Tips On How To Care For Cut Flowers

Have you experienced these?

• After buying fresh flowers from the market for a few days, the flowers start to wilt.

• When you bought the flowers, most of the flowers are buds. But before all the buds are blossomed, the flowers wilt.

When you buy fresh flowers from the florist, you always think twice because whenever you do, you only get to enjoy them for a short time.

If you are one of those who experienced this, you will be asking..

How to care for cut flowers to make them last longer?

In their natural state, water is absorbed by the flower from the ground, through the roots up to the flowers.

When they are cut to be packed in a bunch, the roots are left in the ground and the end of the stems are wrapped with wet cotton.

Now, it is up to the stems to take up the important role of water absorption. But shipment and distribution may take a few days, after which the flowers will start to dry up.

At this point, no matter how long you put the flowers in the water, water absorption will not happen.

You need to cut the stems again to allow water to be absorbed from the stem right up to the flower.

Below are the steps on how you can do this at home.

1. Prepare a clean bucket and fill with water up to 3/4 of the bucket's height.

2. Remove any rubber bands or wet tissue or aluminium foils that are wrapped to the stems of the cut flowers.

3. After making sure the stems are at the same lengths, take a few pieces of newspaper and begin wrapping the stems. Make sure the flowers are completely covered with newspaper, leaving the stems exposed about 10 to 15 cm.

4. Now, using the floral scissors, cut the end of the stems slantingly. By doing this, you provide a bigger surface area for the stem to absorb water.

5. Then, insert the flowers into the bucket just now. When inserting them, apply some force so that the flowers will be 'waken up' and start absorbing the water.

6. Place the bucket at a cool and dry place for about one hour and see the flowers become alive again.

When the flowers look fresh and alive, you can start using them for your arrangement.

It is said that the above mentioned technique is applicable to certain flower types but for me, it can be applied to any type of flower.

There are other techniques which professional florists practise to make flowers last longer (described below).

• Bending stems under water

• Cutting stems under water

• Putting stems in deep water

• Spraying back of leaves with water

• Splitting stems open

• Crushing stems with hammer

• Putting stems in hot water

• Putting stems in alcohol water

• Burning stems

• Putting stems in water dissolved with alum

These techniques are not really hard to do. If you know how to care for cut flowers and do it, you can enjoy the beauty and freshness of your fresh flowers longer.

Other tips on how to care for cut flowers...

• How to tell if the flowers are fresh

• How to prepare for flower arrangement

Watch related videos...

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