Rhubarb

[Ger-annie-um]

I watched an episode of Beechgrove where it was suggested that removing all the stalks now encouraged a second crop. It pretty much goes against everything I've ever read. Anyone tried it.......with success?

[ameno]

I don't imagine it would be very effective.
Rhubarb doesn't much like the heat of summer, and more importantly it is day length which it responds to and then stops growing, and removing the leaves isn't going to change the length of the day. And even if it did work, it would exhaust the plant. And depending on the variety, stalks which grow later in the summer can often be tough and unpleasant tasting.

If you want late rhubarb you would be far better off buying one of the so-called autumn varieties (really everbearing varieties, as they have had their day-length sensitivity bred out of them so, they now only go dormant after a hard frost kills the leaves).
Rhubarb are quite growing, so if you buy one this winter then you should be picking it by 2023, as long as you keep it well fed.

[Plot70]

I leave enough leaves to shade the soil and harvest the best ones as long as they keep growing.
The patch is grown from roots that were given to me.

[burnie]

As long as you water lots it works fine, I have done it both up here and in the midlands, in this weather rhubub needs a gallon or more of water every day to get a bigger crop, we used to make gallons of wine from it.