Can someone please tell me what pests affect rhubarb ?

Thanks Dee Dee

In article , b.cumisky
writes
Can someone please tell me what pests affect rhubarb ?

I didn't think anything did! Are you having problems with it?
--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"

Kay wrote:
In article , b.cumisky
writes

Can someone please tell me what pests affect rhubarb ?


I didn't think anything did! Are you having problems with it?
Grandchildren, with a bowl of sugar!

--
Please do not email me at
All emails to that address are automatically
deleted before opening.

b.cumisky wrote in message
...
Can someone please tell me what pests affect rhubarb ?

Thanks Dee Dee


Hi Dee Dee,

Honey Fungus, though not a pest, is a potential killer. That's how I lost
mine many years ago.

Spider

In article , Spider
writes

b.cumisky wrote in message
...
Can someone please tell me what pests affect rhubarb ?

Thanks Dee Dee


Honey Fungus, though not a pest, is a potential killer. That's how I lost
mine many years ago.

Are you sure it was honey fungus? It affects a variety of trees and
shrubs, but I wouldn't have thought rhubarb was woody enough.
--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"

"b.cumisky" wrote in message
...
Can someone please tell me what pests affect rhubarb ?

Thanks Dee Dee


Well something is eating adult leaves.
The reaction I always seem to get is nothing eats rhubarb (except us humans)
:-)
This only happens to adult leaves and seems to happen during the day.

Dee Dee

On Sun, 27 Feb 2005 14:37:27 GMT, "b.cumisky" wrote:


Well something is eating adult leaves.
The reaction I always seem to get is nothing eats rhubarb (except us humans)
:-)
This only happens to adult leaves and seems to happen during the day.

My rhubarb leaves get pretty threadbare too - but if it is happening during the
day you should be able to catch the blighters at it...

Geo

Broadback wrote:
Kay wrote:
In article , b.cumisky
writes

Can someone please tell me what pests affect rhubarb ?


I didn't think anything did! Are you having problems with it?
Grandchildren, with a bowl of sugar!

One way to cure that is to get them to try it raw, green and no sugar. I
did such a thing on the saturday morning to impress my sister and I swear
that every single meal I had until monday tasted of rhubarb but rhubarb that
my tongue tasted after broken glass and sandpaper had been rubbed into it.

Richard.

Kay wrote in message
...
In article , Spider
writes

b.cumisky wrote in message
...
Can someone please tell me what pests affect rhubarb ?

Thanks Dee Dee


Honey Fungus, though not a pest, is a potential killer. That's how I
lost
mine many years ago.

Are you sure it was honey fungus? It affects a variety of trees and
shrubs, but I wouldn't have thought rhubarb was woody enough.
--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"

Hi Kay,

I'm reasonably sure ...? Now you're making me wonder. Strawberries are
supposed to be troubled by it, though, and they're not woody. Perhaps
another urgler knows for sure?

Spider

In article ,
"Spider" writes:
|
| I'm reasonably sure ...? Now you're making me wonder. Strawberries are
| supposed to be troubled by it, though, and they're not woody. Perhaps
| another urgler knows for sure?

I know for sure that it isn't half as infectious as is made out,
but has been reported to kill some semi-woody plants as well as
woody ones. Whether they were sensitive species, it was fluke,
or it was really some other fungus is less clear.

I have the same suspicion about coral spot. I have seen it on
a great many trees and shrubs and it has restricted itself to
dead twigs and branches. Now, it has been claimed to be a killer,
but is that true? Nobody has EVER provided me with ANY evidence
that the actual killing isn't done by some other organism (say,
one of the fungi imperfecti, fireblight or whatever) and the coral
spot has got the blame - just as woodlice do.

I know from actual observation that coral spot can produce
fruiting bodies within a few weeks of a branch dying, so it is
not possible to tell except by a controlled experiment or some
heavyweight tissue culture.

Much the same is true of honey fungus. If it were the rampant
killer that it is made out to be, none of our ancient woodlands
would exist, and there would be large areas where little could
be planted. Well, obviously, that ain't so.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Look for caterpillars or small slugs on the underside of the leaves. I
have
found them at night with a flashlight or in the early am. Slugs will also
chew the stalks.
Gary

Thanks Gary
It could certainly be caterpillars.
Do you have any suggestions on how to combat them ?

Dee Dee

In article ,
"b.cumisky" writes:
|
| Look for caterpillars or small slugs on the underside of the leaves. I
| have
| found them at night with a flashlight or in the early am. Slugs will also
| chew the stalks.
|
| It could certainly be caterpillars.
| Do you have any suggestions on how to combat them ?

A kevlar bullet-proof vest, infrared goggles and an AK-47?

If they can live on rhubarb, I can't see that much less will
help.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

"b.cumisky" wrote in message
...
Can someone please tell me what pests affect rhubarb ?



Slugs and snails chew holes in the leaves, especially the new leaves. If
unchecked will certainly kill the plant.

--
Regards,
Alan.

Preserve wildlife - Pickle a SQUIRREL to reply.

In article , Spider
writes

Kay wrote in message
...
In article , Spider
writes

b.cumisky wrote in message
...
Can someone please tell me what pests affect rhubarb ?

Thanks Dee Dee


Honey Fungus, though not a pest, is a potential killer. That's how I
lost
mine many years ago.

Are you sure it was honey fungus? It affects a variety of trees and
shrubs, but I wouldn't have thought rhubarb was woody enough.
--

I'm reasonably sure ...? Now you're making me wonder. Strawberries are
supposed to be troubled by it, though, and they're not woody. Perhaps
another urgler knows for sure?

Just to make sure we're talkingabout the same thing - what I know as
honey fungus is Armillaria mellea, pictured he

http://www.nifg.org.uk/armillaria.htm

which is one of our commonest fungi and lives on wood.

However, one lives and learns, and a web search revealed:

http://www.bspp.org.uk/icpp98/6/84.html

which describes using strawberries as a test bed for Armillaria control,
not, however, because Armillaria is a big pest of strawberries, but
because they are, as you say, susceptible to it and pot grown
strawberries are a convenient size for experiment.

So, faced with that I did two further searches, on "Armillaria mellea"
and rhubarb, and on "honey fungus" and rhubarb, and threw up just two
references to honey fungus attacking rhubarb, for example the following
from 'Wigan today'

"Given a yearly dressing of manure, one crown of rhubarb should last 10
years before it needs replacing, although occasionally some plants do
fall foul of diseases such as crown rot and, even more occasionally,
honey fungus. The only solution to either problem is to dig up the
rhubarb and burn it. Don't grow a new crown in the same site."

--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"

Kay wrote in message
...
In article , Spider
writes

Kay wrote in message
...
In article , Spider
writes

b.cumisky wrote in message
...
Can someone please tell me what pests affect rhubarb ?

Thanks Dee Dee


Honey Fungus, though not a pest, is a potential killer. That's how I
lost
mine many years ago.

Are you sure it was honey fungus? It affects a variety of trees and
shrubs, but I wouldn't have thought rhubarb was woody enough.
--

I'm reasonably sure ...? Now you're making me wonder. Strawberries are
supposed to be troubled by it, though, and they're not woody. Perhaps
another urgler knows for sure?

Just to make sure we're talkingabout the same thing - what I know as
honey fungus is Armillaria mellea, pictured he

http://www.nifg.org.uk/armillaria.htm

which is one of our commonest fungi and lives on wood.

However, one lives and learns, and a web search revealed:

http://www.bspp.org.uk/icpp98/6/84.html

which describes using strawberries as a test bed for Armillaria control,
not, however, because Armillaria is a big pest of strawberries, but
because they are, as you say, susceptible to it and pot grown
strawberries are a convenient size for experiment.

So, faced with that I did two further searches, on "Armillaria mellea"
and rhubarb, and on "honey fungus" and rhubarb, and threw up just two
references to honey fungus attacking rhubarb, for example the following
from 'Wigan today'

"Given a yearly dressing of manure, one crown of rhubarb should last 10
years before it needs replacing, although occasionally some plants do
fall foul of diseases such as crown rot and, even more occasionally,
honey fungus. The only solution to either problem is to dig up the
rhubarb and burn it. Don't grow a new crown in the same site."

--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"


Thanks Nick and Kay,

That's most interesting. I'm fairly sure I have some form of Armillaria in
my garden - on Sycamore stumps, for starters. The doomed rhubarb was near
the site of a previous stump (probably Prunus sp.), but I saw no fruiting
bodies. However, it and the ground reeked deeply of mushroom after I dug it
up and there was a deep layer of white mycelium beneath the rhubarb. I saw
no sign of 'bootlace' strands.

Unfortunately, before I learned that a neighbour had Honey Fungus in their
garden (identified by a tree surgeon), I accepted a shrub sucker from his
garden. I am not unduly worried about Honey Fungus, because a different
tree surgeon assured me that a) there were many more benign strains and b)
that I grew so many trees and woody plants in my garden (he nearly got
excited!) that I was fairly safe - in the way that woodland is fairly safe
and/or copes with Armilllaria and other fungi.

To pick up the OP's thread, I am seriously considering growing Rhubarb again
(in a different part of the garden), so I'll be watching out for the slugs
and snails mentioned by another urgler.

Spider