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#1
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Rhubarb
Although they are supposed to be poisonous, the leaves on my rhubarb plants
are being regularly eaten back to the stem. There does not appear to be any caterpillars or snails on them, which would have been my guess. Any thoughts as to what the culprits might be? Davo |
#2
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Rhubarb
On 24/06/2010 12:53 PM, Davo wrote:
Although they are supposed to be poisonous, the leaves on my rhubarb plants are being regularly eaten back to the stem. There does not appear to be any caterpillars or snails on them, which would have been my guess. Any thoughts as to what the culprits might be? Davo Snails. They dont mind the poison. Actually they can be quite happy getting high on the stuff, if there's nothing else to get high on. |
#3
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Rhubarb
g'day davo,
could be leaf hoppers or grass hoppers. leaves somewaht toxic to humans but not so to bugs hey? early morning safari should spot them squish them when they are cold and slower moving, before they get the sun on them. On Thu, 24 Jun 2010 12:53:08 +1000, "Davo" wrote: snipped -- Matthew 25:13 KJV "Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh" Mark 13:33 "Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is". len With peace and brightest of blessings, "Be Content With What You Have And May You Find Serenity and Tranquillity In A World That You May Not Understand." http://www.lensgarden.com.au/ |
#4
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Rhubarb
Davo wrote:
Although they are supposed to be poisonous, the leaves on my rhubarb plants are being regularly eaten back to the stem. There does not appear to be any caterpillars or snails on them, which would have been my guess. Any thoughts as to what the culprits might be? Davo Go out at night with a light and check. I have had snails and grubs on mine. The treatment is different. David |
#5
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Rhubarb
On 24/06/2010 12:53 PM, Davo wrote:
Although they are supposed to be poisonous, the leaves on my rhubarb plants are being regularly eaten back to the stem. There does not appear to be any caterpillars or snails on them, which would have been my guess. Any thoughts as to what the culprits might be? Davo Seems like various opinions here. Suggest you use the broad spectrum approach. Snail bait, observation and attack accordingly. If the snail bait doesn't work, leave the wife out in the garden at night till she observes something to report. No point in missing the footy, and tennis... |
#6
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Rhubarb
Thanks for your ideas (PC: I like the way you think!). There are no "snail
trails" or grub droppings anywhere near the plants, so I tended to look elsewhere. The whole leaf (but not the stem) seems to go basically overnight - to my way of thinking, too fast for either snails or grubs. Has anybody ever heard of possums with a liking for this type of thing? I'm thinking of making a couple of birdwire frames to put over a couple of plants and comparing them with uncovered plants after a few weeks. "PC" wrote in message ... On 24/06/2010 12:53 PM, Davo wrote: Although they are supposed to be poisonous, the leaves on my rhubarb plants are being regularly eaten back to the stem. There does not appear to be any caterpillars or snails on them, which would have been my guess. Any thoughts as to what the culprits might be? Davo Seems like various opinions here. Suggest you use the broad spectrum approach. Snail bait, observation and attack accordingly. If the snail bait doesn't work, leave the wife out in the garden at night till she observes something to report. No point in missing the footy, and tennis... |
#7
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Rhubarb
On 26/06/2010 3:31 PM, Davo wrote:
Thanks for your ideas (PC: I like the way you think!). There are no "snail trails" or grub droppings anywhere near the plants, so I tended to look elsewhere. The whole leaf (but not the stem) seems to go basically overnight - to my way of thinking, too fast for either snails or grubs. Has anybody ever heard of possums with a liking for this type of thing? I'm thinking of making a couple of birdwire frames to put over a couple of plants and comparing them with uncovered plants after a few weeks. "PC" wrote in message ... On 24/06/2010 12:53 PM, Davo wrote: Although they are supposed to be poisonous, the leaves on my rhubarb plants are being regularly eaten back to the stem. There does not appear to be any caterpillars or snails on them, which would have been my guess. Any thoughts as to what the culprits might be? Davo Seems like various opinions here. Suggest you use the broad spectrum approach. Snail bait, observation and attack accordingly. If the snail bait doesn't work, leave the wife out in the garden at night till she observes something to report. No point in missing the footy, and tennis... You could be right This is what I found for you... Pests are rarely a problem. Slugs and snails can wreak a bit of havoc with the leaves, but this is mostly an issue of cosmetics. Flavour is unaffected. In my garden possums are the main threat to our enjoyment of rhubarb and apple for dessert. Believe it or not, they manage to eat the leaves without being poisoned, and in the space of a week, entire plants can be chomped almost to ground level. One final word of warning: rhubarb leaves are high in oxalic acid. In other words they’re poisonous, and if you manage to chew through around five kilograms of the things, they’ll probably kill you. Seriously though, it’s best to leave them to the possums, and make full use of the stems. Rhubarb and apple – I can taste it now! |
#8
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Rhubarb
PC writes:
You could be right This is what I found for you... Pests are rarely a problem. Slugs and snails can wreak a bit of havoc with the leaves, but this is mostly an issue of cosmetics. Flavour is unaffected. In my garden possums are the main threat to our enjoyment of rhubarb and apple for dessert. Believe it or not, they manage to eat the leaves without being poisoned, and in the space of a week, entire plants can be chomped almost to ground level. That's interesting about the possums. They eat eucalyptus tips, so their system must be almost as robust as a koala's. One final word of warning: rhubarb leaves are high in oxalic acid. In other words they're poisonous, and if you manage to chew through around five kilograms of the things, theyï'll probably kill you. Seriously though, it's best to leave them to the possums, and make full use of the stems. Rhubarb and apple � I can taste it now! I recall hearing that, way back in time, in England (or was it Europe?), rhubarb leaves were commonly cooked as a green vegetable, esp. during winter when there was a general shortage of fresh vegetables. I guess it does lose some of the oxalic acid to the cooking water. Evidently, most people could tolerate the rhubarb leaves cooked and eaten in that way, but there were a few who couldn't tolerate this and suffered kidney damage (due to the high oxalic content) and some of these inevitably died. It seemed to be accepted that a few would sicken and die, while the majority benefitted from eating their winter green supplement. You will see it recommended that people with any kidney disease not consume French sorrel because of its oxalic acid. -- John Savage (my news address is not valid for email) |
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