Do they still droop after being in the water overnight?

The only thing we have found that works fairly well, is cutting early in the morning or late in the evening, using a hydrating solution, and resting for a night in the cooler or otherwise cool room.

Thank you for replying & so quickly.

I wasn't able to get back to GardenWeb until now.
All the Poppies I had, shattered; but I did get them to perk up.

Since the "singeing" didn't work and they were drooping badly, I cut off that part of the stem and plunged about 1" into boiling water.

I could see bubbles coming from the end of the stem. I supposed this was because that area was leaking air/sap.

After the bubbles stopped, I put them back in the vase.

They did perk-up about six hours later and were standing straight.

They were still standing tall today, but all the leaves fell off the blossoms.

I have a question about the "hydrating solution."

If the stem end is sealed, how does the cut flower get anything from the hydration?

I have seen references to hydrating solutions. Is that a commercial preparation? Do any of you use them?
Kirk

Has anybody besides me noticed that Bob is talking about California poppies, which are actually Escscholzia, not poppies at all? The real poppies are Papaver, which need the searing treatment, but these aren't Papaver.

I used to grow California poppies, back in California, and found that recutting stems underwater and them keeping them in water or preservative water was what they needed, not the searing Papaver needs. No boiling water is needed either. Not much attention is given to them as a cut, since they are too short for most people, certainly for any commercial use. Coincidentally, I found that sticking them into a very moist cake or whipped-cream frosting on a cake kept them very happy also. But do remove them before serving the cake. I don't think they're edible. I'm not sure, but I wouldn't eat or serve them unless I found out they are edible from a reliable source.

Kirk, a hydrating solution is indeed a commercial preparation, but I don't use one. I do fine with my home-made preservative and it's cheap. But then, I'm not trying to ship to a wholesaler, either.

Jeanne

Growers who ship to a wholesaler use STS or dry ship flowers. The wholesaler or florist (some large florists order direct and skip the wholesaler) would use the commercial hydrating solution to rehydrate the flowers. The home-made preservative doesn't work for certain flowers that wilt in our heat and humidity. We cut those directly into the commercial hydrating solution and move them into the cooler.

So Jeanne what is your hudrating solution...can you share it with us??

Mine isn't so much a hydrating solution as a preservative. I pick everything directly into it in the field, so the flowers don't lose their hydration and don't need to be rehydrated.

There is an interesting article in Greenhouse Product News this month (a free magazine that is rarely of any use to me, but hey, it's free!) about an experiment with hydrating solutions. There were a few flowers to whom it makes no difference and some others who were actually hurt by it. It was a very limited small study with only a few kinds of flowers, but it made me stop and think. I have been considering getting a commercial hydrating solution, but now I think I won't. My flowers last a very long time without it. STS isn't something I want to add to the environment anyway, when I empty my buckets. I am not certified organic but I do try to use organic methods. Even my preservative solution might not pass organic standards, but I'm pretty sure that STS doesn't.

My recipe: One gallon of water, two Tablespoons each of plain white sugar and plain cheapo white vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon of bleach. It's easy to multiply it to make up multiple gallons. Please don't add the bleach until most or all of the water is in the container; vinegar and bleach together make a nasty gas you don't want to breathe, unless they are well diluted. ALWAYS use perfectly clean buckets, too. I wash mine with detergent and bleach before each harvest day.

I mix up all my preservative the night before, so when I get it to the field for cutting into, it's usually ambient temperature or slightly cooler. I have not found that temperature of the water makes any difference whatsoever to the performance of the flowers.

I have heard that zinnias don't like preservatives but can't comment on that since I can't grow them. I've been told that glads don't like bleach and lilies don't like preservatives, but both do absolutely fine with my solution, better than they do in plain water. I can attest to that myself.

Jeanne

Just for the record: Hydrating solutions are not STS. Arnosky's of Texas Hill Country Specialty Cutflowers cut every flower into hydrating solution. STS is used by the large cutflower growers mainly outside the country. The purpose of STS is to prolong the live of the flower. Mainly flowers arriving at the florist are 7 to 10 days old. Florists cut the flowers upon arrival, and put them in hydrating solution to rehydrate them. Some flowers are shipped dry. They need to be rehydrated. Didn't we just have a florist not too long ago explain this to us?

Dapper, you aren't goin to want to be cutting your dahlias into any solution containing bleach. You would be better off cutting into plain ol' water if you aren't able to purchase the commercial hydrating solution.

If I remember correctly, STS is a solution used mainly on flowers that are ethylene sensitive as opposed to most flowers that go to wholesalers. The problem with that material is that it includes silver, a heavy metal needing special disposal which is expensive...Ann