'Little & Large' Rhubarb sticks- help wanted please

[Pamperedpet]

Hi there everyone.

Need some suggestions please-planted rhubarb a couple of years ago & have never had a very successful crop, so tried 2 different methods this year. Plonked one crown in a big plastic bucket with some compost & a good dollop of whatnot to see it OK during the winter -kept this one in my polytunnel. Result = a few stems about 3 inches long, 'normal' i.e thumbish size' thickness, but leaves which would double as an umbrella!

Put the other crown in the ground, also with a dollop of doodah to keep it company. Result = many tiny, pencil thin stems with small leaf area. I just long for some normal stuff I can cook & eat! Where am I going wrong & what do I need to do to rectify both situations?

Many thanks

[Carole B.]

It needs to settle in one place for 2 or 3 years to establish a clump...don't keep digging it up! If you want to force some then cover an established clump with an uptunrned black dustbin about the end of Jan and the year after give it a rest from picking as forcing takes a lot out of it.

[John]

As Carole says Rhubarb does need to be left alone for a year or so to get really well established. It also prefers a good cold spell in winter so keep it out in the open not in a polytunnel.
A couple of other points - don't plant it too deeply the eyes (buds) on the root should be at about soil level and keep it well-watered if there is a long hot dry spell in the summer. If watering is needed give a seriously large amount in one go. A high N feed will help it in the early years but won't be necessary after that

John

PS You can't grow these large plants in buckets!

[Allan]

John, I have to differ about rhubarb in a polytunnel. If you could see how my rhubarb is thriving since I moved it inside you would have to agree. Contrast that with the little that has survived outside. As to the cold spell a polytunnel can be just as cold inside in the winter as it is outside, it's only when there is significant amounts of intense light that the temperature is boosted. The only problem now is that some crown will have to go because there is more than we can reasonably use or sell.

[Pamperedpet]

Many thanks for the advice-

I should have said that the outdoor plant has been in situ for 3 years and the 'bucket' is a large plastic storage container about 2x2x2. I wonder whether they need a different fertilizer to the whelbarrow load of compost/manure that I plonk onto it in the autumn? The soil here is very light (ex -heathland) so I try & incorporate as much organic stuff as I can. Perhaps an imbalance in one essential element gives very many, but thin stalks in the outdoor one & too much leaf (whatever that is) in the 'bucketed one' in the polytunnel? My (new-last winter) 14x25 hobby tunnel is not heated (yet) so it did get pretty parky in there in the winter-although I've got my first runner bean flowers appearing now-very exciting! Is there a disease that rhubarb suffers from which might give these results?

[Allan]

the 'bucket' is a large plastic storage container about 2x2x2.
Dimensions, please, metric, imperial, feet?.
It doesn't add up to a good idea at all to use a container for actual growing. It is different when forcing it, assuming that it is discarded afterwards. My impression of rhubarb is that its roots travel a long way down and sideways to build up the crown for regular cropping, remembering that for any perennial there is far more to the root system than the part you see when you dig it up an that in a container no such system would get a proper chance to do its job.
Allan

[Pamperedpet]

Thank you Allan.

Dimensions are in feet-the bit that puzzles me is that the one in the container has normal thickness stems, which OK, are pretty short (c4-6inches) & have quite a large leaf area (about 12x9inches) relative to stem length, whereas the one in open ground (& presumably with a greater root run?) is the one that produces the tens of pencil thin stems about 8inches to 12 inches long which can't support their own weight.

I should say that I would expect a 'normal' stalk to be about a half to an inch thick, & about a foot long before having a leaf area the size of a piece of A4! Perhaps you can put me straight on this.

Many thanks

[cliff_the_gardener]

I cannot recall the varieties and since the RHS has taken out the collection of rhubarb plants at Harlow Carr, I don't have a visual check. There is a nagging thought in my head that there are a few cultivars that produce thin stems, but their names escape me. So - are the crowns from the same parent?

[Allan]

I get a mixture of stems on Timperley Early,range from1/4" to 1"+, in actual use they all eat well but some customers are prejudiced in favour of the thin ones. More important is the age of the sticks, it is usual to judge this from the age of the leaves which is pretty obvious. The short stems suggest stunted growth, whether lack of water, nutrients or poor root conditions is guesswork but in your case it suggests the root is not up to anything longer. The usual forced rhubarb is quite long but that links to growing it in the dark. I don't think we can do any better on this one.
Allan

[Pamperedpet]

Thank you gentlemen for your suggestions.

The varities are the bog standard ones of Timperley Early, Stockbridge Arrow & Champagne. The thin stems are from Stockbridge Arrow, the leafy growth from the other 2. Agree that it doesn't taste too different though!

I'll just feed once & water well & see what (if anything) happens!

[submariner]

try this site, it really is good for all rhubarb problems etc
http://www.rhubarbinfo.com/

[Pamperedpet]

Thanks submariner