Rhubarb in Autumn: What to Do Now for Next Year’s Harvest | Care & Dividing Tips

so like i said rhubarb dies back above the ground in autumn but the crown remains underground it stays at the beat of it it just goes into hibernation it's sat there waiting for the warmer weather to start coming again so what you need to do is leave the healthy green leaves attached while they're still working they are helping to build the plant reserves to make it stay alive throughout the winter period and when they die back the crown will hold on to all the nutrition and the energy and then it will have a big burst of energy in the springtime and come back once the foliage has died back the rhubarb leaves and the rhubarb carefully remove it don't just pull it off just carefully remove it it should just come off at the plant it you wouldn't need pulling off it'll just detach itself by itself when you just pull it nice and easy but different plants may die back at different times so only do what your plant is telling you to do don't rush in and just start pulling it all off just let it die back naturally so that the energy goes back into the crown So once you've started taking all the leaves away that have died back, what you need to do next is that you need to start removing all the weeds around the crown carefully.

Try not to damage the crown.

You'll get weeds popping up throughout the crown and around the crown.

but try and remove the weeds nice and easily.

I've grown mine through black matting so that it tries to prevent the weeds from growing around it, which does a good job.

It works pretty well.

But I do get some... brambles sneaking the way through the gaps in the black membrane at the side of the crown so I have to carefully snip them off and cut them back and hopefully they'll last for another year cut back and then they'll probably grow back the next year again but yeah avoid damaging any growing buds as well on your rhubarb crowns as soon as it gets a bit warmer it'll start growing again but then as soon as cold weather comes it'll die back again It'll keep doing that until it gets to a nice warm temperature for it to start growing again.

So carefully remove the weeds from around the crown when doing so.

So avoid eating any rhubarb leaves because they are poisonous.

So don't eat any rhubarb leaves.

But they can go on your compost heap and they break down really, really well.

They're good on compost heaps.

so don't eat the rhubarb leaves just put them on the compost heap the only edible part of the rhubarb is the stalk so like i said the leaves are poisonous but the stalk is edible but you won't be eating it at this time of year now it'll be dying back so yeah i've got to clear around all my rhubarb we've got to get it all tidied uh that's one job that i do over the autumn period i always let it die back naturally and then I clear it all and I start to prepare it for growing next year because we want lots of rhubarb crumble next year.

So established rhubarb does not need any winter protection.

It's very hardy.

It'll normally last pretty well.

Mine's lasted through snow, through ice, through cold weather.

It's a strong plant rhubarb and it should stay alive throughout the winter period.

So you shouldn't need to worry about it.

And cold is part of its natural growing cycle.

Like I said, it dies off the leaves and stores the energy in the crown and then it comes back year after year.

make sure you check that whether water collects around your plant after it's rained waterlogged conditions can cause rotting of the crown so don't let them stay waterlogged make sure that it's got good drainage around it and make sure that it runs away from the crown because you don't want it to rot they are very easy to break the roots on a crown when you're digging them up if you've ever dug one up they do snap off pretty easily so be careful with water logging the crown Always keep the crown visible rather than burying it beneath garden waste.

If you are mulching it, which you're not mulching around this time, we need to wait until springtime before we mulch it.

Make sure that the crown is visible at all times.

The same goes for when you're putting manure on it.