Very floriferous and easy plant. It has a tendency to sucker - so make sure you have your sucker plucker ready.

The pale halo on the leaves - the old books say - nitrogen deficiency, but I believe there are several possible causes for that. It can be as simple as an old soil, or heat, or issues with water.

This particular plant was repotted about a month ago w new everything. I posted here about some things I was seeing within the herd that prompted me to look at different food. This is one of the symptoms along w some of the larger plants w larger flowers looking a little unimpressive.

I just received my Dyna Gro yesterday. I have mixed some up at less than a 1/4 tsp but more than an 1/8th per gal. I don't want to start just yet since Im working on some lighting issues.

I think I might be running just a tad too much light. On a few plants, I am noticing a pretty busy crown. Too busy. I don't have a lux gauge but I can do some math considering my square footage and the strength of the bulbs. I need to see if there are any changes after the reduction. I read somewhere that some folks have deprived their plants of light for a day or two when suspecting an overlighting problem within the crown.

Makes me laugh because a year or so ago, I knew even less about these plants than I know now and I never had any problems. Of course my entire clan was made up of plain vanilla Optimaras. Now, my Optimaras are outnumbered by a host of fancy, dainty, cute little hot rods. Picky little hot rods!

Well, that 'picky little hot rod' there is just darlin'. Love it! And that's a lot of pink puffs for first bloom. Lucky you!

Personally, I like the halo on the leaves. :-)

Aha... and then somebody rubs your nose on a "cultural perfection" or the absence of it. 8-((

I love The King- but it is very prone to the haloing.

i.