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Garden Tip for Cut Flowers

vase of flowersWhen you buy flowers at the store, they some times come with a packet of powder to mix into the vase water. The purpose of this mystery powder is to make your flowers look pretty longer. It usually contains some amount of ammonium chloride, potassium nitrate, and/or sodium carbonate. Whether you’re cutting your flowers directly from your own garden, or buying a bouquet from the store, I found something that works much better! Normally a bouquet of flowers lasts about a 5-7 days before starting to wilt. I noticed cuttings I was rooting for my garden last in water for two weeks or more while rooting. So, after giving in to my rooting mediumcuriosity, I tried putting rooting medium on my cut flowers. I’ve found that they last much longer this way than using either the store supplied powder or just plain water. Simply apply your rooting medium like you normally would with starts. I use a powder medium. After wetting the stem, I dip the cut end into the rooting powder and then arrange them in the vase. The powder usually settles into the bottom of the vase, where it stays. powder on bottom of vase I don’t mix in the powder, or change the water at any point. My cut flowers last a little longer with this method. If the flowers do start to root, they will last even longer! I’ve never tried planting cut flowers that root, since my main objective has always been just to have a nice arrangement of flowers. Perhaps that will be my next experiment!

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