Rhubarb.

[pauco]

I thought i would give it a try. Now half way through turning the groung over, i realized Ohhps i have no manure!! and having no place i could just nip and get some, decided to put on plenty of fresh damp multi-compost mixed it well in with soil, placed plant in with what came with it in bag and planted.
Covered up to shoot with soil, then put a scattering of blood-fish-bone on top and mixed in top soil?? right/wrong??? Any opinion would be of help, will it survie or just give up?? or would manure at later date be any help.
Also the plant is a Holsteiner, ever heard of this RHubarb plant anybody???

Thanks in advance.

paul.

ps. soaked roots for about an hour before planting, and watered after.

[chris]

I dug MPC in the hole I dug for my crown. It's growing back fine (well, was until my chickens ate the top off it) after dying down during the winter.

Manure will aid the water retention, but the compost will feed the crown... you do need to leave for it for a year to put down a good root system before picking a few.. I'm planning on leaving mine this year perhaps too.

[pauco]

Thanks some hope is better than no hope. Yes i did plan to leave it for the 1st year.

paul.

[Headfry]

I think it will do just fine. Make sure it does not dry out though and as others have said - dont harvest for the first year or if growth is slow miss the second year too! Maybe a little feed later in the year might help. yum - love rhubarb

[Claire72]

I think rhubarb is pretty hardy stuff, and fairly tolerant. Perhaps using the contents of your compost bin may help?

[Florence Fennel]

I find it very hardy - there's some in my flower border (unfed apart from the occasional spread from my dalek) that I thought I had dug out 5 years ago and it still keeps coming back!

[FionaH]

Mine is tough as old boots, what you have done should be fine

[Dottie]

When I planted mine up along the front of my blackberry, tayberry and loganberry fence/bed, I only had loads of leaf mulch to hand. So just planted up 9 plants (large plant divided) in great deep holes of leaf mulch, the ground is thick clay. All 9 plants came up and then the following season I got hold of a big batch of old chicken manure/straw, so that went over the whole area that autumn. I've had to dig up and give away 4 of the plants, as they all grew so big and so quickly. So my rhubarb has done really well without any horse manure, so don't worry about not having any.

[duggie]

When we first had our plot it was very overgrown and was given a rhubarb crown by a kind fellow plot holder. As we had only cleared a small part of the plot and didn't have any manure, I decided I had nothing to lose by digging a big hole, filling it with multi purpose compost (it was the only thing I had) planting the crown and covering it with lots of MPC, soil and straw over the winter. When the rhubarb started to show we gave it a top dressing of chicken manure pellets and fed with comfrey tea through the first summer without cropping. Four years later it is a beauty! Give it a go - you can always give it an autumn feed of manure when you are more organised.