‘Best home remedy’ to keep fresh flowers alive for longer

Monty Don explains how to encourage growth of wildflowers

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There’s nothing like a vase of fresh flowers to breathe life into a room. However, as soon as those flowers begin to wither and wilt, a bouquet has the opposite effect. Fortunately, there are some easy steps gardeners can take to prolong the life of their stems. Follow these tips for your freshest flowers yet.

Florists at ProFlowers explained: “There’s no need to keep asking yourself how to make flowers last longer. Surprisingly, you might have a few things lying around the house that can help you enjoy your bouquets.

“These home remedies include apple cider vinegar with sugar, aspirin, fridges, soda and a few more.”

Sure these theories sound convincing, but which ones actually improve the life of fresh bouquets?

The flower gurus put a few flower care strategies to the test. They took the nine most popular theories for how to make flowers last longer in a controlled environment and here’s what they found out.

Apple cider vinegar with sugar

For this remedy it is advised to mix two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and two tablespoons of water into a vase before adding the flowers. This is said to be effective as vinegar acts as an antibacterial agent while the sugar acts as additional flower food.

However when tested, this did not prove to be highly effective. The experts said: “although apple cider vinegar and sugar didn’t take the title as the worst result, it did come in a close second.”

Aspirin 

For this method mix one crushed aspirin into your vase of fresh flowers. Aspirin is said to lower the pH level of the water allowing it to travel through the flower faster, preventing wilting. 

The plant pros concluded: “Aspirin might be the solution to a headache, but it’s not your best bet for keeping your flowers fresh.”

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Fridge

Putting fresh flowers in the fridge every night, typically for eight hours, is another believed method to ensure flowers last longer. 

The experts said: “Flowers are said to thrive in cooler temperatures. It is thought that the low temperatures help slow the ageing.”

In their experiment they found that floral bouquets like to indeed stay nice and cool. The flower pros said: “The bouquet that went in the fridge overnight came in first place and is the best home remedy to make flowers last longer. This bouquet was looking healthy even on day 10.”

Bleach 

Many believe that adding a quarter teaspoon of bleach to a vase of fresh flowers will help them stay fresh longer. 

The experts said: “Bleach will keep your water from getting cloudy as well as help fight bacteria. The bleach did indeed keep the water in the vase from getting too cloudy, although it didn’t stand out in keeping the bouquet fresh.”

Soda 

For this remedy pour a quarter cup of soda in a vase full of fresh flowers. The sugar in soda is said to make your blooms last longer and even smell sweeter too. 

The flower gurus found that using soda very well and came in as their “runner up trick to making flowers last longer”. 

They added: “In fact, even on day 10 the soda bouquet was looking just as healthy as day one with the only difference being the flowers opening up more.”

Vodka 

A few drops of vodka in a vase of flowers is said to have a different effect on flowers. The spirit’s ability to inhibit ethylene production, a ripening gas that helps plants mature, slows the wilting of the flowers. 

The experts said: “This proved true and although vodka didn’t take the cake as the best way to keep flowers fresh longer, it did come in as third runner up.”

Coins 

The copper should act as an acidifier, fighting the bacteria growth in your arrangement. On day four, the experts found that the blooms with the copper penny “opened up nicely”. 

They added: “In fact, it may have caused the flowers to open too quickly resulting in a few wilting flowers by day seven.”

Hairspray 

There’s not much science to back this theory, but it holds hair in place so it should work, right? Wrong. 

The experts warned: “Whatever home remedy you decide to try to keep your flowers alive, it should not be spritzing the petals with hairspray. 

“We recommend avoiding doing so at all costs. The hairspray came in last place being the worst way to make flowers last longer.”

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