My rhubarb is planted on a slightly west facing slope in full sun. My climate has very few cloudy days during the growing season. It's been growing there for at least 15 years without a problem of any kind. I put a few shovelfulls of manure on it in the fall, then after it starts growing up through that in the spring, I give it a good soaking about every 2 weeks and ignore it the rest of the time. My plants roots would now easily fill a washtub, and the spread of each plant is about 5 feet. I measured when I planted them 4 ft apart and can barely walk between the plants. The variety is unknown, it was a pass along plant from a friend. The stalks are fat, red more than green, and often reach 2 ft in length. I dug up a few starts last fall to start another row. Some years I lay some straw over the plants in the fall after putting on the manure, and some years I don't. It doesn't seem to make any difference.
