Cut Flower Care

Wednesday, February 15 | Flower Facts, Cut Flowers

Cut Flower Care

 

What is the most important thing cut flowers need to stay looking their best?  Water!

Just like people, cut flowers need to stay hydrated.  In order to do so, the water-carrying tissues in the flowers' stems need to stay clean, healthy and bacteria free.

When you get your flowers home, re-cut their stems straight across or slant-wise using a sharp knife or scissors just before placing them in water.  Do not let cut stems remain out of water very long or air will enter the stems' water-carrying tissues and create a blockage. 

Remove any foliage from your flower stems that will end up under water in your vase.  Submerged foliage will begin to deteriorate and foul the water with bacteria.  The bacteria will begin to accumulate in the flowers' cut ends and reduce the flowers' ability to 'drink'.

Change your vase's water every other day to prevent bacteria build-up.  Also, cut about 1/2 inch off the ends of your flowers before returning them to the clean water.  Placing a fresh cut on the stems removes the old, bacteria-blocked ends and exposes fresher tissue to the clean water to help the flowers stay hydrated.

Add a packet of flower food to your vase water each time you change the water.  The food has ingredients to help slow the growth of bacteria in the water and in the stem tissues as well as food (sugars) to help the flowers continue developing and opening.

If you don't have flower food, simply keeping up on stem-cutting and water-changing will still make a significant improvement to your flowers' performance.

If your flowers are arranged in floral foam, just be sure to keep plenty of standing water around the foam block.  The foam material already has enough floral preservative in it that you don't need to worry about re-cutting stems regularly.

Find a home for your flowers that is not in direct sunlight or close to a heat vent, as either will stress the flowers.  Also, be very careful not to let your flowers freeze when transporting them.  Even brief exposure to sub-freezing temperatures can cause 'burned' edges on flower petals and significantly reduce their vase life.