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Return to the Cutting Garden Forum | Post a Follow-Up

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treatment for hard water

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Posted by nicshe PA (My Page) on
Thu, Mar 5, 09 at 10:20

I am a market gardener who loves to grow flowers and sell them for market. I almost decided to give it up last year because I felt that the bouquets I was selling weren't lasting. I have read the flower farmer and other things online and followed all of the guidelines. This year I decided to get my water tested at floralife(well water) and they said that I have hard water and that I should use their water treatment for hard water. My question is has anyone else had this problem, use this product or other similar products and what was the outcome? Any responses are appreciated!
Nicole

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RE: treatment for hard water

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Nicole - Sorry that no one has answered your question. The best answer I can give is to check out the link below, which discusses hard water and cut flowers. Two main points seem to be (1) acidify hard water for your vases. and (2) never use water from a water softener.

ThinMan

Here is a link that might be useful: The Care of Cut Flowers

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RE: treatment for hard water

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Just to add something useful (I hope), a water softener uses sodium to help replace calcium and magnesium ions. The sodium (in the form of soluble salts) is what makes it unacceptable for use. Silver thiosulfate (STS) is now banned for use in the floral industry in the U.S. Try using demineralized (deionized) water, the kind you'd put in an old-fashioned steam iron, in place of the well water.

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RE: treatment for hard water

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  • Posted by pudge 2/3 Sask (My Page) on
    Tue, Mar 17, 09 at 11:02

I have very hard water and have been using Floralife Crystal Clear with excellent results - all test bouquets are lasting 7-10 days at home, and customers are reporting about the same duration.

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RE: treatment for hard water

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Thanks Pudge - do you use the Floralife crystal clear in the water you are cutting into in the field or just use it later in the vase?

I don't have a water softner and I know that this is even more detrimental than the hard water.
I can't imagine that anyone uses all deionized water on a commercial scale?

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RE: treatment for hard water

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  • Posted by pudge 2/3 Sask (My Page) on
    Fri, Mar 20, 09 at 10:17

I cut into straight water that was drawn the day before and left standing to warm to the ambient temperature.

After bouquets are assembled they are left in buckets in Floralife water which was also mixed the day before. I also bundle/elastic each bouquet with a small cellophane bag on the end that holds enough water to keep the stem ends submersed.

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RE: treatment for hard water

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"I can't imagine that anyone uses all deionized water on a commercial scale?"

Of course they don't!*slapping head*

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RE: treatment for hard water

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I've been doing a lot of research and I'm thinking about just using citric acid to lower the Ph for the water I'm going to cut into and store. I don't think I want to use the floralife products because I am trying to do this organically.

  
 

 

 


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