Wilting Rhubarb

[Marb67]

Well for the life of me, yet again, I don't know why my rhubarb , that has been growing vigorous and healthy the last few weeks has suddenly decided to wilt. It has good drainage, the leaves are not yellowing or showing deficiency and I have pulled off the developing flower heads. But the last couple of days they are wilting all floppy. I have watered (again with good drainage) and dressed the top with fresh compost (home made and not covering the crown) but still it goes downhill. Its in a sunny spot for some of the day.

Yet again, Tried uploading pic from my ipad, then desktop but again this site would not allow it (even after cropping) . Its the only site that gives me issues when trying to upload images taken on an iPad. It needs fixing as its frustrating to say the least.

[Mark_Riga]

I'm no expert on rhubarb. RHS give only problem as crown rot (and slugs and snails). You could inspect your plant for this and take action if possible.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/grow-y...tables/rhubarb

If it is a big plant, you could cut a bit with a leaf off the side of the plant, cut off and black rot and pot up/plant for next year.

[nickdub]

Shouldn't really be flowering this time of year - best guess something is eating the roots below ground level, to test this theory, obviously you'd need to dig up a small chunk of it soil and all, put it in a plastic box or bucket and wash with a little water - don't use a hose or anything, as if there are some nasties in there you don't want to spray them around.

[veggiechicken]

Here are some of Marb's previous posts about rhubarb - with a few photos.

https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...arb_97999.html

Is it the same plant in the same container and the same soil, Marb?
A couple of years back you found Vine weevils in the soil - could they be the problem now?

[Marb67]

I would post a Jpeg but this site frustratingly gives me an "Aw snap" database error every time I try and upload. No other site gives me any problem with Jpegs other than this. It needs addressing as its ridiculous.

Yes, the same plant but not yellowing, looks very healthy but the two lower leaves and stem are wilting badly. Impossible to tip it up as such a large container. Vine weevil always cause yellowing foliage when active so can't be that.

[ameno]

If it's in a container, I would strongly suspect vine weevil larvae. My containerised rhubarb had them a few years ago. I get them a fair bit with other potted plants, too. They rarely cause yellowing leaves for me. Just heavy wilting followed by death.

[Marb67]

It wont be vine weevil as they couldn't possibly kill a plant so big. Besides, only a couple of stems affected.

[Scarlet]

If it's very big it's possible that the plant needs a much bigger pot. I would take it out. Split and put it into two big pots if you haven't got a bigger pot to move it into.

[nickdub]

I would post a Jpeg but this site frustratingly gives me an "Aw snap" database error every time I try and upload. No other site gives me any problem with Jpegs other than this. It needs addressing as its ridiculous.

Yes, the same plant but not yellowing, looks very healthy but the two lower leaves and stem are wilting badly. Impossible to tip it up as such a large container. Vine weevil always cause yellowing foliage when active so can't be that.

If you can't tip it out I'd suggest using a long sharp blade like an old carving knife to cut out a vertical section and check that - obviously the section should include both root and soil - BTW there is no reason a small bug like vine weevil can't kill a large plant, there just needs to be lots of them, which is certainly possible.

[Marb67]

I have seen very healthy rhubarb growing fine in smaller containers. Def not the size of the container. If this site wasn't so flaky I would have uploaded an image to illustrate but it can't seem to handle simple Jpegs for some bizarre reason.

[SarrissUK]

Reduce the size of the jpegs - that's usually what causes problems with images here. This site isnt flaky, but the image sizes are set in stone unfortunately, in order to keep the site stable and not grow out of control in file size.

[Scarlet]

I have seen very healthy rhubarb growing fine in smaller containers. Def not the size of the container. If this site wasn't so flaky I would have uploaded an image to illustrate but it can't seem to handle simple Jpegs for some bizarre reason.

Marb, try emailing the image to yourself first then try to upload the emailed version.

[Scarlet]

This site isnt flaky, but the image sizes are set in stone unfortunately, in order to keep the site stable and not grow out of control in file size.

I would disagree....Sometimes a larger image will upload when a smaller one hasn't. It is very hit and miss at the moment with some new error messages cropping up.

[Runtpuppy]

Hi Marb, my rhubarb is wilting as well. However, with mine, it's all of the leaves and not just the bottom ones. My best guess (based on my own plant) is that because of the amount of sun we've had and no rain, combined with the large leaves (which means more water loss), my plant needs watering every day as it's also in a container.

Alternatively, with yours, since it's only the bottom (two?) leaves, maybe it's just that they're at the end of their 'lives' and are wilting in the natural course of things?

Does that help at all?

[SarrissUK]

I would disagree....Sometimes a larger image will upload when a smaller one hasn't. It is very hit and miss at the moment with some new error messages cropping up.

Interesting. I always upload from my phone, and if the image won't upload, I just keep reducing the size. There's apps for that, and it takes only a couple of seconds.

What are the new error messages? I've not had anything different, but then I don't upload pictures very often to be fair.