rb producers are predicting a short crop this year. Janet Oldroyd Hulme from E.Oldroyd & Sons said at the moment this is mainly with the Timperley Early variety which is 30-50% down."It takes two years for the root to store enough excess energy to be forced into production in the forcing sheds and anything negative in the Spring or Summer whilst the root is outdoors will be reflected in the yield now, explains Janet. "There may also be delays in later varieties because it has not been cold enough."
"Looking back to last year, we were already worried by the late Spring, as Timperly Early variety lost a month's growth which had a big effect on the plants."
The heavy rainfall of the previous year also washed the nutrients out of the soil so energy stores were down that year.
Janet took a gamble last year with an extra shed of forced rhubarb which paid off, having an extended forced season when the outdoor crop was late meant they were only out for 1 week despite the delay in the outdoor crop. The possibility is there again this year, but Janet is waiting a couple of weeks to see what the weather is going to do.
"A cold snap has been forecast, but then again, one of the worst Winters on record was also forecast!"
