Flowering Rhubarb

[David]

Hi all

Just came back from hols to find that two of my rhubard plants have shot up very large flower buds. I poked some well rotted manure around them before I left and guess they liked it.

Any advice on what I should do about it?

Thanks

David

[retropants]

Hi David,

you should snap these flower stems off as close to the base as you can, and if any more appear , keep removing them. That way, you'll get lots more lovely stems to eat, as the plants energy will concentrate on them, rather than producing flowers and seeds.
Hope this helps!

retropants

[vivie veg]

Hi David,

I agree with retropants that you should snap off the flowering stem.

From personal observations, I notice I only get flower stems following a year when I DID NOT pick much rhubarb....I think the plant puts too much reserves into the roots and can produce a flower stem the next year...but I could be wrong

My method with a well establish patch, is to start in late Feb (generally when I've seen the first forced rhubarb in the shops!) and put an empty compost bin on top of the roots. A few weeks later I get a good crop of forced rhubarb. Then I take off the compost bin and grow in the open air, picking one or two sticks per growing point (always leaving three growing sticks per growing point) as I need them (or when needed to thin the stems). I keep this up until mid July. Then I stop picking completely, to allow the plants to build up the roots' strength. In the autumn, all the dead leaves are layered over the roots and allowed to rot.

I would like to know other peoples' cropping methods.