I'm a little confused here, why do you want to remove the leaves? And do you mean dig the plant up, place it in peat, and freeze it? Or freeze the just the stalks? Sorry if I'm not understanding...
From what I've read and my own experience, you shouldn't harvest the stalks until the plant is several years old. I let mine grow for two years, and the third year they were HUGE and the harvest was big. You also need to remove any flower heads that form as soon as you spot them emerging. Also, I throw any flower stalks/leaves into the trash, not the compost bin. The leaves of rhubarb are poisonous, so take care to get them out of reach of any pets you might have.
Hope this helps!

Well, I know rhubarbs can't take heat and need a longer chill time than we have. I thought that maybe, after the weather gets hot, I could trim it back to the root ball and throw it in the freezer. Maybe I can fool it into thinking its in British Columbia. :) when I was a kid, we lived in northern minnesota for a while. I remember having rhubarb, but I thought it was kind of like chard, you sort of harvest the leaves along as new ones come on.

Vicki, I think dp bug is right you shouldn't harvest the first couple of years. My parents have grown it for years and its the stalks you use not the leaves. As far as I know our winters are plenty cold enough and it lives for many years here.

My rhubarb does fine leaving it in the ground. The poor plants have been transplanted from one area to another several times due to different reasons and this is the first year I have tried picking any. They are about 3 years old and doing great. I need to pick some and put in the freezer.
Donna

Where are you folks growing rhubarb? I am in Searcy, Arkansas and would love to try some rhubarb. Growing up in Michigan, we always had rhubarb. I dream of mom's fresh rhubarb pie or rhubarb un-side-down cake. You talk about good!!! The canned stuff just doesn't even come close to comparing with the real thing!

I have two plants that I put in a year ago so this is their second growing season. Doing very well, but they have BIG flower stalks...that's why I searched this forum to see if I should cut them off, which I guess is a big YES! Is it only because it takes so much growing energy?

Also, next spring, when do you start harvesting?

Thanks for all the good info!

Hey, Wheelz, I'm in Searcy, also. Well, out in the boonies, have a Searcy mailing address. I see those other postings are zone 6. That may be why they're able to keep it going. I've talked to a few yankees that have moved here, and they haven't had much luck with rhubarb. The heat of the summer kills it off. I've got this one in a container and will try moving it into the shade later in the summer. I also thought about cutting it back and bringing into the house for the hottest part of the summer. I agree, the canned stuff stinks. I've heard you can get it frozen. Thatmight be a little closer to the original.