9
May
2013
3
Lady placing potted flowers into flower garden

The Benefits of Proper Flower Care

When arranging cut flowers, proper flower care is one of the most important steps you can take to help ensure a beautiful and long-lasting display for your customers or your own home. Here, we’ll review the best and most popular flower care options available, as well as some helpful tips and techniques.

What is Flower Care?

Flower care simply refers to the feeding and preservation of cut flowers, as well as the best cultivation techniques for producing large, show-stopping blooms. Flower care is typically split into two categories: Pre-Harvest and Post-Harvest. If you grow your own flowers, it pays to become knowledgeable about all aspects of flower care. If you’re interested mainly in purchasing and arranging cut flowers, post-harvest care will be your main concern.

Why are Flower Care Products Necessary?

While any flower is beautiful, using optimal growing and preservation techniques can allow you to grow bigger and more vibrantly coloured flowers, as well as keep those flowers fresh in an arrangement as long as possible.

Pre-Harvest and Post-Harvest Care

There is a vast amount of information available regarding optimal pre-harvest flower care. However, there are some basics for every grower. When purchasing seeds, bulbs or small plants, be sure to make sure the flower is well-suited for your climate. Factors such as too much sun or cold winds can cause a flowering plant to produce smaller flowers, not flower at all or die altogether.

Planting your flowers properly is also crucial. Most will come with specific directions regarding depth and spacing; these should be followed carefully. Planting too close together will cause overcrowding and low flower production.

Feeding and watering your plants properly contributes a great deal to the size and appearance of flowers. Plants should receive their specified amount of water, plus a bit more during hot and dry conditions. Feeding is also specific to many plant types, although there are fertilizers available with universal instructions. Purchasing a fertilizer or plant food made specifically for flowering plants is strongly recommended, as they will contribute to larger and more vibrant flowers.

What Products are Available?

A broad range of flower care products, flower foods and foliage treatments are available. One of the most popular and trusted brands is Chrysal, offering a wide variety of products for both commercial and home use. Chrysal offers foods made especially for popular flowering plants such as roses, lilies, flowering bulbs and orchids, as well as leaf-shine options and universal plant food.

Floralife is another highly reliable flower care company. Their products cover the three main stages of flower care:

• Hydration & Treatment
• Storage & Transport
• Feeding

Floralife offer products for every level of flower care as well, from the hobby gardener to full-scale production operations. Options include many different and plant-specific types of food, hydration, appearance optimizers such as leaf spray and even cleaning products made especially for the greenhouse.

Flower preservatives and Leaf shine products are available from these and many other reliable companies. They are the two main products which contribute to a beautiful and long-lasting arrangement once flowers have been cut. Preservatives may be plant-specific or universal and are available in powdered or liquid forms. They are added to a plant’s water in order to extend its cut life. Leaf shine spray gives a beautiful lustre to leaves and foliage, and can be found in either spritz bottles or aerosol cans.

Creating the Best Arrangements

Once you know the basics, it’s very easy and rewarding to create stunning floral arrangements using flower care products. If you grow your own flowers, the best food, fertilizer and hydration products will help ensure healthy, large and colourful blooms. Once your flowers are cut, proper preservative techniques and finishing touches like leaf shine spray will help you create arrangements which are almost as long-lasting as they are beautiful.

You may also like

flower food diy
DIY Flower Food to Keep Your Flowers Fresher For Longer
Fresh Flower Final Blog header
What Is The Best Way To Manage Fresh Cut Roses?
Three Factors Fresh Flowers Final Header Image
Three Unknown Factors That Affect The Life Of Fresh Cut Flowers
Hydrate Roses Header Image
A Guide On How To Rehydrate Your Fresh Flowers

Leave a Reply