How long can flowers last from harvest?

John Dole, professor of floristry at the University of North Carolina, USA, answered this interesting question.

From a scientific perspective, his answer was: "Flowers can continue to live up to several months if you are extremely careful!" . Interesting yet?

First, under normal conditions, the flowers will be fresh in about 1 to 2 weeks after harvest. But if you plug them in jars, their "life" will be much longer. It should be noted that depending on the type of flower that its life also changes , however, it is also necessary to pay attention to other factors equally important as cultivation and harvesting.

A flower is as long as possible to put it in the temperature near the freezing point.

At the time of cut flowers, there are still starch and sugar reserves in the stem of the flower. This amount of sugar and starch will be more if the plant is grown in a light-rich place and harvested in the late afternoon. This is the key point, a stock of nutrition for plants and it determines how long the branches will last.

At the same time, for the cut flowers that have been removed from the body, its ability to resolve water and nutrients also decreases over time. The reason is that the amount of nutrients is prevented by obstacles in the flower branch, usually due to the bubbles or growth of bacteria. Therefore, adding a little detergent to the flowerpot can extend the life of the flowers by preventing microbial growth and providing a small amount of weak acid to enhance the flow of water. .

It is in normal conditions. If scientists want to keep flowers longer, what will they do?"The best thing you can do to really maintain the life of a flower for as long as possible is to put it in the temperature near the freezing point, " said John Dole, professor of flower growing at the University of North Carolina. However, you have to make the sap to freeze but still have to maintain a cold temperature to slow down the aging process of the flower.

Creating the ideal conditions mentioned above and placing flower branches in, the remaining problem to maintain the life of the flower is its genetic characteristic. In other words, coming here depends on each flower, but their survival time is also short and different.

For example, for Daylily flowers, even if placed in such optimal conditions, it can only survive for at most 1 day. However, some other species can live in surprising time. Professor Dole added: "We are studying a flower called Pineapple Lily and under such conditions, it has survived for up to 7 weeks and will probably last longer."