What about those little cellophane powder packets that come with flowers?
They contain a floral preservative that is food, hydration agent and antibacterial treatment. Used correctly, floral preservatives will greatly increase the life of your fresh cut flowers.
Food: The food that provides the preservative is a sugar. Plants make sugar through photosynthesis from water, carbon dioxide, and sunlight. When a flower is cut from the plant, photosynthesis is no longer an option for sugar production. Sugar is necessary to continue the development of the flower bud into a flower. With this sugar, the flower will behave better in terms of size, color and vase life.
Hydration: Although cut flowers do not photosynthesize, they will perspire. That is, the water is still absorbed by the stems and released into the air through the stomata. A turgid flower is a hydrated flower. A wilted flower is one in which the cells do not have the full amount of water. The outer ring of the flower stem, just below the bark, is made up of small tubes or vessels. This group of vessels or vasculature is in charge of transporting water from the roots, or vase in this situation, to the leaves and flowers. The water sticks to itself and, in general, will tend to rise up the stem due to the continuous evaporation of water through the pores of the flower and leaves. However, when a flower has dehydrated during the normal course of post-harvest and shipping, the chemistry needs a boost. When the pH of a solution is more acidic, the molecules are more hydrophilic…or tend to stick together more. So a good preservative includes an agent to lower the pH of the solution, which promotes hydration. This is normally a mild acid like citric acid.
Control bacteria: The water in your vase or container can quickly turn into a soup of bacteria. All it takes are a few stray pieces of plant tissue and some dormant bacteria. Add some sugar from the preservative, and you have a recipe for cloudy, smelly water. The problem is not only aesthetic. Bacteria in the water will form plugs in the flower stem, preventing water from flowing through the flower stem. A good floral preservative contains an antibacterial agent to prevent all of this from happening.
Here’s an ugly secret about these packages. Most packets are 5 gram packets that make one pint of solution. Most average vases contain at least a quarter of water. If you don’t follow the instructions for mixing your vase solution and end up making a solution that is too weak, you may be providing enough sugar for bacteria to grow and not providing enough antibacterial agents to stop growth. This is one case where clean water with no preservatives would be better than a poorly mixed solution. As soon as you notice that the water in your vase has started to turn cloudy, it’s time to dump the water, rinse the stems, cut them cleanly, and place them back in the clean vase with fresh water. This alone will double the life of your flowers.
Unfortunately, some flower dealers believe that the consumer’s initial perception is all that matters. They believe that the most important factor when choosing a package of condoms to distribute with your flowers is price. They won’t spend the extra three to five cents to provide the 10 gram packet that must be provided. Instead, they believe that the consumer will be satisfied with any package because they don’t know any better. That myopic view means that the general consumer perception of flowers is that they don’t last as long as they should, and that the water gets dirty and smelly very quickly. In the long run, these consumers may turn to alternative gift ideas other than flowers, and this hurts the floral industry as a whole.
As a consumer, you need to insist on the right condom. It’s worth the investment if you need to buy an extra pack or two when you buy your flowers. You can double the life of your flowers!