Decorating your living space and your study room with fresh flowers will make the space become more beautiful, fresher and more luxurious. Especially, they make you feel more relaxed and much more comfortable. However, not everyone knows how to keep fresh flowers alive longer. Here are some good tips for keeping flowers fresh.
1. Use vases with large necks
You should put flowers in a vase with a large and clean neck. This good tip will help the flowers “breathe” more easily, not crowded or squeezed together. It will reduce the risk of bacteria and other micro-organisms multiplying and attacking flowers, causing them to wither.
2. Use warm water for flowers
Compared to cold water, putting flowers in hot water is also a nice trick to keep the flowers fresh. The appropriate temperature for water in the vase is 43-44 degrees Celsius. The warm water molecules penetrate faster into the flower body. Not to mention, when placed in a place with a cool atmosphere, flowers will also have limited dehydration. Thanks to that, the flowers will be fresh longer.
3. Trim the lower leaves
For the flowers to stay fresh longer, before planting flower in the vase you should cut the leaves close to the stem. As the leaves are immersed in water, they will be quickly rotten and dead, creating conditions for bacteria to thrive, causing the flowers to wither very quickly.
4. Trim the stem by an angle of 45o
If you want to keep flowers fresh for long you should use a sharp knife or scissors to cut off the stalk by an angle of 45 degrees. This tip will help increase water absorption of flowers. Sensitive species, in particular, such as roses should be soaked in water then cut because they are very vulnerable to bubbles and bacteria that interfere with the absorption of water, causing the flowers to decay.
5. Use a flower preservative
Flower preservatives are also known as “flower food,” which are sold in stores that provide “ingredients” for gardening or you can prepare yourself. The flower preservative contains the ingredients needed to prolong the life of the cut flowers, and prevent the bacteria from spreading, destroying flowers.
You can make it at home by mixing 1 part citrus soda with 3 parts water with a few drops of bleach. This formula helps flowers stay fresh for longer more effectively than industrial flower preservatives.
6. Remove wilted pulps
The wilted flowers are like rotten fruits, capable of releasing ethylene gas that “infests” its “sibling” flowers with rotting and broken effects. So removing such flowers in the vase if you find them.
7. Change the water regularly
Regular water change is one of the good tips to keep flowers fresh for long that everyone should remember. You should change the water early in the morning and late at night for the vase. Pay attention to wash the vase to change the new water for the flowers. This way, not only can you prevent the bacteria that harm the flowers keeping the vase fresh longer but also make them not smelly due to water being left for too long.
8. Use lemon juice to keep the flowers fresh for longer
Surely you know that adding vitamin C will help flowers stay fresh for longer, by mixing 2 liters of water with 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, this way you can keep fresh flowers for 5 days longer, note that you still have to change the water for your flowers daily!