The floral preservative packets that we enclose with your arrangement are just one more step to ensuring that your flowers last a long time for you.
In these packets is a chemical mixture of a bacteria/fungicide, food for the flowers, and an acidifier/clarifier for the water. The more acidic or "wetter" the water the better for your flowers. The fungicide keeps mold/fungus at bay while the food is absorbed by the flowers.
What makes the preservative unique is the fact that it is a precise combination of those 3 components that work together.
Sometimes people think that they can make their "own" floral preservative out of odd things like bleach, sprite, sugar, aspirin, and even copper pennies. These things do not work and can even harm your flowers. If you put just bleach in the water, the flowers receive no food. Just sugar- say hello to funky chunky water (-yuck!-)
Another important step is mixing the packet with the correct amount of water- 1 pint of fresh clean water with 1 packet of floral preservative. No more, no less.
What to do when after the first water change and you no longer have a packet?
Change the water COMPLETELY every day. It's really that simple. Fresh clean water everyday will prevent mold/mildew from taking over the water which is one of the most significant problems people encounter with fresh flowers. I can't tell you how many of my friends homes I've been to where the vase was half full of cloudy, dirty water. Do you want to drink the water if it looked like that? Trust me, the flowers don't either.
Stems should be recut with a sharp pair of gardening pruners or a sharp knife. Not household scissors or smashed by a hammer (another old wives tale). A clean sharp cut will reopen the stem to uptake the new water.
Follow these steps and I'm sure you will see significant improvement in how long your flowers last!
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