more quickly and over a larger area. It also causes the flower undue stress, which shortens its life. Stems will develop a film


and become discoloured from stagnating in the water; this blocks water flow to the flower. Recut the stems each time the water is changed to allow water to penetrate.


Avoid


Contamination The key reason for giving your flowers proper tender loving care is protection from all of those nasty infections and bacteria. Tedious as it may be, the harsh reality is no florist can afford to ignore proper care and condition if they want to avoid foul smells, dying stock and wasting money. The most obvious but often


neglected tip is to always clean your vases and cutting tools and change the water in containers regularly, this is absolutely vital in stopping the spread of bacteria. Always remove leaves which


will sit below the water level as decomposing foliage creates


a breeding ground for thriving bacteria. You’ll also lose less water through evaporation because you have reduced the amount of overall leaf surface area. Remove rose thorns carefully,


without shredding the stem. It may save your poor fingers but those open wounds on the stem make a welcoming entrance for bacteria and air bubbles. It is also best to avoid metal strippers as they unnecessarily damage stem bark and foliage. The best tip is to just snip the point off the thorn. Edging clear vases with foliage


is funky but can be dangerous for anything but short term installations. Use faux foliage, ribbon or cello instead. Check that there is no


condensation on plastic sleeves or petals as you are moving the flowers into a cooler. If there is then allow it to evaporate before cooling. Always avoid unnecessarily


removing foliage, petals, bark, thorns, from the stem! Just like humans, all of these open wounds create an entry point for bacteria. It also triggers the internal production of ethylene in the flower which is that dreaded poison that shortens the life of all flowers!


Botrytis Cinera, or ‘grey mildew’


is the name of the fungi infection which causes brown spots in the petals of your roses, gerberas and Lisianthus and shortens their vase life considerably. Once this infection becomes visible the flowers must be thrown away. You can try to hold back the spread of the spores by keeping flowers somewhere with low relative humidity (below 90%) and low temperatures (± 5°C). When buying flowers make sure you keep an eye out for the early signs of this dreaded disease since infection often occurs early on in the chain. Don’t spray flowers or leaves


with water either as this can also encourage Botrytis. They’ll get all the hydration they need through the stems if you use the right food in your bucket water. Always try to remove flowers


from plastic sleeves, wrapping or net cups as soon as possible because it can get too humid for them under all those layers. If you have a cooler, try to keep the relative humidity level below 90%. Daffodils and narcissi create a


toxic slime which harms others varieties so don’t mix them unless they have been stood for 12 hours by themselves or you use the special flower food on the market. Hyacinths however are not affected by daffodil slime so can be mixed with confidence. Bear in mind that many


binding and mounting materials can reduce the vase life of your flowers including wires used on gerbera, natural fibres such as rope and raffia which may be biologically contaminated and unprotected metal wire which is corrosive when mixed with acidic flower water. To avoid Gerbera droop buy a stronger variety and use the right gerbera food... erect stems guaranteed.


Do you need some new promotional ideas? 88 F&wb Spring 2013


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