Well, it *has* to take energy to grow the bloom, though whether that would make much difference in top growth..dunno.

Well, I dis-budded all of them at home except Goose Egg, because it's just so happy. None of the other blooms were great-they were all fading anyway so no harm there. Spin art and Xolo are at work blooming happily so I left them alone for now!

I'm going to keep the others dis-budded to see what happens! I'll let you all know! :-)

Judy, disbudding will help make the plant grow stronger roots and top growth. The best way to get a large plant is through proper culture. Proper light, fertilizing and potting are the keys to getting large plants.

Dave

Oh, you have a Spin Art too Judy ? That's my older strep, wonderful little compact guy.

LOL! Mine's not compact in any sense of the word! Party Boy is the same way. Nice big strapping leaves-and plenty of them! Longest leaves though are about seven-eight inches acroos. Didn't realize it was supposed to compact, though. Hmmm.
I don't expect them to get real big though. My understanding is they're kind of mid-sized! From the VB description, compacts are only supposed to have a couple - three leaves. Is this correct?

Best,
Judy

Well I was just saying they're a LOT smaller than the Polish streps :)
One of the Bristol groups goals is more compact tidier plants.

Ah, that's good to know! Yes, I do remember reading something on Rob's website about growing smaller plants. I'd like to have both extremes! Currently I only have two Russians-not a polish yet (but just ordered two). We'll have to see how they do! One of the Russian's is supposed to be compact.

Also have a hybrid of Dave Thompson's that's supposed to be small and dainty. It's still recovering from heat damage during shipping, but it's got a few new tiny leaves. We'll see how it grows also!

Well, I was wrong, I do have one polish, Cynamon. Didn't even think about it, just liked the colors and the flowers! It's still young-got it from Gary's so we'll see!

Best,
Judy