Just keep taking off bottom leaves at a rate you and the plant feel comfortable with...
And see how polite y'all are; you said you wouldn't call me a crazy Yankee but not a mention on what you are thinking...some northeners would mistake that for a clean bill, but I was stationed down south and know the unspoken part of sentences mean way more below the Mason Dixon...
I was a few weeks into being stationed in Charleston SC back in the day and a lady in a convenience store asked me " how was I finding the South?" (a critical difference in North/South culture right there, that the lady in the convenience store actually conversed and seemed to care how I was; northern convenience store help never cares how you are doing and often can't speak to you due to piercings or a complete lack of English). When I told her that I liked how polite the people were, but occasionally had trouble with the accent, she comes back sweet as pecan pie, "And what accent would that be, yankee?"
I still smile about that twenty five years later...
Try the milk. You are going to be suprised...
HG
HG