Temperature of Freshly Cut Flowers

Why would you consider a temperature logger for fresh cut flowers? A temperature and humidity logger would be even better as not only temperature affects flowers but so does humidity.

The temperature and humidity that fresh cut flowers are exposed to will affect their appearance and longevity once placed into a vase.

Most flowers when they are first cut should be cooled to between 0°C and 1°C. If the flower is sensitive to cold condition, such as Anthurium, Bird of Paradise, Ginger and Tropical Orchids, these must be maintained above 10°C. Humidity should be between 85% and 95%.

Once a flower has been cut from its plant, it loses water. Placing the cut stem into water immediately prevents the flower from drying out. If there is no possibility of placing the stem immediately into water, then when ready.

The trouble is that when transporting flowers, it is not possible to have them in containers of water, so compromises must happen.

To see how the flowers have been stored and transported a Thermocron HC can be placed on the container and it will log both the temperature and the humidity of the container. Placing the HC in amongst the petals will give a result of the conditions that the flowers were subjected.

An interesting note was that fresh cut flowers should not be stored with fruit. Many fruits give off ethylene gas which causes senescence or aging in flowers.