Rhubarb leaves

[p.penn]

Is it ok to compost rhubarb leaves? I have always done so, but someone told me that as they were poisonous, I shouldn't. Although I know the leaves are poisonous, I have never heard this before.

[lancashire lass]

yes, they are poisonous to eat but will be perfectly fine in the compost bin

[fabindia]

I have read that if you put rhubarb leaves in a bucket of water for a while, you can then use the liquid as an insecticide. Have tried it myself.

[p.penn]

Oooh, never heard that one! I do put yellow buckets of water near my beans as they attract the black fly and drown them.

[lancashire lass]

the other purpose of making a rhubarb brew is to water/spray it on the cabbages and other brassicas - apparently it smells so bad, the cabbage white butterfly cannot "smell" them and so do not lay eggs on those plants. It must also be good as a liquid fertiliser - their roots can go quite deep and so take in minerals that other plant roots don't reach (a bit like comfrey) so will feed the brassicas at the same time.

[Mo]

Will it wash off the cabbages before it poisons us?

[fabindia]

Will it wash off the cabbages before it poisons us?

I wouldn't think so. Rhubarb leaves are that poisonous so diluted in water and then sprayed on to cabbages and left.

Rhubarb leaves are probably around 0.5% oxalic acid, so that you would need to eat quite a large serving of leaves, like 5 kg (11 lbs), to get that 24 grams of oxalic acid. see http://www.rhubarbinfo.com/poison