Hi Ann,
Thin stalks are usually a sign that the plant is either immature (less than 2 years old), or needs to be divided. Harvesting the thicker stalks won’t do much to help the thin ones grow bigger. We hope this helps!

In order to maintain the redness of your rhubarb, make sure you clean up the dying foliage from it each fall.  Cut the stems off as they begin to die back or thoroughly rake the area after all the plant material has died back. Be sure to divide regularly. But usually, it actually doesn’t matter if it’s green or red in terms of cooking or taste; it’s just the color. 

In terms of hole in leaves, that’s often a sign of slugs, common garden pests. Slugs prefer moist, shaded habitats and will shelter in weeds or organic trash. Be extra careful to remove any garden or plant debris near the rhubarb to promote good air circulation and reduce moist habitat for slugs.  At night, go out and you’ll see slugs with a flashlight. PIck slugs to decrease population; spread wood ashes around plants; we like to use “lure” by putting out grapefruit skins which they would rather eat. Destroy any slugs found feeding on lure. Another popular way to get rid of slugs is to sink shallow dishes filled with beer into the soil to attract and drown the molluscs; organic controls include ferrous phosphate.

It’s fine to transplant rhubarb in spring, preferably early spring. Just make sure that you place each section upright in the planting hole with the buds 1 to 2 inches below the soil surface. To aid establishment, don’t harvest any rhubarb the first 2 years after planting. Rhubarb can be harvested for 4 to 6 weeks in the third year and until mid-June in succeeding years.

While rhubarb leaves do contain poisonous oxalic acid and should not be eaten directly, they can be placed in the compost pile. And decomposing rhubarb leaves can be safely applied to the vegetable garden. Oxalic acid, like other organic acids, are not readily absorbed by plant roots.

June is not the ideal time for transplanting rhubarb, as it’s typically too hot and sunny and can cause the plants stress, greatly reducing their likelihood of surviving. If you don’t have the luxury of waiting until fall (or, even better, next spring), you should focus on keeping the newly-transplanted plants well watered. After transplanting, monitor the plants closely and do not allow them to dry out. Consider using a layer of a light-colored mulch (such as straw) to hold in moisture, too. 

Good! Harvesting too early could have been the cause of the subpar taste. Mature stalks should be at least an inch in diameter and be full and juicy. Harvest in the morning before the afternoon sun and heat have a chance to draw moisture from the leaves.

It’s best to cut the stalks, as pulling them could damage the plant!

Rhubarb does not spread by root, as your observation might imply, so it is not likely “true” rhubarb. The suspcious plant is probably common burdock (Arctium minus), aka wild rhubarb. It has large wavy leaves and rosy red stalks like the spring plant that goes so well with strawberries…but don’t be fooled. The wild one is not edible.