Do you know the tricks to make cut flowers last longer? When you receive a new bouquet of flowers you want them to last as long as possible. Not just for two or three days. You want to enjoy them for days, a week, or even longer. But how do you do that? What are the tricks florist use to keep flowers alive longer? What is our secrets and how do you increase the vase life of cut flowers when you receive them as a gift? I’m going to give you a few tips to extend the life of your fresh flowers. 1 - Having a clean vase will extend the life of flowers. I’m sure you are saying, “I already knew that”! When we clean vases at work most of the time its with soap and water as they are already new vases, but we recycle a lot and I buy from yard sales at times and these used vases should be disinfected. A lot of the time I will put mine in the dishwasher and clean them. Maybe you would need some bleach and water as well to clean. 2 - Start with warm water to make flowers last longer. When you are prepping your fresh flowers for their final vase or container, start with warm water. Using lukewarm, clean water is key. Warm water helps the flowers to relax and absorb it. Then, after your fresh cut flowers are in their container for a day, it’s a good idea to use cool water, or add a few ice cubes to the water. The cool water will slow decay and bacteria from growing. Therefore, helping your flowers last longer. 3 - Condition your fresh cut flowers. Now, at the florist we condition our flowers as soon as they come in. We prepare fresh water, cut stems and place in buckets of water that contain flower food. This step is essential to them lasting longer. Don’t use everyday scissors, as they can crush the stems. Cut the stems at an angle and if possible cut them under water. I have to admit though, we don’t usually cut them underwater like many suggest, and that’s ok too. 4 - Keep cut flowers out of the sun. Now, flowers do love sunshine but it’s not a good idea to place cut flowers in the sunshine. You actually want to keep fresh cut flowers out of the sun. Sunshine encourages flowers to bloom, which will speed up their lifespan. So, if you want your flowers to last longer, keep them away from direct sunlight and heat. We keep our flowers in a cooler after the conditioning process, which keeps the flowers tight and saves on their life span. A cool place in your home is perfect for cut flowers. A home that is very warm in the winter, tends to cut flower life quite a bit. 5 - Avoid fruit to prolong the life of cut flowers. Now, why would avoiding fruit be important to prolonging the life of fresh cut flowers? As fruit ripens, it releases small amounts of ethylene gas. That gas can lessen the life of fresh flowers. Strange, but true. So, the next time place your fruit bowl and fresh flowers away from each other. 6 - Retrim the flower stems every few days. Yep, another trick to make cut flowers last longer is to retrim their stems every few days. Recut them about an inch from the previous cut. This will help the flowers to absorb water and thus live longer. At the same time, empty the existing water and add fresh water and flower food to your container. 7 - Put your flowers in the fridge - Most of us do not have the space in the fridge to store flowers. This is why we keep our flowers in a fridge at the florist. You could put them in the fridge overnight and then change them to the table in the morning. This will help with the life span. Although this may be easy for you to do or good idea if you have the room, it is not necessary to do this. Another tip that we do at the florist is when roses are involved, we wire every rose head that leaves our shop. There are many many florist that have stopped this practice as the years have passed, but no us. You will get roses from the big box stores and they will not be wired. You can do all this prep work, but within a couple days, the heads are drooped and your roses are no longer beautiful. With wiring them, they tend to hold their heads up and last a lot longer. I hope these few tips on how to make your cut flowers last a long time be of some help for you. Remember to clean the vase, use warm water initially and cool water later, and to trim the stems using a knife or cutters and not your scissors. So, there you have it. Now, I have to say that we have gotten comment, on top of comment, on top of comment that our flowers last longer then any other flowers they have ever received. It’s because of what we do prior to you receiving them. So, with that said, make sure you keep the water clean and stems clipped and you should have a beautiful vase of flowers for a good amount of time to enjoy. So, until next time live your life in bloom! Sent from my iPad