As the side shoots begin to grow on the plants it is necessary to decide how many blooms per plant are going to be allowed. With sprays, the plant is normally left to decide for itself but with disbudded blooms the flower size depends on the number of blooms.
An exhibitor may only keep two or three; a normal number is four or five, but nice results can be obtained keeping as many as 8 if the plant is growing properly, and the smaller flowers are easier for arranging. When the number has been decided on, any spare side shoots should be cut off and as further side shoots appear on the laterals these should be removed when about 2cm/1in long to leave just the one flower bud at the top of each shoot.
