Digging up Rhubarb

[Growing4twins]

Hi guys, long time no speak!!  I hope every1 is doing well.

Ok, ive moved house & have moved a lot of items from my allotment to my new house which has a garden (OH HAPPY DAYS!! ;D) which is partly y i havent been online so far this year.

I went down to my plot last week to get some canes for my new clematis & i noticed that somebody had been in my shed & helping theirselves to my things >:( nothing of major value but that isnt the point!!!

So to get to the point lol my question is if i dig up my rhubarb now instead of waiting till september will it do the plant any real damage??  Im worried about leaving it down the allotment much longer just in case it grows feet & walks onto somebody else's plot!!

cheers guys!

[Growing4twins]

[darkbrowneggs]

I reckon if you pulled all the leaves/stalks now, and dug it up with as much soil as you can keep on, put it in some nice ground and kept it well watered it will be ok.  And I suppose if the weather is as hot and windy as it has been today maybe a bit of fleece just to give it a bit of protection

Anyway you have a better chance with it than if it has "disappeared"

All the best
Sue

And if it doesn't survive I have some you can have  ;D  (mind you the postage might be a bit steep - but if you're anywhere near Worcestershire you could collect it)

[no-lottie]

I'd pull the older leaves off and not worry too much with the smaller thinner stalks (at this stage) then if see it's old enough to have a good crown, you may wish to split it while it's out of the ground. There is a chance that some of the thinner stalks will continue growing, but it's better to let them wilt than pull them. Add some dry cow manure to the planting hole as well.

[irridium]

mine's actually died  ::) ::) bought it as a smalll root from Wilko's in Feb (when i took over the lotti) and it did eventually have 2 shoots growing from it, but the other day, noticed that the leaves seem to have died. i will have to see if anyone got a spare crown that they've potted up at a plant sale, if not, i suppose i could always wait to next yr when everyone's splitting theirs again.. i think mine's just died coz i neglected the watering altho' everything else is growing well... (crown was planted just underneath the soil surface as the books advise).

[Growing4twins]

mine's actually died  ::) ::) bought it as a smalll root from Wilko's

I made that mistake when i first got my allotment, it died & i dnt know of any1 who has had 1 which survived!

I think the crown on the big 1 will be ok, it was donated to me nearly 3 years ago.  Its had a huge flower on it last yr & when i was up last week i noticed another huge monster flower on it again!  Its the other  root im a bit worried about, an old guy who sadly gave up his plot last year gave it to me.  He managed to grow his rhubarb from seed, so these r still relatively young plants.  I remember when i was a kid ,my dad used to move the rhubarb all over the garden & he never waited till the end of the season.  He was a plant it & see kind of gardener :)  Thanks for the advice tho guys :)

[Robert_Brenchley]

Take the leaves off, dig it up, split if necessary and get rid of the old, woody roots (last time I lifted mine the roots could barely be manhandled out of the ground they were so huge), and replant. You won't get a crop this year, apart from what's there already, but it'll survive.

[Growing4twins]

Ok, i dug up the rhubarb & replanted it within a few days.  The young crown has grown great, as if it hasnt been moved at all.  The older crown how ever hasnt done a thing, is it dead??? Or just resting??? 

[Unwashed]

It might just possibly still be alive - I moved a big crown once and it hadn't established after a couple of years so I dug it up and left it on the surface and it was still alive a year later - so perversely although rhubarb is difficult to move, it's also difficult to kill!  All the same, if it hasn't shown any sign of life since the spring then I suspect it really has joined the choir invisible.

[Monkey Brains]

I dug some up October 2 years ago and with a spade hacked them into several pieces, so a little later than we are now. Left them on the surface over the winter, through all the snow, till shoots started growing around February, then planted them. They were all fine for the first year. This summer has been so dry though, that of the 7 plants I had, for a while I thought they were all dead, but by late summer 4 had started throwing out leaves again. But I'm moving plots next month so will dig them all up again and leave them out all winter - I'm not throwing any out till I'm absolutely sure they're dead...

It's a tough old plant - if you have to move it now and can't leave it another 4-6 weeks, then give it a go - specially if you think if you wait, someone else will steal it.  :(

[Growing4twins]

Hmmm, so its looking like its bit the dust then ??? Should i dig it up or will it b ok left in the ground?? I dnt want it to do any damage to the younger crown as it is right net to it.

[goodlife]

I would just leave it be..if the old crown doesn't grow..it won't hurt the younger one neither..let it just disappear on its own without disturbance.

[antipodes]

I would definitely leave it. I find rhubarb is hard to kill off! Mine suffered a lot in teh drought this spring but now in summer they have given the best stalks I ever had! I ignored advice about pulling them late, I just made sure to only take a couple. Their growth is unpredictable and often you think they are dead but they come back. I suggest a good manuring and mulch them a bit over winter and you will soon know in spring if it has given up the ghost or  not.