Honnat Thank you SO much for taking the time to comment and provide the video, which I gratefully watched; it's very good and so clear.! The ones I did do, I did as you said - dug in and only took the tiny bit out, even if i wasn't sure I "got" everything because the top leaf pair hadn't quite developed enough to be sure where to remove, so I went for LESS, not more.
I did butcher one. - Bloomquist Joel. I went one leaf pair down the stem because the stem was hollow - of course the stem was still hollow and the hole even bigger. Whatever made me think the stem would be any less hollow, further down? That defies commonsense when one really thinks about it! I know where I got that misinformation and it is terrible advice. I decided then and there to never do THAT again. I am a bit worried about that one and a few of the others, sInce I hand water and often wet the foliage. I hope I am not wetting the ones I did too much.
You have helped ease my anxiety a bit. - maybe even a lot!
When you removed the bottom leaf pair, is that for more air circulation? Do you remove more of the bottom leaves as the plants get bigger? That would surely help with weeding too. I once heard that if you remove the bottom leaves, it can also help with earwigs if you do it before the plants start to bloom. That may be an urban myth, but at least the buggers can't hide in those bottom leaves. Lots of things are attacking this year; earwigs, tent caterpillars, and the ever-ubiquitous non-native slugs and snails.
I have not decided if I'll do any more this year but many plants are still small, only 3 or 4" tall so there is time to decide. THANKS again!