The best way to help avoid the Potato Stem Borer from damaging your rhubarb is to control the couch grass and other weeds in and around your rhubarb garden. As a kid, we just ate them fresh in the garden. Since it may be high in oxalate, you should avoid eating too much of it and try to select stalks from low-oxalate varieties. Rumex Alpinus It is also called the monk rhubarb but is not the same as the garden rhubarb. Sour. They bore into the rhubarb stalks. The fleshy, edible stalks of other species and hybrids (culinary rhubarb) were cooked and used for food. Historically, different plants have been called "rhubarb" in English. Rhubarb (Rheum spp. Beats me? Patches of reddish-brown rust will also be a leaf fungus. Is it safe to harvest rhubarb if the plant is flowering? Rhubarb is a vegetable derived from cultivated plants in the genus Rheum in the family Polygonaceae. The adult moth lays their eggs on the stems of grasses in August, which in turn hatch the following spring. The root appears stout and yellow. Our rhubarb plants have been tended by one home owner after the other for the past 100 years! Rhubarb like very fertile, well-drained soil--like a spot of sandy loam on a slope. Only harvest and use the rhubarb stalks. The plant cannot tolerate wet roots. And we get several flower stalks per rhubarb plant. Rhubarb is a unique vegetable that people use in cooking and baking. Rhubarb leaves have a smooth texture. Don't go planting it in heavy clay in a wet area! On occasion, I like to slice off some stalks and bake myself up a nice rhubarb crisp, or a rhubarb cobbler, or some rhubarb turnovers. ), hardy in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 3 through 8, is a perennial garden plant that has tart-tasting stems used in pies, jellies, and preserves. The root-stock is very stout, yellow color; the stem 2 to 4 feet (60-120 cm) high, bearing pale green leaves, broad and very long, the edges waved, but not cut into. Trim off any leaves that have mildew or fungus, and treat the plant with a natural fungicide. Rhubarb needs to get eight or more hours of full, uninterrupted sun per day. (Thank you Cornell, I borrowed your pix.) While the flower or seed stalks should not be used, the leaf stalks are edible. You would swear that it is the garden rhubarb due to the thick and bright red leaf stems similar to the edible rhubarb. Inevitably, when I eat these, I end up with the gritty "rhubarb teeth" effect. Harvest and Storage. Rhubarb photo. Burdock (photo VA Tech) burdock leaves aren't as smooth and are lighter in color. I have a lovely rhubarb plant in the backyard. Rumex alpinus - Monk's Rhubarb, Garden Patience - Monk's Rhubarb is a Dock bearing the name of Rhubarb for some purging quality. Delicious. Another factor that influences the growth of flower stalks is the variety of rhubarb. The soil needs to able to hold moisture and be well-draining. The whole plant – a herbaceous perennial growing from short, thick rhizomes – is also called rhubarb. Downy fungus in particular can be a problem, and it looks like fuzzy white patches underneath the leaves. Also known as the spinach rhubarb, this plant is often mistaken for the real deal. Dividing the crowns of mature plants every few years resets the maturity clock so to speak and reduces flowering. Rhubarb is a robust, clump forming plant. Rhubarb is the name given to several species of herbaceous perennial plants in the genus Rheum, including R. rharbarum and R. rhaponticum (wild rhubarb), R. rhaponticum (garden rhubarb) and cultivated hybrid varieties designated as R. hybridum or Rheum × hybrium which are grown for their edible leaf stalks, or petioles. The rhubarb stalks may become somewhat woody by mid-summer, but they don't become poisonous. {{gwi:217776}} Rhubarb leaves are poisonous but the stalks are good for pies and sauces. 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