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Please Help Me

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mellie:
I only started my allotment last night, it was almost chest high with weeds and old crops. Having cut them down to ground level we have discovered 5 or 6 rhubarb plants...
having been without much light they are in a sorry state but I would very much like to save them.
how can I give them what they need to survive? what leaves they have are very yellow and limp.
any suggestions would be helpful as I am a complete novice. ??? ???

gavin:
Hi Mellie - rhubarb is remarkably sturdy stuff, so you should have no problem reviving it.

I'd clear as much of the weeds from around it as possible, and in autumn cover the plants with a good layer of compost or well-rotted horse manure.

And next spring it should come up good and strong.  

Once the plants are thriving - may be in 18 months time, you might be able to lift one or two of the plants, split them into separate crowns, and replant.  Again use lots of manure or compost - winter's a good time to do this.  Don't harvest the new plants the first year - and the next you should have a thriving colony of fresh new rhubarb.

All best - and good luck!  Gavin

mellie:
hi gavin

thanks for the advice I will give it a go. ;D ;D

LynneA:
I found an old clump of rhubarb on my second plot.  Last year it provided a fine crop, but this year the sticks wilted and rotted away before they were of any useful size.  It was under the elder trees and was starting to be overrun by brambles so we have just lifted it.  It came away very easily which worried me a little - has it rotted or can it be divided and replanted?

Shazza:
My rhubarb got accidentally buried under a ton of manure last year. By the time I'd finally moved all the manure, six months had passed, and I thought the rhubarb was well and truly done-for. However, it popped up again this spring, quite happy and raring to go. I think the message is that rhubarb will generally survive whatever you do to it! ::)

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