with a few added ingredients and heat
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I did the same and added some strawberries to the mix. Turned out decently this year.
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i double fertilized my rhubarb by accident in April. i have stalks right now near 3ft with leaves almost the same size. ill try to take some pics. when i harvest. these things are monsters.
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Our rhubarb gets about the size of a VW Beetle. My dad gave it to me many years back and I have no idea where he got it from. My best guess is that it is a Riverside Giant. We never water it or fertilize it. We just try to not make it angry. We wouldn’t like it when it’s angry.
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Has anyone tried Rhubarb in heavy clay?
The trick with monster rhubarb is to plant it with a post hole digger. Dig as far down as you can, 5 feet or so, make the hole wider as it goes up, fill it up with well cured straight compost, and mound it so the surface sticks about a foot above the soil line. Rhubarb puts out a tap root and even if it doesn’t hit the bottom I’ll try, and you need the extra space so water can stand half a chance to drain.
I would do a leach test on the soil. If it is truly horrendous I would probably do the hole shallower, wider, and the mound taller.
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all 4 of my patches are in heavy rocky clay and they love it. ive dug dozens of crowns from these plants to share and it doesn’t even show. if nothing it invigorates the plants to produce more.
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in my soil. i just put the root on a 4’ x 4’ piece of cardboard then buried with 16in. of soil then 3in. woodchips. they’ve been growing great for 8 yrs now.
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I planted mine from seed last year around April.
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I am curious why the diced rhubarb layer in the baking dish looks so thin; was this a light initial harvest?
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I is a first picking because I fell on my plant and harvested the broken stalks.
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You aren’t far off. For scale, my wife is 5’ 2" and my dog is around 75 lbs. About all we give this rhubarb is neglect. It seems to thrive on it.
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yep. i have 4 patches like that. cant even give 1/2 of what i have away. why grow comfrey for green mulch when rhubarb produces so much more and its edible.
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…well, don’t fall in DeKay’s rhubarb or you will need a canine rescue.
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Sure wish I had rhubarb like in the photos! Odd as a young boy we had several strawberry rhubarb plants that were good on yield and took the summer heat well.
After I got married, I planted Canada Red. It was good for about 4-5 years then started coming up real stunted and stayed with tiny stalks. I dug it out and moved it and it never seemed to recover. Out it went.
I tried Valentine next with same results. Now growing Mcdonald. McDonald is doing fine but all three of these varieties get rhubarb rust every year and seem to melt out during the heat of the summer.
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strange. ive never seen any disease in my 4 patches. some bugs eat some holes in the leaves some years but doesnt affect yield. they are all in full sun all day.
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Mine start to yellow up in heat/drought. I have to water them frequently. Just picked the last picking last night as it all will wilt and go semi-dormant in the heat of summer. Odd as some old homes I drive by have rhubarb that looks beautiful all summer long. Makes me wish I had planted Victoria instead. Those with rhubarb that is green in stalk seem to be super vigorous and have good foliage all summer long.
My neighbors were smart as they planted whatever selection they grow in part shade. It looks better than mine does all summer.
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seems the ones in old over grown fields are less affected by the heat. the tall grass around them must keep them cool and moist.
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