Bad year for rhubarb?

[wifezilla]

My plants look tiny and sad. Usually I have rhubarb coming out of my ears by now. We had some wicked cold snaps that are unusual for this area. Could that be the reason? There are also few plants I wanted to move and divide. Should I go ahead and do it?? Or will that kill them?

 

[sparkles2307]

hmmmm not sure, all Iknow about rhubarb is if you mow it over it comes back twice as big....

 

[lesa]

You might remember that I let one of my plants go to flower- so I figured I wouldn't have as much. This was ok by me, since I still have tons of it in the freezer. The plant that didn't flower is not huge. Mine definitely need to be divided. I plan on doing that in early spring... How long have your plants been in the ground? My understanding is about 4-5 years and they need to be divided.

 

[wifezilla]

About four years, so the age is right. I am just worried about them being so small. Then again rhubarb is almost impossible to kill, so I am leaning towards going ahead and doing the move.

 

[patandchickens]

It's a fine year for rhubarb here -- OTOH you're pretty far away and different weather, so <shrug>

I agree that the most common reason for small unhappy plants would be needin' of division, especially if you may have slacked off a bit on fertilizing them over the past season.

I dunno as I'd divide them now though. I mean, as you say, it's hard to kill rhubarb but because of its LARGE leaf area and the fact that when you divide it you necessarily do major severe damage to its roots, it really divides best in early spring when it is just barely starting to nose its way up. If it were me I would be more inclined to fertilize 'em real good now and coddle them thru the summer, then make note on next year's calendar to divide them when they first start to show.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[seedcorn]

Depends on the type of rhubarb. My strawberry rhubarb never does real well. Seems it gets diseases if not moved.

The other type did real well.