blue Onion knows what he means and so do the rest of us, but it's as well to be clear ... just in case
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I've been told that you shouldn't ppick Rhubarb later in the season (nor blackberries either) as the poison from the leaves starts to be drawn back down the stalks. Can anyone confirm this please?
Harmy by starting this thread you remined me I had a rhubarb crumble in the freezer which is now half eaten complete with custard. So much for the diet.
You shouldn't pick rhubarb later in the season because the nutrition/energy in the leaves needs to be reabsorbed by the roots/crown otherwise you will have a weak and unproductive plant the following year. Nothing to do with the toxic oxalic acid in the green part of the leaves.
As for blackberries, any on the plant late in the season are likely to be less sweet than the earlier ones due to lack of sunlight, that's the only reason for not picking the later ones. There's an Old Wives' tale that says on 30 September the Devil trails his coat-tails over the hedgerows making the blackberries taste bitter.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Dove, thanks for pointing out that we eat the stalks.. not the leaves. I wasn't thinking when I said leaves.. thanks for the correction. I'd hate for someone to get ill!
"There's an Old Wives' tale that says on 30 September the Devil trails his coat-tails over the hedgerows making the blackberries taste bitter".
Thanks for the info Dove. I must stop hanging around with so many old wives
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.