Rhubarb turned to slime?!

[FB.]

The previous one I lost there

Did you plant near to where one had been before?

[hamamelis]

I planted mine, then (while slightly extending the bed), discovered that there was already a rhubarb there, planted by the previous plotholder. It had been completely covered, and I inadvertantly dug it up in bits... I replanted the biggest bit, because I didn't want to throw it out, but it just put out a few feeble leaves then died.

Unfortunately, I forgot my camera so I have no pictures- all the slime seemed to have been washed away by the night's rain anyway, so there wasn't anything to see but the brown bud cover things, as all the buds were gone.

I think I'll just pick another place to try and grow it, and get a new one for next year.

[FB.]

What I'm getting at, is that perhaps the "new" rhubarb was planted into soil full of diseases which the older, established rhubarb had acquired over many years.
The older rhubarb may have been bigger and stronger so able to tolerate being diseased, while the new one could not establish properly while under attack.
Alternatively, maybe the new one is more easily attacked by crown rot or other diseases; not all varieties of a given plant will have the same tolerance of pests and diseases.

[w33blegurl]

I've had exactly the same thing happen in my garden at home. Had 3 rhubarb plants side by side. one went all slimy just as you describe and died. the pother one was fine. 2 years later I put a new one in that same spot and the same thing happened - still the other plant is fine. So I gave up with rhubarb in that spot and put some strawberries in instead...still no idea what it was!!

[FB.]

I've had exactly the same thing happen in my garden at home. Had 3 rhubarb plants side by side. one went all slimy just as you describe and died. the pother one was fine. 2 years later I put a new one in that same spot and the same thing happened - still the other plant is fine. So I gave up with rhubarb in that spot and put some strawberries in instead...still no idea what it was!!

There is a well-known phenomenon with fruit trees (and roses) called "replant disease", where it is often difficult to establish a young plant where an older plants roots may have been.
The "disease" is a complex mixture of fungi, bacteria, nematodes and probably other things. The new plant just can't get going because it's under constant attack from a variety of problems.
Digging out and replacing the soil in that area often helps - but it must be a deep and wide hole in order to allow the new plant to spread its roots into clean healthy soil.

[scorpius]

Ive lost my rhubarb too, planted it 5 years ago, was enormous when it grew - none for us either I put it down to the vast amount of rain we've had here