Giant Rhubarb

http://www.OrmusMinerals.com/2009-07-14-Rhubarb01.jpg

 

soI measured the tallest stalk and found that it was seven feet to the top:

 

http://www.OrmusMinerals.com/2009-07-14-Rhubarb02.jpg

 

This seems a bit tall so I looked back through my earlier garden pictures to see if I could find something to compare it to.

 

I found a picture from June of 2006 which had my rhubarb plants on the edge. I have the rhubarb section of this picture at:

 

http://www.OrmusMinerals.com/2006-06-08-Rhubarb01.jpg

 

As I recall, the stalks visible in this picture were left over from the previous year. I can't really see any new growth from 2006 in this picture. Judging from their position relative to the paint flakes on the wall behind them, they were about five feet tall. 2005 was probably the first year that I put ORMUS on the rhubarb area.

 

I don't think that I always put it on this section of my garden. The pictures I have of the rhubarb area from 2007 don't look particularly unusual:

 

http://www.OrmusMinerals.com/2007-06-23-Rhubarb01.jpg

http://www.OrmusMinerals.com/2007-07-02-Rhubarb01.jpg

http://www.OrmusMinerals.com/2007-07-03-Rhubarb01.jpg

http://www.OrmusMinerals.com/2007-07-24-Rhubarb.jpg

http://www.OrmusMinerals.com/2007-08-10-Rhubarb01.jpg

 

I don't see any seed stalks growing up from the leaf area in any of these pictures, even in the August photo.

 

In 2008, some flowers showed up by late May:

 

http://www.OrmusMinerals.com/2008-05-25-Rhubarb01.jpg

 

By the end of July 2008 they had gone to seed and, judging from their height relative to the paint flakes on the wall behind, they were about five and a half feet tall:

 

http://www.OrmusMinerals.com/2008-07-31-Rhubarb01.jpg

 

Here is another picture from a early September 2008, after most of the seeds had fallen:

 

http://www.OrmusMinerals.com/2008-09-10-Rhubarb01.jpg

 

I did get an early picture in late May of this year which shows that the rhubarb plants did not flower as early as they did in 2008:

 

http://www.OrmusMinerals.com/2009-05-28-Rhubarb01.jpg

 

By June 18th, though, you can see that the flowers are over six feet tall:

 

http://www.OrmusMinerals.com/2009-06-18-Rhubarb01.jpg

 

I have collected some seeds from this year's rhubarb plants and I will save them to try somewhere new next year:

 

http://www.OrmusMinerals.com/2009-07-13-Rhubarb01.jpg

 

I also measured some of the rhubarb leaves and stems in May of 2008 when the flowers started coming on. This means that the leaves are unlikely to have gotten much bigger after this time. I tried to pick the longest and widest of these leaves to measure. One leaf measured 20.5 inches wide:

 

http://www.OrmusMinerals.com/2008-05-25-Rhubarb02.jpg

 

Another leaf measured 21 inches wide:

 

http://www.OrmusMinerals.com/2008-05-25-Rhubarb04.jpg

 

A third leaf measured 20 inches long:

 

http://www.OrmusMinerals.com/2008-05-25-Rhubarb03.jpg

 

I also measured one rhubarb stem and it was about 20 inches long:

 

http://www.OrmusMinerals.com/2008-05-25-Rhubarb05.jpg

 

OnJuly 17, 2009I pulled one of the largest stem/leaf from this year's rhubarb patch. The leaf was 24 inches wide:

 

http://www.OrmusMinerals.com/2009-07-17-Rhubarb02.jpg

 

and 22 inches long:

http://www.OrmusMinerals.com/2009-07-17-Rhubarb03.jpg

 

The total length of the stem and leaf is 49 inches:

 

http://www.OrmusMinerals.com/2009-07-17-Rhubarb01.jpg

 

This means that the edible stem portion is 27 inches long and there are several others that are just as large.

 

This rhubarb plant may not be the largest in the world but it is definitely the largest I have ever seen in my home town.