rhubarb leaves turning red

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rhubarb leaves turning red - dying?
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Jerry Spring

Joined: 01 Jun 2011
Posts: 4

Posted: Tue Jun 07, 11 12:02 pm Post subject:

Tavascarow wrote:

Manure is rich in nitrogen not deficient.
My guess is lack of water.

Look again. Looks like horse manure which is low in nitrogen. If the manure is not well rotted with a lot of carbon material (undigested straw or hay) in it, it will suck the nitrogen out of the soil although Perrelle's problem is probably dryness. Can't believe we're talking about this manure so much....lol...

Jerry Spring

Joined: 01 Jun 2011
Posts: 4

Posted: Tue Jun 07, 11 12:04 pm Post subject:

Treacodactyl wrote:

Kathleen Perrelle wrote:

So this type of red leaf is not "red leaf disease" but may be just the replanting of the rhubarb from the original pot? I should just make sure it is well watered?

I've not seen "red leaf disease", it sounds more common over in the US rather than the UK.

Here's a pic of one of my crown cuttings I took, showing a couple of red leaves due to lack of water. Now I've moved it into the shade and kept it watered there's decent new green leaves growing.

This from the nursery looks pretty rich and likely has plenty of nitrogen in the soil. It's not uncommon for potted plants to get dried out at the nursery. And with the big leaves, rhubarb will suck water up quickly.

gil
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 18409

Posted: Tue Jun 07, 11 12:07 pm Post subject:

Jerry Spring wrote:

Tavascarow wrote:

Manure is rich in nitrogen not deficient.
My guess is lack of water.

I'm going to disagree with you as well.
The reason why manure rots down when mixed with straw (which does contain carbon - you;re right on that point), is that manure is high in N. It's the combination of the two that does it.

Manure does not 'suck the nitrogen out of the soil'.

gz

Joined: 23 Jan 2009
Posts: 8600
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland

Posted: Tue Jun 07, 11 12:11 pm Post subject:
Horse manure is lower in nitrogen than cow and much lower than chicken. A horses gut is more efficient. However is is still a good nitrogen source

Tavascarow

Joined: 06 Aug 2006
Posts: 8407
Location: South Cornwall

Posted: Tue Jun 07, 11 12:49 pm Post subject:

gz wrote:

Horse manure is lower in nitrogen than cow and much lower than chicken. A horses gut is more efficient. However is is still a good nitrogen source

Now I'm going to disagree with you.

It is much lower in nitrogen, but that is because a horses gut is less efficient than ruminants or poultry not more.
Ruminants have more than one stomach & poultry have a crop to pre grind the food.
Horses have neither, so a proportion of their grazing passes through relatively undigested.
But as you say, fresh horse manure is still a good source of nitrogen.
I dig it in neat under all my cucurbits, peas & beans & spuds.
& I use it as a mulch around my rhubarb, loganberries & grape vines, with no problems.

T.G

Joined: 13 Sep 2009
Posts: 7280
Location: Somewhere you're not

Posted: Tue Jun 07, 11 1:13 pm Post subject:

Tavascarow wrote:

gz wrote:

Horse manure is lower in nitrogen than cow and much lower than chicken. A horses gut is more efficient. However is is still a good nitrogen source

Now I'm going to disagree with you.

Yup, horse are rubbish at digestion the speed of transit means that what goes in comes out pretty much the same, a horse will re-eat their own droppings - cus they're disgusting creatures (it's one of the original reasons poop scooping regularly was encouraged for a stabled horse

),,, no because their is still a lot of goodness in their droppings.

I'd say the rhubarb has dried out the manure around the plant looks very dry, well rotted manure mixed well into the soil will help hold water but fresher manure near the surface will dry out pretty quickly and would draw the water from the surrounding soil into it thus drying out the surrounding ground.

Mix in the manure well with the soil, try not to leave any on the surface and water regularly, try and grow it in amongst something try and keep it a little shaded or the soil as moist as possible without being water logged.

Kathleen Perrelle

Joined: 31 May 2011
Posts: 5

Posted: Sun Jun 12, 11 1:51 pm Post subject:
How do you split the crowns of rhubarb?

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Sat Jun 18, 11 4:49 pm Post subject:

Just seen your question Kathleen. There seems to be various ways of splitting crowns. Wait for the plants to be dormant, so late autumn / winter, and lift a crown. Some just split the crown into two or three large pieces, using a sharp spade, each piece with a few growing points and then replant each one. If you want more plants you can take off individual growing points and pot / plant each one up. One large old crown could provide several plants.

gofarmer

Joined: 13 Sep 2005
Posts: 73
Location: Bulgaria

Posted: Tue Jun 28, 11 6:27 am Post subject: Rhubarb seedings dying

I started off some rhubarb from seed. It seemed to be doing really well and each came up with 3 or 4 leaves. I made sure they were never in the full sun all day and started bringing in at night as well. However, for the last week or so the seedlings are starting to die. The leaves seem to wither and go yellow, looks almost like they are not getting enough water except they are well watered and kept just damp. Very disappointing as they were doing so well. I am going to plant the 3 remaining seedlings out in the veggie patch and hope they recover.

Marches

Joined: 13 Dec 2011
Posts: 171
Location: Nr Peak District, England

Posted: Sat Jun 09, 12 12:00 am Post subject:

Put it in partial shade where it'll be cooler, feed it and water as required (not too much or the roots will rot).
Rhubarb is from Siberia remember, around the Amur river valley in partial shade at the bottom of forests and so isn't used to Spain. In Britain it is right at home though, here's mine:

It was planted in January, moved twice and no lives in shade and very enriched (mulch, compost, manure) sandy soil behind a shed and loves it.
I'm going to get a lot of rhizomes in autumn and plant some more. I got one originally as a test to see how it would do (I can only just remember my dad growing it when I was a kid).

gofarmer

Joined: 13 Sep 2005
Posts: 73
Location: Bulgaria

Posted: Sat Jun 09, 12 5:29 am Post subject:
I have started a couple more off from seed but again they only ever seem to get to around 2 cm high. Then a couple of the leaves turn yellow and die. They are still alive - just not growing at all!

Marches

Joined: 13 Dec 2011
Posts: 171
Location: Nr Peak District, England

Posted: Sat Jun 09, 12 4:54 pm Post subject:

gofarmer wrote:

I have started a couple more off from seed but again they only ever seem to get to around 2 cm high. Then a couple of the leaves turn yellow and die. They are still alive - just not growing at all!

What are the conditions like? Leaves can turn yellow from lack of nutrients or too much nitrogen. Any pictures?

gofarmer

Joined: 13 Sep 2005
Posts: 73
Location: Bulgaria

Posted: Sat Jun 09, 12 6:12 pm Post subject:
They were just planted as seeds in compost, kept warm and moist. Just do not grow!

Marches

Joined: 13 Dec 2011
Posts: 171
Location: Nr Peak District, England

Posted: Sat Jun 09, 12 11:22 pm Post subject:

gofarmer wrote:

They were just planted as seeds in compost, kept warm and moist. Just do not grow!

Well a lot of seeds need winter dormancy - they need some degree of cold in winter to trigger them to germinate once the temperature warms up.
I'd guess Rhubarb is one of them because it comes from a region which has distinct seasonal differences like Europe - SE Siberia which has a cold winter alright.

To trick seeds into thinking it's winter and then spring you put them in the fridge (NOT freezer) for a few weeks. It varies depending on the species, but 1 to 3 months would probably do - 2 seems like a good choice.
All sorts of seeds can be forced into growing when we want them to grow in this way and some people force bulbs to grow in autumn this way too.

Look it up on the internet, there'll be a lot of info about seed dormancy and emulating it.

Luath

Joined: 03 Dec 2009
Posts: 761

Posted: Sun Jun 10, 12 12:08 am Post subject:
Don't over water the seedlings - grow themhard, like tomatoes and they'll do better. Rhubarb has deep taproot/s eventually; I never water mine, just a good coverng of manure in early winter and that's it.

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