I have a large clump of ruhbarb that I was intending to lift
during the winter, split it up and distribute some to friends,
leaving it out in the frost for a bit, then replanting.

However, with all the rain and mild weather, it is now begining
to show signs of growth, so can I still split it up?


--
Roger T

700 ft up in Mid-Wales

On Sat, 2 Jan 2016 15:29:25 -0000, Roger Tonkin
wrote:

I have a large clump of ruhbarb that I was intending to lift
during the winter, split it up and distribute some to friends,
leaving it out in the frost for a bit, then replanting.

However, with all the rain and mild weather, it is now begining
to show signs of growth, so can I still split it up?

Mines is growing fast. I would risk splitting it despite the weather.
I know it should be split in Winter but it's very resistant to a bit
of violence!

Steve

--
Neural Network Software for Windows http://www.npsnn.com

On 3/01/2016 2:29 AM, Roger Tonkin wrote:
I have a large clump of ruhbarb that I was intending to lift
during the winter, split it up and distribute some to friends,
leaving it out in the frost for a bit, then replanting.

However, with all the rain and mild weather, it is now begining
to show signs of growth, so can I still split it up?

I have a big garden and often don't get the the tasks at the time/season
that I should do so took to heart the advice of one horticulturist,
super duper gardener who also has a huge glorious garden and rare plant
nursery. He said that the time to do garden jobs is when you get to
them or think of them. He said he usually lifted and moved daffodils
whilst they were still in flower or the flowers were looking bedraggled.
When asked why as doing that is a no, no, his response was that if he
left the daffs till the 'right' time, he'd have forgotten what they
were, where they were and so he did it when he saw them/thought he had
another place he wanted them. He than went on to say that, yes, he
might prune something now and therefore lose next year's flowers but in
his big garden there was always something else to see or admire and it
was better to prune sometime rather than not at all and he'd never yet
killed a plant by doing what he did. I've found that to be good advice.

He's one expert whose advice I now trust. He does it rather than reads
about it.

I'd be astonished if your rhubard popped it's clogs or suffered any real
problems after being dug at the emergent stage.

A few years back a house near us sold off the back garden and a bungalow was built, but the first thing the builder did was to put a site hut up. I noticed that just where the step was into the hut, some rhubarb was well and truly poking its head above the ground with new growth. I asked the builder if I could have it. Now I am not a gardener and consequently that rhubarb was dug out of the ground unceremoniously, dumped into the wheelbarrow in 'quite a few pieces' and dumped into a patch in our garden.

Raced away and we have had to 'hack' it back and replant it.

Go for it.

Mike
In a wet South East coast of the Isle of Wight

On 02/01/2016 16:16, Stephen Wolstenholme wrote:
On Sat, 2 Jan 2016 15:29:25 -0000, Roger Tonkin
wrote:

I have a large clump of ruhbarb that I was intending to lift
during the winter, split it up and distribute some to friends,
leaving it out in the frost for a bit, then replanting.

However, with all the rain and mild weather, it is now begining
to show signs of growth, so can I still split it up?

Mines is growing fast. I would risk splitting it despite the weather.
I know it should be split in Winter but it's very resistant to a bit
of violence!

Mine (unforced) had enough shoots for rhubarb crumble instead of Xmas
pudding if we had wanted. Daffodil heads are turning down and we had the
wrong sort of Christmas roses out in flower though a bit wet!

Rhubarb is pretty robust so I would split it if you need to.

Still got a few pelargoniums in flower outside in hanging baskets
although they are looking more than a bit bedraggled.

I also have newly germinated weeds like grass, bittercress and groundsel
actively growing with some in flower!

For once my Christmas cactus was out for Xmas - the indoor hyacinths are
late though they didn't seem to really think they had had a winter.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

In message , Martin Brown
writes

Rhubarb is pretty robust so I would split it if you need to.

+1

When I bought my first house in 1975, my Grandfather split the root of
rhubarb on his allotment, and gave a piece to me. I planted, then split
again when I moved house and have been doing so, ever since. The root
is in my eighth garden, plus splits given to my brother and split again.
several times. Locations varied from Herts, Essex, Somerset, Berks to
Aberdeenshire today.

None of these divisions were timed to suit the rhubarb, and once, when I
had to rent, the root spent a year in a disintegrating cardboard box,
and survived. I confidently expect that rhubarb to keep going after the
end of the world :-)
--
Graeme

In article ,
Martin Brown wrote:

Rhubarb is pretty robust so I would split it if you need to.

What it can't take is hot, dry summers. I had some for a bit, but
it never thrived and died when we had a serious of very dry (for
the UK) summers. I started again about 5 years back because we
seemed to be having a spell of wet summers, and it's growing like
b*gg*ry.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 04/01/2016 10:03, Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article ,
Martin Brown wrote:

Rhubarb is pretty robust so I would split it if you need to.

What it can't take is hot, dry summers. I had some for a bit, but
it never thrived and died when we had a serious of very dry (for
the UK) summers.

I'd believe it would struggle a bit on sandy soils and how summers but
once properly established the root/rhizome seems to become very bulky
and extensive almost in the same vein as caudiciform succulents.

It thrives on my heavy clay soil whatever the weather.

I started again about 5 years back because we
seemed to be having a spell of wet summers, and it's growing like
b*gg*ry.

It stays put but gets bigger at a fair old rate.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

In article ,
Martin wrote:

Rhubarb is pretty robust so I would split it if you need to.

What it can't take is hot, dry summers. I had some for a bit, but
it never thrived and died when we had a serious of very dry (for
the UK) summers.

I'd believe it would struggle a bit on sandy soils and how summers but
once properly established the root/rhizome seems to become very bulky
and extensive almost in the same vein as caudiciform succulents.

It thrives on my heavy clay soil whatever the weather.

We have had no trouble growing rhubarb in sandy soil. It doesn't get much more
sandy than here. The sand goes down to at least 30 metres.

Mine is sandy, too, but not that deep. I have no trouble at present
but, back in the 1980s, we had several summers with months of
negligible rainfall and hot (by UK standards) sun. The soil
dessicated to 2" down, and was dry at least 2' down, which did for
the rhubarb.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 4/01/2016 9:03 PM, Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article ,
Martin Brown wrote:

Rhubarb is pretty robust so I would split it if you need to.

What it can't take is hot, dry summers.

That's news to me Nick. I've got 4 patches of rhubarb and they've all a
number of years of our long hot summers with at least 5 or more days of
survived +40 temps in each without watering for a whole season if needs
be. There will be no stems to cook, but survive it will. I'm only
watering one patch now because this is another long dry summer and the
other 3 are as sick as brown dogs because I've had to let them go, but
they are still alive and will get through to the end of this summer now
as we've had an inch of rain since September. They'll come good again
next spring.

I had some for a bit, but
it never thrived and died when we had a serious of very dry (for
the UK) summers. I started again about 5 years back because we
seemed to be having a spell of wet summers, and it's growing like
b*gg*ry.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In article ,
Fran Farmer wrote:

Rhubarb is pretty robust so I would split it if you need to.

What it can't take is hot, dry summers.

That's news to me Nick. I've got 4 patches of rhubarb and they've all a
number of years of our long hot summers with at least 5 or more days of
survived +40 temps in each without watering for a whole season if needs
be. There will be no stems to cook, but survive it will. I'm only
watering one patch now because this is another long dry summer and the
other 3 are as sick as brown dogs because I've had to let them go, but
they are still alive and will get through to the end of this summer now
as we've had an inch of rain since September. They'll come good again
next spring.

Interesting. It's not just my experience, either. I can think of
many explanations, but all are speculative without further evidence.
It is possible that what kills them here is the lack of any decent
growing season under such circumstances, because of our winter
darkness and (in Cambridge) often late spring. So they weaken and
die (which is what happened).


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 5/01/2016 9:41 PM, Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article ,
Fran Farmer wrote:

Rhubarb is pretty robust so I would split it if you need to.

What it can't take is hot, dry summers.

That's news to me Nick. I've got 4 patches of rhubarb and they've all a
number of years of our long hot summers with at least 5 or more days of
survived +40 temps in each without watering for a whole season if needs
be. There will be no stems to cook, but survive it will. I'm only
watering one patch now because this is another long dry summer and the
other 3 are as sick as brown dogs because I've had to let them go, but
they are still alive and will get through to the end of this summer now
as we've had an inch of rain since September. They'll come good again
next spring.

Interesting. It's not just my experience, either. I can think of
many explanations, but all are speculative without further evidence.
It is possible that what kills them here is the lack of any decent
growing season under such circumstances, because of our winter
darkness and (in Cambridge) often late spring. So they weaken and
die (which is what happened).

You've now got me wondering about rhubarb's origins which may have some
bearing on why it might have died on you.

On 02/01/2016 15:29, Roger Tonkin wrote:
I have a large clump of ruhbarb that I was intending to lift
during the winter, split it up and distribute some to friends,
leaving it out in the frost for a bit, then replanting.

However, with all the rain and mild weather, it is now begining
to show signs of growth, so can I still split it up?


My rhubarb is beginning to grow so with frosts forecast, is it worth
covering it with fleece? It is in a corner between a south facing
wooden fence and a west facing low brick wall. It is exposeto SW or
southerly winds. I am in Fareham on the S Coast (beteween Portsmouth
and Southampton, about a mile from Portsmouth Horbour (tidal water)

TIA

Malcolm

In message , Malcolm Race
writes

My rhubarb is beginning to grow so with frosts forecast, is it worth
covering it with fleece?

I can only offer my own experience, here in Aberdeenshire. The rhubarb
usually appears above ground in January, and I leave it to itself. It
grows well every year, despite the best that NE Scottish weather can
throw at it. Minus two point something this morning, and snowing as I
type this, but I doubt the rhubarb will care :-)

--
Graeme

In article ,
News wrote:
In message , Malcolm Race
writes

My rhubarb is beginning to grow so with frosts forecast, is it worth
covering it with fleece?

I can only offer my own experience, here in Aberdeenshire. The rhubarb
usually appears above ground in January, and I leave it to itself. It
grows well every year, despite the best that NE Scottish weather can
throw at it. Minus two point something this morning, and snowing as I
type this, but I doubt the rhubarb will care :-)

Its new growth well may be killed, but that's not a big deal to
a plant that throws as many new shoots as it does. Mine is shooting
(which is unusual for me), but I propose to NOT cover it until it
has been cut back. I may lose it, but I very much doubt it.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.