Plant Variety Rights - PVR
All commercial rose varieties are patented, (PVR), by the breeder.
All commercial growers pay PVR royalties to rose breeders for every bush we grow.
PVR roses are great value because breeders have a financial incentive to continually develop better varieties with longer lasting qualities. And this they continually do.
We grow these newer variety roses and constantly test them for vase life.
Rose lifespan... how can I get my roses to last 10 or more days?
A cut flower rose can easily outlast an identical rose left on the bush. It is possible to extend the life of a cut flower rose using refrigeration; however, it is not possible to enjoy the roses if they are kept in a refrigerator.
Our customers continually tell us about the lasting qualities of the roses we grow... some claim 10 days, whilst most tell us that they achieve14 days (and more) from their roses.
Now, to get 14 days or more from a rose, we all need to do everything well and it all starts with hygiene. All the rose needs is clean water with a pH of around 5.
This water is good enough for you to drink. So, if you wouldn't drink the water because of its colour, discard it, trim the stems by15mm, and start again.
Always
- Use a sterile, clean glass vase. You can use your dishwasher to clean the vase.
- Use lots of water in the vase and keep replacing water used by the rose
- A small dozen should have about 500ml of water and a large dozen needs between 500 & 1,250 litres of vase water.
- Use water clean enough to drink. Council tap water is fine.
- Trim any foliage from the stem that will come in contact with the vase water.
- Use a commercial 'Post Harvest Treatment', (PHT), water conditioner.
- Good flower sellers usually provide a sachet or two.
- Follow the sachet instructions or use one sachet per 500 ml of water.
- Always thoroughly wash your hands when handling their stems.
- Contamination resulting in infected water is your #1 enemy.
- Replace the water into another CLEAN vase and add PHS.
- Stir to dissolve then cut 15mm from the stems at 45 degrees and arrange them in the vase.
- Remember, water conditioner is not flower food.
- The flower has all the food it needs within its cells.
- Keep the flowers in a cool location away from heat sources and draughts.
Never
- Do not use a dirty vase. It must have no film or discoloration on the inside.
- Do not use sugar, aspirin, vinegar, or any other gardener’s compounds in the vase.
- Do not handle the stems.
- Do not keep the flowers in a warm location near heat sources and draughts.
ROSES DIRECT Proprietary Post Harvest Treatment
You can purchase 'Roses Direct' proprietary Post Harvest solution from our farm. It comes in 1 litre bottles and is used at the rate of 25ml per 500 ml water. It contains no toxins and is superior to PHT's that contain chlorine as a biocide.
General comment
We know that good quality fresh roses will deliver excellent vase life and value compared with other traditional cut flowers. Depending on the elapsed time since the roses were harvested, the rose variety, water hygiene, and vase position, roses easily last 7 days and most will last 10 days. During the cooler months and you really look after them, roses can easily last up to 21 days.
Head droop.
A sure sign of old roses or contaminated water is if the rose head droops after a few days. It is mostly caused by roses well past their use by date when sold, or by contaminated water. Sometimes it can be fixed, but mostly it is terminal for the rose.
If the rose shows other general malaise a few days after you received it, it was probably just too old when you purchased it. The rose may well have spent too much time in cold storage within the grower - flower auction (or wholesaler) - reseller process.
How to get maximum life from your cut flowers.
To get long life from a rose, first choose a quality rose, freshly cut and correctly treated by the grower, wholesaler and florist, then take care of it. A container of dirty water is a bad place for a cut flower rose. This is because as the rose transpires it draws water through its stem to replace water lost through its foliage.
The capillaries through which the water is drawn from the vase are very small and become easily blocked should the supply of water be contaminated with any solid material. The worst offender in vase water is algae, the same algae that block a swimming pool filter. This mostly causes the problem of the drooping rose head.
Water quality.
If you get to the problem quickly, you can sometimes revive roses. To fix the drooping head in roses, clean the vase and replace the water. Roses do better in a slightly acidic solution, about pH 5.0, so add two pinches of citric acid, or squeeze a lemon juice into a litre of water containing a teaspoon of bleach, (as a biocide).
Using a very sharp knife, or secateurs to prevent damage to the new stem ends, cut the stems at about 45 degrees, 2cm from the ends, and place the roses in the new solution. (Re-cutting the stems gets rid of the physical blockage; this allows un-blocked capillaries access to clean water.) If possible, place the roses in a refrigerator for 12 hours. This slows down further transpiration and may allow the rose the best chance to recover.
Remember, a pinch of prevention is worth a vase full of cure - particularly if your pinch is a quality post harvest solution.
Keep roses clean and cool... treat them as you would treat a lettuce, in an environment in which you would be comfortable, in water you would drink yourself.
Our customers continually tell us our roses last from 10 to 14 days and more. We continually sample and test our roses to ensure they are capable of providing a good lifespan; however, finally it is up to the way they are treated.
SUMMARY OF POST HARVEST ROSE CARE.
To gain maximum life from a rose cut flower, do this: -
Clean and rinse the vase as though you were to drink from it. If the vase is so shaped that it cannot be cleaned by hand, totally fill the vase with water, then add some bleach, (one tablespoon per litre), and shake it. Then let it sit for an hour or so. After this...
- Using fresh water, thoroughly clean and rinse the vase.
- Re-fill it with clean tap water.
- Use a proprietary cut flower water conditioning sachet if available, or....
- Add a pinch of citric acid per litre of water.
- Add a teaspoon of bleach per litre of water.
- Place the vase away from draughts and heat sources, including direct sunlight.
- Re-cut the stems by 1 centimeter, two or three times per week, to ensure no blockage occurs.
Enjoy one of nature's truly exquisite creations - the rose. |
