How to make cut flowers last longer? A touch of silver
Once cut and dunked in a vase of water, flowers are susceptible to bacterial growth that shortens the length of time one has to enjoy the blooms. Once the stems are cut and flowers added to a vase bacteria start to colonize the open ends of the stems and block the channels through which water enters. This is the main cause of a short-lived display of many flowers, no matter how expensive the flowers were to buy.
Although many florists provide a small packet of plant food with their bouquets, but this does not prevent the stems becoming blocked with bacteria. Some have said that adding a drop of household bleach helps, but this comes with a less-than-pleasant odour of bleach.
As an alternative, scientists have found that a few silver nanoparticles sprinkled into the water could be the answer to longer-lasting cut flowers. This came from research based at the Department of Horticulture at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran.
Click here to read the complete articel at digitaljournal.com.
