Organic Gardening - with Rhubarb

This year I had a horrible time with my tomato crop.  My tomatoes were infested by a little white fly called...   white fly.   LOL.  These were spread to my garden from some of my indoor plants and it just so happened those little white flies LOVE tomatoes and squash.  My crop was ruined very early in the season.  The white flies basically prevent the fruits from maturing or ripening and eventually kill the plant.  I tried EVERYTHING to get rid of them.. all out war!  First with organic methods and then eventually with sprays that I am ashamed I used.  They all did nothing on the war against the white flies.  I finally learned that only a hard freeze can kill them.  They hate this climate!  So I give thanks to God that I live in Iowa and I am praying for a hard freeze this year. 

What does this have to do with Rhubarb?  Well let me tell you what I learned about rhubarb.  I inherited a rhubarb plant from my mother-in-law's estate ( that plus fabric and yarn.. go figure).  I transplanted it in the yard just a couple of weeks ago after the temps outside cooled down enough for the poor little thing to live. 

Now mind you again, I am a city girl and have never eaten rhubarb before so I had to research what you can do with this food.  During my research I discovered that rhubarb leaves are poisonous to humans.  They contain oxalic acid, which in large quantities will cause kidney failure.  I was happy to find out that it would take eating about 11 pounds of toxic rhubarb leaves to kill the average person but also alarmed to find that this oxalic acid exists in many other of the vegetables we eat in smaller quantities... so it can't be that bad!

The beautiful thing about oxalic acid is that it aphids and pests do not like it.. it poisons them too.  There is a recipe for making an organic bug killer out of boiling rhubarb leaves.  I wish I would have known that when battling those wicked white flies and I might have had more tomatoes canned this year!

So as some of the transplanted rhubarb did not make it (some did, some didn't), I harvested the dying leaves and boiled them in a pot on the stove.

Not only does that look icky, it left the house with the most awful pungent odor that I had to open a screen window and air it out.  When Mike got home that day from errands he said "now that is a new smell"... I think that was "nice guy" for "hope you are not going too feed me whatever you have been cooking today".  I busted a gut with that one but not consider once feeding him 11 pounds of rhubarb leaves.  LOL

When the leaves had boiled for 20 minutes, I removed them and threw them on the compost (safe) but reserved and cooled the icky brown water.  I put it in an old re-used mild gallon jug with some soap shavings and will use that next spring to spray on plants with bugs.  I think it will work.  I made sure to mark the milk carton with "Rhubarb Poison" but I don't think the smell of that junk would allow anyone to ingest it.  It now sits in my garage ready for next summer and another unwanted pest invasion!

So every spring when you are picking those beautiful stalks of rhubarb to eat, reserve the leaves for an organic pest control solution!  Just be sure you boil them on a nice day so you can open the windows!