Rhubarb gone to seed

[muckman]

Hi i was wondering if anyone has any information why my 2 year old rhubarb plants have gone to seed.
I put them in the ground in a sunny position with well rotted manure and didnt harvest them, This spring they started growing great and now all 4 crowns have gone to seed ? any help would be great.
Thanks Denny.

[Capsid]

Just cut off the flower stems as soon as you see them.

[Nicos]

Just the vast temperature differences /weather over the past few weeks I'd say

I've seen many more plants in flower this year..as Capsid says- chop them off!..they'll be fine next year!

[pigletwillie]

Pull the flowers out as you would a stalk, otherwise whats left may rot and damage the crown.

Once thats done, harvest away, the more you pull the more grows back. Dont forget to feed them though.

[shirlthegirl43]

Hmm, now why didn't you give that advice weeks ago when I asked about my rhubarb flower Piglet? I cut mine coz that was the only info I could find. Will have a bash at pulling the rest out tomorrow as I have been a little concerned about leaving the remains of the flower stalk.

[Alison]

There seems to be a lot of flowering rhubarb this year. Mine at home has never flowered before this year and has had two big flower stalks this time. Up the plot I've got no problems but there's a rather neglected plot a couple along with about 15 flowers in quite a big patch and that doesn't seem at all unusual.

[muckman]

Thanks for the info folks.
Ceers again Denny

[FelixLeiter]

Some rhubarb varieties are more apt to flower than others. Timperley Early famously never flowers, but unfortunately there are many usurpers with this name and the real McCoy Timperley is very hard to obtain. I managed to get a piece off a friend who had grown it for over twenty years.

But it's no good knowing that if you already have established plants of another variety. You should break out the flowering stems as they appear. It doesn't really matter too much if they get quite big. Breaking rather than cutting is the best way with everything to do with rhubarb, especially the stalks which should be broken out rather than cut — stumps which are left only encourage decay.