On St Valentine’s Day, 14th February, some people may have been lucky enough to receive fresh-cut roses. A new study published International Journal Postharvest Technology and Innovation has advice on how to make the blooms, if not the love, last.
Esmaeil Chamani of the Department of Horticultural Sciences at the University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, in Ardabil, Iran and Carol Wagstaff of the School of Food Biosciences at the University of Reading, Reading, UK, have evaluated the effect of different levels of relative humidity (60%, 75%, and 90%) and re-cutting of the stems at 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 centimetres re-cutting at the end of the stem on “vase life”. The team carried out two parallel experiments using either a bucket or a vase. Conditions were randomised and eight replications in the bucket experiment and five replications in the vase experiment were carried out.
The basic result was that re-cutting stems had little effect on how long the blooms retained their floral prowess. Increasing humidity from 60 to 90 percent was the optimal alteration for prolonging the display. The findings corroborate how shortened longevity of cut roses is primarily related to water loss from their large leaf area and the essentially unfavourable growth conditions for a cut flower. That said, the team also found that higher humidity would increase bacterial growth. This could be counteracted by cutting 5 centimetres from the end of the cut stem.
The blooming bottom line for Valentine’s lovers – trim your rose stems and make sure things are kept quite steamy around the vase.
Chamani, E. and Wagstaff, C. (2019) ‘Effects of postharvest relative humidity and various re-cutting on vase life of cut rose flowers’, Int. J. Postharvest Technology and Innovation, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp.70–82.