Tips To Extend The Life Of Cut Flowers

Adorning a room with fresh flowers, placed in a vase, helps impart a very welcoming feel to it. Fresh-cut flowers are especially preferred by those who do not have a garden in their home. While flowers surely help beautify your house, the beauty tends to last a small amount of time only. Though you cannot make fresh flowers long for weeks at end, it is definitely possible to keep them from wilting in 1-2 days only. How? By following certain easy steps! In case you want to further explore tips to extend the life of cut flowers, the following lines will surely some handy.

How To Extend The Life Of Your Cut Flowers

Supplies Needed

Vase
Bucket
Scissors
Water
2 tbsp Lemon Juice
1 tsp Sugar
¼ tsp Bleach
Water

Instructions

In case you are going to cut the flowers from your garden, go for the ones that have just-opened. The best time to cut flowers is early morning, when the temperature is quite low.
In case you are getting the flowers from a florist shop, cut 2 inches off the bottom of each stem, at an angle. If possible, have the stems underwater while cutting. This will help prevent air bubbles from getting into the stems.
Now, you will need to remove that part of the foliage on your flowers and greens which will come below the water level. Apart from rotting and stinking, foliage also shortens the life of your cut flowers.
Clean your vase thoroughly, with the help of soapy water. Then, rinse it off with warm water, making sure to get rid of all the soap. A dirty vase could introduce germs to the water and shorten the life of cut flowers.
In this step, you will prepare the floral preservative, by mixing together lemon juice, sugar and bleach and adding 9 parts lukewarm water to the mixture, in a bucket.
Next, you will need to submerge the flowers about three-quarters underwater, or just below the flower heads, for the purpose of conditioning them. Now, store them in a cool, dark place, for at least 3 hours.
Get your vase and in it, mix lukewarm water and floral preservative. Keeping your flowers underwater, re-cut their bottoms at an angle (to bring them to the desired length) and arrange them in the vase.
Change the water in the vase on a daily basis. Before pouring in the fresh water, make sure to rinse the vase thoroughly. You might rinse the flower stems as well, before putting them back in the vase.

Some Tips

Try to keep the vase at least three-quarters full with water. This will help the cut flowers last longer.
Avoid using hard water or soft water for your cut flowers. While the former leaves white deposits on the flowers, the latter has too much sodium content. Using mineral water will be your best bet.
Never ever keep your cut flowers in direct sunlight or at warm places, like near a heater or fireplace or even on top of a warm appliance.
Misting your cut flowers with a mister helps keep them fresh longer, especially if you live in a dry climate or are heating your home.

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