How can you keep fresh cut flowers that you buy home looking fresh and new over time?

If you put a few bunches of fresh, colorful flowers at home, it will not only give your home a new look, but also make you feel happier. Unfortunately, fresh cut flowers often wither quickly, so how to extend the "shelf life" of fresh cut flowers is a science!

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Like all living things, flowers, which are made up of cells of all sizes, also need water to nourish them. Before picking, the water in the flowers is mainly transported through the "ducts" in the stems, and the entire duct is filled with water; after picking, the ducts that are usually full of water will temporarily lack water. Especially at the bottom of the stem, air constantly invades here to form a cavity, just like an embolism in a blood vessel. If the air is not discharged, the water cannot be transported upward.

So, trimming off two or three centimeters at the base can help the catheter absorb water from the vase better .

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In addition to the interference of air cavities, some bacterial microorganisms also like to set up camp in the "transport pipelines" of these environments. In addition to "sitting in a row" and using their bodies to block the upward water flow, they also cause minor damage to the pipelines, interfering with the normal transportation of water - this requires that the water must be clean, and filtered pure water is a better choice .

In order to maintain the patency of the catheter, we can add some substances such as calcium nitrate and calcium chloride, which can not only maintain the normal ion concentration of cells, but also inhibit the growth of microorganisms .

Even if you can't get these chemical reagents, don't just take your roses home and throw them in a vase of water. In fact, pure water and simple pruning can make your flowers bloom longer .

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Reviewer: Wang Kang, Director of Beijing Botanical Garden Science Center, Professor-level Senior Engineer