Flower Care and Handling
Proper flower care is critical in ensuring your flowers stay fresh for you and your clients for as long as possible. Flowers are a lot like people: they need to have room to breathe, fresh water and nutrients to drink, and a comfortable place to live.
One of the best things you can give your flowers is a clean bucket filled with fresh water and flower food! Unkept buckets promote bacteria growth. By simply cleaning your buckets with bleach before each use and refreshening the water, you will drastically decrease the risk of exposing freshly cut flowers to bacteria. We also highly recommend adding flower food to buckets. When flowers are in the ground, they receive their nutrients through their roots. Once cut from the plant, flowers lose access to natural nutrients. By adding flower food to buckets you provide flowers with the nutrients that they need and maintain a stable pH in the water. Derita offers several different flower food options in both powder and liquid forms. Whatever type of flower food you choose, make sure to follow the instructions detailing the ratio of food to water.
Once the bucket is prepped with water and food, focus on the fun part: the flowers! Start by stripping flower stems of any unwanted foliage including anything that will be below the water level. When foliage is left underwater, it creates bacteria and releases ethylene gas in the water (more about that below). Once stems are stripped, then cut 1-3 inches from the bottom of each stem to create a fresh cut for your flowers to drink from. If possible, it is best to cut your stems at an angle. Doing this creates a larger surface area than a straight cut. If you need to hydrate your flowers quickly, you can dip your stems in QuickDip solution for one second before placing your stems in water.
Every flower variety has different hydration needs and drinks at different rates. The best thing you can do is keep an eye on your flowers as they hydrate at room temperature. Once fully hydrated, move them to a cooler to prevent them from blowing open. Derita does this for each bunch to prepare them for our customers. You can also spray your flowers with a finishing spray about 30 minutes before they go in the cooler to lock in extra hydration.
One of the easiest ways to keep flowers happy is a clean cooler. Once flowers and foliage start to wilt they release ethylene gas. This gas causes all flowers in your cooler, not just the ones wilting, to age at a quicker rate. Ethylene gas is also produced by fruit and vegetables, so it is best to store these away from your flower cooler. By regularly cleaning your cooler and refreshing water buckets, you can prevent the unnecessary aging of your flowers!
