Rhubarb

freyaluck

Hello Everyone, sorry haven't been around as of late.

As You can tell I have a slight problem. The woodlice have attacked my rhubarb,I don't know what to do as they are killing it off, have searched on the net to no avail and was wandering if any of you lovely people have any ideas
cheers
Frey

pol

Is it definitely woodlice? Usually they live on decaying leaves and tiny seedlings. You could try dusting with derris and put a couple of slug pellets down which they hate. Worth a try anyway.

pol

Fran

British Library.net - Woodlice

They have been around for over 50 million years! :eek:

14 legs, 2 tails and 200 eggs!

freyaluck

Hi yes its definately woodlice
have tried pouring loads of water on the plants to try and drown them out, but by this morning thay wee all over it again, they are actually infesting the base tuber. I am at such a loss.
Thanks
Frey

Prudent

Try moving some of your compost heap near the rhubarb. They love rotting compost and may abandon the rhubarb in favour of the compost. My compost heap is full of them.

calleyw

Last year the woodlice attacked and ate my strawberries so they will eat other thing.

I have no idea why they where eating it. But they did.


I have no ideas of what to suggest.


Yours


Calley

Penelope_Penguin

pol wrote:

Is it definitely woodlice? Usually they live on decaying leaves and tiny seedlings. You could try dusting with derris and put a couple of slug pellets down which they hate. Worth a try anyway.

pol

Woodlice are oportunists, feeding on decaying vegitation. They don't have the mouthparts to do damage themselves. They then take the rap for others' wanton destruction.

Rhubarb is pretty much over in my garden. Give it a big mulch with horse poo, and water it well. Pull away any manky stalks, as they may spread infection, then forget about it until it rewards you with fat healthy stems next spring.:o

brokenwings

to ensure a good crop next year, you shoukdnt pull rhubarb after june 21 anyway
so i would say try and find a way to minimise the damage next year - ie move compost heap etc and write the remainder of this year off.

freyaluck

hello
again
thakyou for all the replys .
Unfortunaterly I only got the rhubarb four weeks ago (transplanted it from mils garden and it had only just started to re grow a week or so ago, so I think I will just give up on it. It is only a meter away from my compost bin, so am totally stumped to as why they prefer the rhubarb. I chuked a load of mulch on last night and gave it the useual gallon of water.
I just hope it doesnt die off completely, I hate spending money:D
Thanks again
Hugs FRey

lolly5648

Sorry to hijack this post but I was given some rhubarb in a pot a couple of weeks ago. It has about 7 stems on it - I wasnt sure whether to leave it in the pot for this year, pick the stems (how do I know if they are ripe) or plant it in the garden as it is and ignore it until next year.

I know nothing about rhubarb except that I like eating it!

sparkle197828

hi have loadsa rhubarb in my garden is it still going to be ok to pull up and eat or am i too late its nice n red stem but someone told me it had to be a reddy colour inside but mine is greeny inside??