Maybe you’re hoping to preserve the cuttings from your flower garden or just keep that beautiful Valentine’s bouquet around a little longer. Cut flowers have been a source of joy and beauty for centuries, so when you have them in your home, it makes sense that you want to keep them around. Well, here’s a florist’s secret for you: keeping flowers in the fridge will extend their life!
Most florists usually keep their flowers in a floral cooler that combines cool temperatures, humidity, and lighting, but you don’t need any crazy equipment to take advantage of this trick. Just popping your bouquet in your household fridge overnight will keep it looking fantastic. Read along here to learn why nights in the fridge is one of the best things you can do for your fresh cut flowers.
Challenges to Cut Flowers
Flowers are essentially living things… Or, at least, the active organs of living things. When flowers are on their parent plant, they have everything they need to survive – water, food, resilience to disease.
Even when they are still attached to the plant, the blooms aren’t meant to last forever. Flowers are part of the plant’s reproductive system. They attract pollinators and produce seed-bearing fruit. Flowers are the epitome of ephemeral beauty. Over the past few centuries, horticulturists have bred flowers not only for their aesthetic but also for their longevity. Extending the blooming period of a plant has been a science of careful cultivation. But breeding can’t do too much for those of us that want to enjoy flowers in a vase.
Once the flowers are cut from their parent plant, they lose their safety net, but are still actively metabolizing organs. That means that they are highly perishable! According to the Horticulture International Journal, there are four main factors that influence the vase life of a flower.
Water Availability – Perhaps the most apparent factor is water availability. Popping your flowers in a vase of water is canon.
Food Availability – Since bouquets often come with a provided packet of “flower food,” this one is common sense too. Just like animals, plants need nutrients to support their metabolic functions.
Ethylene – A hormone involved in ripening and development, ethylene is the reason behind your sweet bananas and guac-ready avocados. However, ethylene can be the death of flowers, literally. Plants produce the gas naturally, so saving them is really just a game of slowing down its negative effects.
Pathogens – Bacteria are the biggest deterrents of fresh-cut flower longevity. Before the flowers even show signs of decay, bacteria will start to clog the stem’s vascular system. Blockages like this will prevent the flowers from absorbing the nutrients and water they need to keep up their bodacious blooms.
To preserve your bouquet, considering these four factors in your care plan is key. While keeping fresh water and ample nutrients is more obvious, keeping flowers in the fridge is a great way to combat the effects of ethylene and pathogens.
Image by Pexels from Pixabay.
Keeping Flowers in the Fridge
Keeping flowers in the fridge can as much as double the vase life of your bouquet! In general, cooler temperatures slow everything down for the flower. That includes respiration, ethylene production, and the rate that flowers use nutrients. These processes will all encourage the flower to wilt, so by slowing them down, the flowers will stay fresh and spry for a little longer. Here are some tips to get the most benefits out of fridging your flowers:
Keep it chilly: make sure your fridge is set to 40°F or below. Some florists recommend the range between 34-37°F for best results, though these cold temperatures won’t work for tropical flowers.
Give the bouquet a shelf to itself: Remember how all plants produce ethylene? Clear off all food (especially fruit!) from the shelf to reduce any extra hormone the flowers might pick up.
Only Overnight: Most florists recommend limiting fridge time to between 6 and 8 hours. The flowers need to soak up some sunshine during the day, and you probably want to enjoy them too!
Following these practices with your home fridge, you can keep your bouquets beautiful for twice as long! If you’re looking to take it up a notch and are considering opening your own flower shop, it’s probably a better idea to invest in a specialty floral cooler that balances the ideal temperature, humidity, and lighting for the cut flowers.
A specifically designed floral cooler provides the ideal conditions for cut flowers. Image from Arctic Walk-ins.
More Flower Care Tips!
Once you’re ready to put your fresh cut flowers on display, there are a few key ways to preserve the blooms.
Use the right water. Often tap water can have high levels of minerals that can block the flowers from adequately absorbing water. Some water also contains sodium or fluoride that is toxic to some of the most common bouquet blooms. Be sure to add water when the level gets low and replace the old water if it becomes cloudy.
Use a clean vase. With bacteria being the biggest adversary of your fresh blooms, starting them in a grimy vase is a quick way to ensure that they won’t last very long.
Use flower food. More specifically, use the provided flower food that comes with the bouquet. It has the right balance of nutrients to support the longevity of the flowers. Unless you’re a botanist, probably steer clear of creating your own flower food.
Cut stems and remove some leaves. Using shears to remove about one inch of each stem will unveil fresh vascular tissue. You can even cut the stems at an angle to increase the surface area of the tissue exposed. While you’re chopping the stems down, it’s also a good idea to remove any leaves that would sit below the water line in your vase. Submerged leaves will rot more quickly, affecting the whole flower.
With these tips for fresh-cut flower care, your bouquets can continue to brighten your day for a little longer!