Tried a new flower food recipe from a blog and my roses wilted in two days

I saw this recipe online that promised to make cut roses last a full week. It had sugar, bleach, and lemon juice. Mixed it up for a big wedding order last Thursday. By Saturday morning, half the bouquet heads were drooping and the water was cloudy. I think the bleach ratio was way off and it burned the stems. Lost about $150 worth of product and had to do a frantic emergency remake. Has anyone found a reliable homemade mix, or should I just stick with the commercial packets?

2 comments

2 Comments

patricianguyen19d ago

Wait you put bleach in flower water? I mean I know some people say a tiny drop but that sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. Cloudy water and burned stems definitely sounds like a chemical reaction. I would be so mad after losing that much money on a wedding order. Honestly I've given up on homemade mixes and just buy the big tub of commercial powder, it's not worth the risk.

betty_ramirez518d ago

My cousin works at a flower shop and she told me they use a quarter teaspoon of bleach per gallon of vase water. She said it has to be measured exactly, no guessing. They do it to kill the bacteria that makes the water smell bad. But if you use too much, it totally fries the flower stems. I saw it happen once with some roses at home, they wilted in like an hour.