Imagine the beauty during summer or late spring with the garden in full bloom and the brightly coloured flowers looking astoundingly beautiful. Even better, imagine a vase of freshly cut flowers sitting in your kitchen or dining room, illuminating the room with bright lively colours. It’s a magnificent sight, isn’t it? However, all that can take a sad turn in a few days especially when all the flowers wither and dry out because of the weather. Nonetheless, if you want to extend the lifespan of your fresh cut flowers, you can use these helpful tips outlined below.
Cutting and Preparing Freshly Cut Flowers
If you want your flowers to stay fresh for longer, you should know the right time when to cut them. Here are some useful tips that will come in handy when cutting fresh flowers.
- Different flowers have different stages of development. Therefore, you should identify each flower’s rate and stage of development to know the right time to cut. For instance, flowers with multiple buds are best cut when one bud is opening up. For single budded flowers, cutting is best when the flowers have opened up fully.
- Always cut your flowers during the coolest part of the day, specifically in the morning. This helps them retain more water and hence stay fresh for longer.
- To reduce the risk of bacterial infections in your flowers, you should place them in a container filled with clean water. Make sure the neck is wide enough to fit the flower stems perfectly.
- If the flowers don’t have uniform stems, separate the tall ones from the short ones to allow more visibility. That way, you’re able to take care of each flower properly.
- Although this is optional, you should treat the fresh flowers to a little hot water. Make sure the water temperature is a little lukewarm. Then, place the container in a cooler place for about two hours. This extends the lifespan of the flowers since the hot water molecules move up the stem which reduces the loss of water to heat.
- If the flowers are still attached to their bulbs, you should try cold water. However, for the rest, you should always use lukewarm water once you’ve tried the hot water treatment mentioned above.
How to Keep Newly Cut Flowers Fresh For Longer
Once you have treated and gone through the procedures mentioned above, the next step is keeping the newly cut flowers fresh for longer. The following tips should come in handy.
- Cut any leaves that are submerged in the water. They are more likely to rot and create the perfect environment for bacteria. Therefore, if you don’t want the rest of your flowers to be damaged, you should regularly check submerged leaves and cut them immediately.
- To keep your flowers fresh, you should regularly change the water. Before adding new water into the vase or container, remove all the debris at the bottom since it reduces the risk of infection.
- Regularly trim the stems, especially when you change the water. If not possible, do your trimming every other day. When doing so, you should use shears or sharp scissors. The trimming should be done at an angle of 45 degrees to increase the absorption rate of water. If you buy flowers from the store, you should trim the stems before placing them in water.
- Roses have a high tendency to trap water bubbles which can cause the flowers to droop. Therefore, when trimming the stems of your roses, you should place the stems in boiling hot water to unblock the stems and watch them spring back to life.
- Environmental factors play a great role in reducing the life span of freshly cut flowers. Therefore, keep your flowers away from direct sun or near other sources of heat in your house. If you place them near fresh fruit, wilting might occur since fruits release ethylene gas. Also, keep them away from cool breezes or drafts which might dry them up faster. Always make sure the flowers environment is at room temperature.
- If you notice any wilted flowers in the container simply remove them from the container.
Important Things to Note
- In some cases, cutting the thorns from roses can reduce the lifespan. Therefore, it’s not crucial to remove them unless you want to improve the aesthetic value.
- There are people who use hairspray to maintain the shape of flower bouquets. However, it doesn’t help keep flowers fresh.
Try these helpful tips in cutting and preparing your flowers and you will surely be surprised at the wonders it does in preserving and keeping your flowers fresh for longer!
