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There ’s something fresh and summery about a rhubarb plant seam growing tall in the sunlight . It ’s one of the first harvest of the season , and the tangy , sour taste of rhubarb balances out all the sweet , delicate spring flavors perfectly .
We can pick pieplant from later April to early August in the northeast and mix it into every meal as a gratifying , slimly caustic summer chomp .
Ascochyta on strawberry
But rhubarb job like pests and disease can put a stay to your dining plans . Let ’s talk about 10 of the most plebeian rhubarb - growing issues you might have .
Overcoming Rhubarb Problems
I can rhubarb every year – adding it to marmalades and jellies , Indian relish , and syrups . All through the wintertime , rhubarb plant is around to brighten up my meals and bring a gustatory sensation of sunlight to the dark-skinned winter days .
Rhubarb is easy to growanywhere the wintertime temperatures get cold enough to block – it needs a period of deep cold to rightfully thrive . The cold weather forces rhubarb into dormancy and gives it a chance to give renewed in the spring .
With full sun , cold-blooded winters , and plenty of rich , loamy grease , pieplant is a happy , easy - to - handle veg . The stalks are delicious , and the leaves – while toxic to consume – make an first-class insect repellent . I ’ll often pick one to wear on my fountainhead while working in the garden . It looks pretty cockamamie , but it works .
Ascochyta on strawberry
While rhubarb is a hardy flora , with few pauperization , it can fall target to a few pests and diseases . Fortunately , this tough extremity of the buckwheat family rarely fails to win out over its attackers . A healthy , established stand of rhubarb can defy a spate .
That ’s not to say that nothing can harm them . There are several rhubarb plant problem that can destroy your harvest .
In most cause , rhubarb pestis are smaller and slower at damaging your plants , while a few diseases are downright deadly .
Rhubarb plants will occasionally have issue with fungous disease . Most of these wo n’t importantly damage the plant , though one is venomous . As with plague , maintaining a healthy garden is one of the good way to keep your rhubarb plant safe .
Weed systematically , amend the dirt as need , and keep your garden bed spare of clutter and dust . With plenty of air flow between plants , clean soil , and lot of sunshine , your rhubarb plant plants will be healthy enough to resist most likely diseases .
1. Herbivores
My Goat are the only pests I ’ve ever seen on my rhubarb plant . Rhubarb is dangerous for goats and sheep to down , but they make a beeline for my plants whenever they get loose and never get sick .
Deer , elk , and possum will also nosh on rhubarb when there is n’t anything more sympathetic around . A minuscule fencing can protect your plant from these rhubarb problem .
2. Slugs and Snails
slug and snails are the bane of every garden , particularly in tight seasons when the earth is such a felicitous berth for these little pests . Last summer , we had slug throughout our garden , and I had to write the ducks in the garden for calendar week to get rid of them .
Slugs and snails primarily eat the foliage of your rhubarb plants . Since you do n’t run through the parting , it ’s usually not a major issue . Healthy pieplant plants can withstand quite a bit of slug damage without missing a metre .
As the leaves get older and tougher , even the clout will allow them alone . They favor new , tender leaves , so they ’ll move toward your super acid and cabbages .
But just because it ’s unbelievable the slugs and snails will be calamitous does n’t mean you require to feed them all spring long . The best way to get rid of slugs and snails is by stool the sphere around your rhubarb inhospitable to them .
Weed out the rhubarb plant bed on a regular basis and sparge diatomaceous dry land around the plants to keep them good from marauding snails and slugs .
3. Curculio Beetle
Another pest that may damage your pieplant is the curculio beetle ( Curculiospp . ) . This half - inch long , yellow - chocolate-brown beetle has a foresighted , sucking snout that it uses to bear midget holes in rhubarb stems . Curculios lay their dingy egg in the stems , causing ignominious spots to come out .
Unfortunately , curculios are tough enough to withstand pesticidal sprays . mitt - pick these little pest off , bung them to your chickens , or pop them into a jolt of vegetable oil or kerosene to kill them .
When it come to rhubarb job , this pesterer is more damaging than others , but it ’s also less common .
4. Aphids
smuggled noggin aphids ( Aphis fabae ) dear rhubarb . They ’ll bunch on the undersides of the leave and along the chaff , and they ’ll use their sucking mouthparts to course on the fool of the plant .
They attract ants and leave alone sticky honeydew behind , as well as causing the leaves to curl up at the edges . A big infestation can cause yellowing folio and stunted development .
Our guidewill help you cipher out how to get rid of them so you’re able to move onto dealing with other rhubarb problems if they kill up .
Ascochyta on strawberry
5. Crown Rot
Crown hogwash ( Phytophthoraspp . ) is the worst disease rhubarb works can get . It is fatal to the plant , so bar is the only option here . Crown rot is a fungal disease that causes the industrial plant ’s crown to decompose aside .
When the soil around your rhubarb plant plant remains waterlogged for days or weeks , various fungi proliferate on and around the plant . Those fungi thrive in the soggy ground and begin to consume the crown of the rhubarb plant plant .
Within weeks the whole plant will be reduced to a schmaltzy , rotten mess . If you see signs of crownwork rotting , extirpate the entire works and glow it to preclude the spread head of this disease . Do n’t plant rhubarb plant in the same topographic point for a few years , and insolate your soil to kill any remaining fungi .
Of all the rhubarb problems you might encounter , this is one of the tough .
6. Rust
This fungus causes rustly distort orange or red spots on the leaves and occasionally on the stems of rhubarb plants . Like most fungi , rust occur when your plant gets too much weewee and not enough airflow . Rust can damage the plant life ’s crown , but not to the utmost degree that crown rot will .
Remove all badly affected leaves and stems when you see signaling of rust fungus on your rhubarb plant . Do n’t put them in the compost – burn them if potential or fox them in the trash . Then , clear aside all the weeds and dust around your rhubarb plant life .
If your works is putting up a lot of pocket-size stalks , harvest about half of the healthy angry walk to increase airflow around the plant and maximise sunlight .
Do n’t over - fertilise your rhubarb , either . Avoid atomic number 7 - base fertilizers particularly , as they increase raw , leafy growth , which will be soft target for rust . Improper fertilization can lead to a set of rhubarb problem .
7. Ascochyta Leaf Spot
This fungous infection set out as tiny , greenish - chicken spots on rhubarb leaf . The spot gradually grow – producing white center flanked by xanthous and brown , withering edges . Eventually , the center of the point rots aside all , leaving a rebuke - edge hole in the foliage .
Remove the infected leave-taking and improve overall garden hygiene . This will help prevent other pieplant problems , too . you may successfully handle this fungus with a bull - based spray for severe infections .
8. Anthracnose Stalk Rot
Stalk moulder is one of the most frustrative diseases in your rhubarb plant bed . This disease starts by producing wilt leaves and large , ugly lesions on the stem . The leaf wilt because the affect staunch can no longer keep going them . As the wound originate , they rick black and weaken the entire stem – causing them to twist and collapse .
transfer any halt showing signs of stalk molder and burn them . Do n’t rust or can them , even if you remove the wound . Anthracnose stalking moulder usually only affects sickly or stressed plants , so healthy garden habits are key to forestall this disease .
9. Ramularia Leaf Spot
This fungal disease is called “ leaf place ” because it starts by impact the leave . But ramularia will quickly spread to the stalks as well . As with ascochyta leaf spot , ramularia starts with promptly growing musca volitans on affected farewell . Ramularia spots are small and red . They turn whitish with regal halos as they grow before go down into molder wound .
The stalk spots lengthen and spread up the stalk , make rotten lesions and ruining your stalks . Do n’t eat affected stalks , and keep all damage plant out of the compost .
These fungi can circularize through splashing pee and on the malarky , so withdraw affected leaves and stem as promptly as possible . copper color spray can be efficacious against ramularia foliage spot , so along with hygienic practices , do n’t be afraid to use acopper - free-base fungal spray .
10. Weak Stalks
Occasionally , a rhubarb layer just seems rickety . It is n’t fly high as it used to , but it is n’t diseased or infested either . If your rhubarb suffers from an indefinable malaise , it may take to be divided .
Rhubarb spreads through root . A level-headed , well - tended spell of pieplant should be divide every 3 - 5 years . But often , our plant are doing so well that we do n’t want to change anything .
I ’ve seen rhubarb plants left alone and undivided for over ten year . They do n’t produce well , but there ’s a huge , healthy rootage under the soil . One plant can fill a new dustup with healthy plants when dug up and split up .
Suppose your rhubarb get sick often , despite all your weeding and care . Or , if it seems sizable but only puts out diminished , slender angry walk , you may need to separate your pieplant works .
Dig out the plant and cautiously get out the onetime crown into two or three man with a few buds in each section . Then , plant them in rich , well - draining soil . ensure the crown are just below the surface of the stain . If it ’s been a recollective time since your pieplant has been dissever , it may just strike apart into multiple part on its own . I once dug up “ one ” works that rive into six prominent , tidy plant as shortly as they were out of the soil . water parting rhubarb in the outflow or fall , but do n’t expect a harvest from fresh split up plants for at least a year after the move .
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