Flowers and plants

Cut flowers

This page contains following subjects:

• Cut flowers
• The care and handling of flowers
• Tips for the care and treatment of flowers
• Fables

Cut flowers are all flowers who are cut from the plant and traded for use in a bouquet or flower arrangement. It are usually flowers from growers, but also varieties from your own garden or from the wild often can be used as cut flower. Important is the flowers can stay more than about 5 days in water.

1. Always buy flowers harvested at the correct moment. This differs for each species, some flowers are picked  in bud, others in full bloom.
2. Always use clean buckets and containers. Fill them with clean water and add preservative. The wholesaler or florist should use the Chrysal dosing unit for the best results.
3. Always attend to the flowers immediately on arrival. Remove surplus leaves, damaged flowers and leaves and small side buds. Cut the stems and put them in water right away. If you do not treat flowers correctly, they will not last long. Buds can dry out or drop off, flowers will not open, they loose color or wilt. The leaves turn yellow or fall off. If flowers are kept dry for too long, they will not open at all. Dirty water with too many bacteria kills all flowers. Draught is bad for them. Flowers packed too closely will grow mouldy. This also happens when you put too many flowers in a bucket together. Also gases, smoke and ethylene are very harmful.

Vase life
This means the number of days the flowers remain in good condition at the customer's home.

General conditions
Flowers must be kept in clean water in clean buckets or vases, with the correct concentration of nutrients. For long tenability:

• Ensure a suitable temperature.
• Prevent draught.
• Do not keep flowers dry too long.
• Certain flowers should never be stored in dry conditions.
• Cut the stems prior to putting the flowers in water.
• Do not store flowers too close together.
• Do not wrap the flowers too tightly.
• Prevent ethylene damage (put flowers not by ripe fruit).
• Prevent high air humidity.
• Check the water for bacteria.

• Buy flowers harvested at the correct stage of maturity.
• Use clean buckets, vases or containers; clean them with Chrysal Cleaner or other biological cleaner.
• Use clean water, about 12 cm in the bucket is enough.
• Add the correct amount and concentration of the Chrysal product.
• Remove surplus leaves and small side stems.
• Cut the stems at an angle of 25 to 45 degrees, with a sharp knife or with a sharp scissors.
• Cut off dry stem ends and the white lower part.

1. Take care that flowers do not suffer from damaging, cold or heat during transport.
2. On arrival cut 1 or 2 cm off the stem at an angle of 45 degrees using a sharp knife. Cut off 5 to 10 cm if the stem is dry. Do not make a long incision, this only causes problems with bacteria. Cut off the white part of bulb flower stems except for Hyacinthus: here the bulb base must stay on the stem. Cut off the dried up part of a stem.
3. Put clean (tap) water in a clean vase and add the correct amount of a preservative such as Chrysal. 
4. Put Bouvardia and Dendranthema in cold water of a few degrees Celsius, use water from the cooler.
5. Put shrubs like Euphorbia, Mimosa, Helianthus in cold water from the tab (about 10 till 15 degrees Celsius). Cut off any burnt parts of Euphorbia stems. Sometimes woody plants absorb warm water more easily. Hot water is not good at all. Keep the plastic bag over Mimosa flowers for a few hours, they will open up better.
6. Put flowers in water immediately after cutting.
7. If flowers suffer stress, are limp or too cold on arrival, cut 5 cm off the stem, wrap the flowers in paper and put them in a cool place to recover for three hours.
8. Always remove lower leaves and damaged ones.
9. Do not place flowers in a draught, in the sun or above the central heating.
10. For optimal success with summer flowers, cut the stems again after 2 or 3 days. Clean the vase and place the flowers in clean water with Chrysal. This is especially important in warm humid surroundings. Ideally the flowers have been given water with Chrysal at the grower's, the wholesaler's and the florist's and in this case you usually do not have to cut the stems again.
11. In case of a high temperature and a low humidity you can spray the flowers with water a few times a day (not all flowers can stand this). Spraying may be done by the consumer only.
12. Cut flowers with a soft stem with a sharp knife under an angle of 25 to 45 degrees. The use of a dull cutter or scissors will damage the stem and then the flower cannot take up any water.
13. Never scratch the stems, do not break them and do not hammer them, do not cut them lengthwise.
14. Never pull the plastic wrapping around a bunch of flowers downwards, but cut or tear the plastic from bottom to top. Some varieties retain the plastic around the flowers in the flower shop. This is never done if flowers are prone to botrytis like Antirrhinum.
15. Add water to the vase or flower arrangement every day; top up a flower arrangement directly after receiving it.
16. Do not place flowers in an unlined metal vase or bucket. Iron together with a preservative causes a high level of acidity and this damages the flowers; metal will oxidise. Place a plastic vase inside or paint the metal.
17. Glass vases are ideal for flowers because we can see the water level, cleaning glass is easy. Tap water can cause some furring, you can remove this with vinegar.
18. Never mix fresh flowers with older flowers. The fresh flowers will be poisoned by stale water and bacteria.
19. When combining shrubs like Syringa, Forshytia, Prunus or Viburnum in wintertime always use Syringa Chrysal. This product dilutes the water and contains special nutrients. Universal Chrysal is for combinations of all flowers.
20. Take care when using leaf shine products. Keep the proper distance and spray very thinly.
21. Clean buckets and vases directly after use. Do this with Chrysal Cleaner and put them upside-down to dry.
22. Some flowers will grow 10 to 20 cm in the vase. This can disturb the design of the arrangement. Sometimes they get caught in the frame or construction and can not open sufficiently.
23. Some flowers develop slimy stems. The slime can cause growth of bacteria in the water. Stems will become soft and rot away, e.g. Zantedeschia.

There are some bad suggestions for treatment of flowers. Never do this:

• put a copper coin in the water;
• add alcohol to the water;
• add salt to the water;
• break the stems;
• cross-cut the stems;
• hammer the stems;
• scratch the stems;
• split the stems;
• boil the stems;
• place stems in hot or boiling water.

back to index flowers and plants

Last update of this page 23.05.2004