[ollieking]

Hi,
Could you tell me if I can compost rhubarb leaves as I have read they are poisonous.
Thank you
Regards
Ollieking
 

[Roxy]

Yes, they are poisonous, if eaten by animals, or I suppose humans!  They release poisonous toxins.  But as I see it, once rotted down on the compost heap,  they will be ok.  Animals and humans do not eat direct from the compost, do they?  So, by the time the rhubarb compost is used, it will be fine.  I have no problem with doing it that way anyway.

[Fergie]

Rhubarb contains oxalic acid, and in fact if it was a new food being tested for human consumption, it would be rejected as being too poisonous to eat.  But it tastes lovely (with custard etc).

You would have to eat a lot of it to be poisoned, and the previous post about chickens eating the leaves without coming to harm is also true - they only have a little at a time.

Composting the leaves is fine - you don't eat compost!

[lazybee]

I think it's only oxalic acid they contain. This is also what gives sorrel it's taste. So i can't see it the leaves being too poisonous.

[doganjo]

My chickens head for them first when I let them out of their run, so since seeing this I've confined them.  There are big holes in the leaves.  Should I move the rhubarb stools elsewhere?

[shetlandpaul]

this is not true. during the first world war a number of deaths were down to people eating the leaves. they are quite poisonus. they may not kill you but they may well cause damage to your organs. kidney stones are very likely. so maybe give them a miss.

[doganjo]

I'm not taking any chances - the rhubarb is being moved to where no animals can eat the leaves.

[Blonde]

Hi,
Could you tell me if I can compost rhubarb leaves as I have read they are poisonous.
Thank you
Regards
Ollieking




Rhubarb leaves are poisonous to  humans but chooks can eat them like they ar going out of fashion and not get sick or die from them.   They dont do much with the stalk ....so you can enjoy them done in an apple crumble served with a custard on a cold  winters night.

[ellied]

I compost the leaves every year - as others said, by the time they're used again they aren't leaves but compost and well mixed in with other things..

Don't know much about chicken toxins but would imagine that like most things free ranging chickens with enough variety to pick from won't over indulge in the one thing enough to have a problem, but I wouldn't put the leaves into a run where they had limited forage any more than I'd put them over the fence for any other stock to eat..

[Floyd]

Dont waste them on the compost as they make a very good insectidice spray.  Simply put them is a bucket fill with water so covered and weight down with a brick.  Once it starts to smell filter it out and spray it on the toms and roses when the aphids arrive

[northfifeduckling]

I use them to attract slugs when the comfrey is not ready. Slugs hide and gather under the spread out leaves and I can pick them off easily for ducks' treat. Do not eat the leaves --
The poison in rhubarb

"Oxalates are contained in all parts of rhubarb plants, especially in the green leaves. There is some evidence that anthraquinone glycosides are also present and may be partly responsible. It is not clear as to the exact source of poisoning from rhubarb, possibly a result of both compounds. The stalks contain low levels of oxalates, so this does not cause problems."

[Blonde]

Well my chooks hang out for Rhubarb leaves, just like a  child  hangs out for sweets and lollies.  they peck th laves frantically until ther is nothing left, they do have achoice of course and this is always the first to go, then there is radish and grass clippings

[melholly]

ooo this is interesting. Thankfully I have no animals nibbling but DH and I love rhubarb (crumbles, jams, all of that stuff) so have flippin tonnes of it! I wouldn't have thought the leaves were poisonous! Learn something new every day here!!

Unfortunately the pesky rabbits do eat them and it doesn't seem to affect them..!

Mx
http://selfridgestoscats.blogspot.com

[tizaala]

The leaves are VERY POISONOUS during the last war a whole family were wiped out when the cook used the leaves as a cabbage substitute...this included the cook.....don't risk it.

[katie]

I also know of a goat which died when her owner fed her a rhubarb leaf . They really are very poisonous.