Hi All,
I’ve been enjoying the photos of the southern hemisphere flowers. Now for a question. In the flowering season I try to make every flower count. When flowers are cut and kept in water for a few days or longer is there anything that can be added to the water to encourage the flowers to last longer or even grow larger. Possibly a fungicide or dilute fertiliser?? I’d welcome any suggestions or comments.
I’ve just finished planting 95% of my bulbs here in N Ireland.
Regards
Derrick
Most things that get added to the water like Sprite only attract bacteria. Probably a tiny amount of bleach is good because it kills bacteria. There are also powdery substances from florists that help somewhat, but the best thing is to keep the water clean by changing it daily or at least every other day.
Joanna
In response to Kathleen’s prompting:
My season was very early last year. When blooming began a month before Murphys, I began to post photos on Daffnet. Brian Duncan wrote and suggested that I begin to pick and refrigerate, and felt that some would last. So I did that. I dated all stems as I picked them. I had previously kept blooms for 3 weeks, but never longer than that. I use only plain water.
The refrigerator Kathleen mentions is a very old double-wide Pepsi fridge with sliding doors. It is not a thing of beauty, but very useful. It must have lived its glory years in a gas station, then had a stint with a camellia fancier, and finally time with Bob Johnson of NCDS who shows both camellias and daffodils. Bob sold it to us. So far as I have been able to tell, it is neither frost free nor does it have a thermostat. But in the cool spring temps in the garage, it holds temps of 32-38. I keep a large baking tray in the bottom with a water-soaked beach towel folded in it. I regularly replenish the water in the tray to exceed the capacity of the towel and leave some standing water, and the towel increases evaporation area. We have the two remote sensors for a Cross “weather station” in opposite corners of the fridge so we can be aware of the temperatures it is holding.
I pick stems and put them in tepid or warm water in vases for a few hours. Then I clean them, record them by date and cultivar in a spreadsheet, sort them into categories, and recut the stems as they are put into narrow cylindrical vases from the dollar store. These vases are packed as compactly as possible into the pepsi fridge, and end up being in chronological order of date picked. I actually put the vases into low divided boxes so that they aren’t tippy on the wire shelves, and to make them easier to handle. I try to have the blooms interfere with one another as little as possible, while still maximizing the storage. I avoid having blooms touch the walls. For Murphys I picked 976 stems, and John had blooms in the fridge also.
I have completely blacked out the glass by taping on mylar/closed cell foam windshield sun protectors over it. These also are from the dollar store, and fit neatly.
The day before the show, I take the blooms all to the dining room table to sort. Some will be past, and they are discarded. Some will have grown in size and substance, or such cultivars as Creag Dubh may have intensified significantly in color.
At Murphys I exhibited many blooms that had been picked for 3 weeks, and a few that had been in the fridge longer than that, however the yield of usable flowers picked longer than 3 weeks dropped off significantly. When using stems stored for several weeks, one must be sure to check for condition shortly prior to judging, as in a warm show room, they can suddenly collapse.
That’s the story. But the answer to the original question Derrick posed is simply “water.”
Melissa
ps:
For those of you at the Board Meeting, I am sorry that I was unable to come. My car was demolished by a driver who turned abruptly in front of me on Wednesday, about 4:15, . She was taken off to jail in handcuffs, DUI. I was still too shaky to want to travel on Thursday morning, but feel quite fine now on Friday morning (though I haven’t unpacked my suitcase yet!) Thank goodness for airbags and my sturdy little RAV4. My few bruises don’t amount to much, but we’re not sure yet whether the car will be declared totalled.
We need to keep everything clean- impossible to do when cleaning bulbs?
I agree with Clay that bleach is great for cleaning coolers- diluted it works better
but I am not sure why, ALcohol- rubbibg allcohol also works well and while I
am in the chemical department- I will be wasting staging fluid because I plan to
get some better staging fluid this afternoon
John Beck
(Joe Hamm will agree with me that cleaning daffodils (bulbs)needs
staging fluid just as much as if not more so than placing them in the shows as blooms…)
It’s not magic and it’s not secret–there are lots of tested recipes for extending the life of cut flowers out there on the internet. Almost invariably, there are four “secret” ingredients to the “magic” formula. First, water. Second, sugar to provide energy/food. Third, something to help keep the pores of the stem open so as to facilitate the uptake of water and food. Some recipes use lemon juice, others white vinegar, and others use Sprite or the equivalent on the theory that it combines the first three ingredients. Most recipes also include a fourth ingredient–usually a tiny (REALLY tiny) amount of bleach to retard fungal growth. I think all this is just a homemade version of the stuff you get in little packets with your anniversary flowers, just as good and a lot cheaper.
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Is there any recent news from Joe? I hope his recovery is progressing well.
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I have not talked to him recently but expect him to be at our bulb sale soon. Will send you information after I talk with him. Vijay
Hi Derrick and All