Rhubarb

[Lady Willow]

I have a couple of rhubarbs that are a few years old now so I'm getting a good harvest from them. But ... am I supposed to be leaving some stalks to go back to earth and nourish the roots? It's very hard leaving those lovely sticks sitting there to rot!

[Odsox]

But ... am I supposed to be leaving some stalks to go back to earth and nourish the roots? It's very hard leaving those lovely sticks sitting there to rot!

Well, yes and no.
No you don't leave stems to rot to nourish the plant, but yes .. you should stop pulling sticks soon, usually from August onwards.
That allows the plants to recover and store up some food in their roots to allow them to overwinter and burst into life next spring with renewed vigour.
Anyway, from August onwards there are plenty of other fruits to gorge on.

[Lady Willow]

So I can strip all of the stems off now? Then leave it to it's own devices?
I feel some rhubarb and ginger jam coming on!

[Odsox]

No, you should never strip ALL the stems off a rhubarb plant, or the poor plant will have no leaves to produce food to make replacement stems.
Pull some of them yes, but always leave about half of them every time.
The system I use is to pull the bigger stems and leave the smaller centre growing ones until next time, then they get pulled and so on ..

[Lady Willow]

No I didn't mean as a rule ... I meant the last lot I'll be taking before the 'season' ends. That was my original question ... can I take all of the stems at my last picking of the season, or do I need to leave some to go home?

[Odsox]

Well I suppose as you won't bother with the really tiny ones that are growing out of the centre, and they will have fair sized leaves on them in a week or two, then the plants will probably be OK just this once ... but don't make a habit of it.

[Millymollymandy]

I wish I had some rhubarb to pull, mine's been almost dead and crispy for months now.