Additional Post-Harvest Information on FLORISSANT

Quality

To increase the turnover of flowers and to fulfil the wishes of the consumer, 60% buy a specific flower because of its vase life.
Keep in mind that the average price of a product is based on the worst quality, not the best.
Apart from creating a better product, FLORISSANT post-harvest preservative products also help reduce the risk of having unsatisfied customers.

Procedure

Post-harvest products in general, can only maintain the quality the flower has when it was put in the solution. It can never improve the quality.
It can also prepare the flower in such a way that it will have minimal vase life loss during the long journey from grower to vase.  It can improve the speed and extend of recovery after transport.

Cut Stage

Flowers should always be harvested at the right stage, prematurely picked flowers will never come to full bloom.
Put the harvested stems immediately in a clean and disinfected bucket containing the post harvest solution. In the first 30 – 60 minutes after cutting they will take about 80% of their total water uptake.
Place the buckets in a cool area were the flower can absorb the FLORISSANT and reduce the transpi­ration by closing the stomata.
Make the grading process as short as possible and minimise handling, please note that every time flowers are being touched quality is lost.

Temperature

Prevent temperature fluctuations and aim for a slow but steady decrease of temperature until the minimum temperature has been reached. Grading should be done at a lower the tempera­ture than in the previous area to prevent condensation (= potential Botrytis).

Storage

Store the processed flowers in a cold room at the right temperature. Treat the cold room with a bacteri­cide and / or fungicide at a set interval. Put flowers on post-harvest solution or in case of sufficient treatment put them on FLORISSANT 500 (slow releasing chlorine to prevent bacterial growth).

Do not add any sugar at this stage as the storing is meant to stop development of the flower.

Packaging

Pack flowers only after adequate treatment and cooling. Pack at cold room temperatures and pre-cool the boxes to correct temperature.  Some flowers become brittle when cold so these susceptible flowers might be better off if cooled down after packing.

Temperature Recorders

The use of temperature recorders for export can give a lot of information about the temperature changes during transport to and from storage at the airport, the flight and transport to the importer which could be on the other side of the world.

Rehydration

On arrival flowers should be unpacked immediately, re cut and put in a FLORISSANT solution to help with rehydration.
Ensure the best rehydration solution is being used, as not all flowers require the same treatment.

Retail

During the retail phase we recommend only to use FLORISSANT 500 to prevent bacterial build up. In some cases, whereby flowers have travelled a long distance, they might need some food. Cut flower food can be added and is available in bulk packaging or sachets.

Consumer

Only use a disinfected vase before adding water and cut flower food. Dissolve the flower food properly before inserting the stems. Remove foliage to prevent from being under the water whilst in the vase.
Top up the vase every day, using fresh water and new flower food.