Kitchen Garden Forum

Malk
Maybe pulling too much?
How long established is it?

I asked Garden Organic about this a while ago[when they were still HDRA]. The answer was that there is nothing poisonous in the stems when eaten after July, but that as from about now the plant will need its leaves to generate its energy for next year's growth, so picking late in the year, say mid-August onwards, will weaken the plant.

Isn't the statement that nothing in the rhubarb stem is poisonous a fallacy. I thought every part of the plant was poisonous rather like the potato plant but that there isn't enough to cause a problem to humans in the stem of rhubarb or potato tubers unless we eat excessive amounts. Maybe they mean it isn't any more poisonous than at any other time.

See http://www.rhubarbinfo.com/rhubarb-poison.html

Stephen, I always leave about 4 stalks on every plant to feed the roots. And I feed it compost in the autumn after it's all died back.

I've had it for about 5 years and it was well established before then. My first year, I thinned it out, cutting out some roots altogether and the middle of others.

Maybe I should thin it again.

RE poisonous. I've been told it's only if you eat a lot of the leaves, but it's good for cleaning metal pans so I wouldn't try them. RE stalks, never heard that they get more toxic in late summer.

Malk
Seems you are doing just the right things, you do much as I do.

I think you will find that the amount of Oxalic Acid differs quite widely between varieties. Oxalic Acid can cause many people difficulties and others seem totally unaffected.
The only warning I would give is for girls who are pregnant. Oxalic Acid during pregnancy is not very good and can cause liver damage. This also includes other vegetables where you eat the leaf. Spinach is high in OA as is older leave of Swiss Chard and other beet leaves.
I do not eat Rhubarb if the stems are not good and red but that is only my personal thing. The amount of red on the stems is a varietal thing and some varieties are never red. I suppose this means I wouldn't eat them.
Certainly at this time of the year the plants are dying down and the sticks that are still pickable are very hoary and not really nice to eat.
Best forced in early spring when it is scrum with custard!
JB.

And another thing about the Oxalic Acid is that that would explain why potatoes would benefit from a rhubarb leaf in the trench. Potatoes like a slightly more acidic soil than many other veg.

Hi Mike,
You are certainly right about Potatoes preferring an acidic condition and if my memory serves me correctly they prefer anywhere between 5.5 and 6.5 on the PH scale.
What I cannot agree with is those who say a chunk of Rhubarb in the planting hole will ward off Club Root. But that is another story!
JB.