My folks have been growing rhubarb in the same spot for the last 30 years. 5 years ago things were slowing down so I told them to dig up about 75% and replace the missing material with compost. Plants have retaken off like gangbusters. Rhubarb has always seemed to be a bombproof plant to me so I will have to defer to others for their experience on plants that went bad. Mine is still going strong after 5 years.

I only just planted Rhubarb last year, so i can't speak to it. However, you will want to be careful with the copper. If you use it year over year, it will kill off the worms in your soil. It is an effective product, but just something to be mindful of to use sparingly.

It is pretty bombproof :-)) The only time crown rot should be a problem is if soil drainage is poor, so unlikely it would suddenly appear after 35 years!! But the plants can become overcrowded and should be divided every 5 years or so. They are also heavy feeders so work a lot of organic matter into the soil when planting and mulch liberally with compost.

Over harvesting can deplete energy reserves and weaken the plant. Always leave some stems present.

I thought rhubarb lived forever and was foolproof. At least the rhubarb we had in my youth never seemed to have issues.

I planted Valentine rhubarb a few years ago and enjoyed 3 years of very productive and tasty crops. The following year 2 of my plants were all stunted out with tiny short stems. The next year all 3 were like that. When I dug them up some were rotted but others seemed to have fine roots.

I replanted with Chipman's Canada red. I got one good crop and they ended up stunting out like the valentine. Both varieties also seemed to defoliate by August every year from rhubarb rust.

This year I am re-planting with roots from Nourse farms into a different area. I believe I ordered McDonald as supposed to be more vigorous than the highly red varieties which I heard are not lasting long. I hope this works for me as tired of planting rhubarb and watching it fail. I am tired of driving by old homes in small towns during late summer and seeing wonderful looking rhubarb yet mine was always totally wiped out by rust by that time of year. Perhaps I should go back to growing Victoria rhubarb? It always thrived in my grandmother's garden.

Thanks for the input I had same plants for 30+ years I try and stay organic but might try copper sulfate on an isolated bed will post results but still welcome any input