Lowe’s Floral is your Minot expert on care and handling of cut flowers. In the next series of blog posts, we want to explore the entire life cycle of fresh cut flowers and help you get the maximum enjoyment out of your cut flower bouquets. Much of this information can also be used by gardeners to help make flowers cut from the garden last well in the house.
So, what’s in that white powder that comes with your arrangement?
Professional flower food composed of three things: 1. Sugar, 2. Acid, and 3. Biocide. Sounds simple right? Well, each of these items is necessary to support one or more necessary life processes of a cut flower. Let’s go through them one at a time:
1. Sugar – This is actual fructose sugar like the high-fructose corn syrup used to sweeten everything from Coke to candy bars. This acts as an energy source for the cut flower while it goes through its process of blooming, sending out fragrance, and finally fading. This replaces the sugar normally produced by the plant while growing.
2. Acid – This is normally a citrus acid, although stronger than lemon juice. Acid “makes water wetter,” literally by increasing the spaces between individual water molecules. This larger spacing between means that water has less surface tension and will pour, or in this case rise up a the stem of a flower more easily. Getting water up the stems of cut flowers fast and easily is what ensures that a flower will bloom fully.
3. Biocide – This is fancy word for a chemical like bleach that kills bacteria. Much like the Chlorine that the water treatment plant uses to kill bacteria and germs in city water, this component of flower food kills bacteria in the vase or floral foam that would otherwise shorten the life of cut flowers. Bacteria in the water is what causes the cloudiness (and sometimes the stale, sour smell) that a vase of flowers can get if not properly cared for.
You should always receive a packet of Professional Flower Food with your arrangements delivered in Minot by Lowe’s Floral. If you need more flower food, for an arrangement that you are making at home, we also sell Professional Flower Food in the Floral Shop. It comes in a re-sealable plastic tub about the size of a cottage cheese container. For more information on Flower Food you can search the FAQ at our website http://www.lowesfloral.com.
Comments on this entry are closed.