Valentines Day 2013 FAQs

Written by Gay Smith (Chrysal Technical Consulting Manager)

Valentines Day 2013 FAQs

Don’t let BOTRYTIS rob profits:

• Non-specific disease that loves petals, leaves, green & blooming plants—any plant material
• Botrytis spreads and develops on live and dead tissues. Remove and dispose of infected material
• The most important ways to avoid problems is to WORK CLEAN and KEEP PETALS DRY.

SANITATION—Never underestimate the Power of Clean!

• Bacteria stem clogging is one of the top reasons flowers fail
• Always start with clean buckets, tools, vases, solutions, work tables, choppers.
• Use Chrysal Cleaner to sanitize. Easy on metal. Provides a residual effect that bleach does not

Respect TEMPERATURES:

• Cooler set point: 34—38F. Low temperatures reduce stress & slow down bloom development.
• Orchid and tropical cooler set point: 50-55F

Easy as 1, 2, 3

• Measure when mixing. Solutions work when mixed correctly--guess-ti-mating wastes time and $$$
• Follow directions when mixing solutions. Start with cold water--cold flows faster into stem
• Fast transfers are important: last step is cutting stems and immediately transferring into flower food
• Avoid stripping too much foliage. Leaves act as pumps to pull solution into flower heads
• Dry packed flowers are thirsty. Allow 2-4 hours for stems to completely fill before designing or selling
• For hard-to-hydrate blooms, start with a Hydration solution
• Allow stems to drink +/-4 hours (up to 3 days), then transfer into flower food.

RIGHT SOLUTION for the RIGHT JOB

• Professional #1 or Rose Pro Hydration for hard to hydrate blooms
• Professional #2 for sales display buckets Blooms hydrate and hold, but don’t pop too fast
• Bulb t-bags for all bulbous flowers to overcome chemistry imbalance.1 Bulb t-bag per 2 quarts (1/2 gallon) water
• First drink for Gerberas is Chrysal Pro Gerbera pill. 1 pill / ½ gallon water. Strong, straight stems!
• Professional #3 or Rose Pro Vase to soak foam and fill vases. Ensures vase performance to the end

When your customer is not going right home…offer Arrive aliveEasy and effective solution to keeping blooms hydrated: wrap stems in the foam sheet.10 second dip into Professional #2. Secure 2nd baggie. Flowers stay completely hydrated up to 3 daysDry atmosphere causing dehydration problems?Hawaiian Floral Mist—light spray on foliage, potted plants and cut blooms every other day is all that’s needed to slow dehydration. Different than sealing products, HFM does not coat surface area, it works at the cellular level to reduce water loss.Best Practices

1. Start with clean buckets, clean tools, clean work tables, clean chopper
2. Take out only amount of boxes from cooler possible to process in 30 minutes.
3. Set up buckets. Measure when preparing solutions—getting the dose right prevents a bacteria soup
4. Cut 1-2 inches off stems, immediately transfer into bucket solution.
5. Keep leaves above solution, but don’t strip stems naked. Specialized leaf cells pump solution into blooms
6. Let condensation evaporate from petals & sleeves before moving product into cooler (+/- 15-20 minutes)
7. Allow dry-pack flowers to harden-on off for min. 2 hours before using in design work
8. OK to add fresh solution to top up buckets, but never pour old solutions together
9. Shiny leaves on cut roses and shiny foliage plants look fresh and sell. Dusty looks tired