Buying cut roses may be a gesture but, if the petals drop soon after getting them home, it might not be the gesture you want. From the Korean Society for Floricultural Science comes research by Ha and colleagues on how to make your cut roses last longer. Make them sweeter and put them in the spotlight.
One significant issue with cut roses is their relatively short vase life of around 7-10 days. The longevity of these flowers is greatly influenced by environmental conditions both pre and post-harvest. You can’t do much about pre-harvest conditions, but what can you do when you get the flowers home? Ha and colleagues examined the effect of light intensity, to see how different light intensities impact the post-harvest performance of cut rose flowers.
Through their research, the team found that light intensity at 50 μmol m-2 s-1 (around 2200 lux, equivalent to a bright window) significantly increased the photosynthesis capacity of cut roses, in turn delaying petal senescence, or ageing, and extending the flowers’ vase life. In simpler terms, this means that when exposed to higher light intensity, roses photosynthesise more effectively, allowing them to stay fresh longer.
The application of external sucrose was another key finding. The researchers discovered that sucrose application improves the longevity of cut flowers by enhancing the water balance and sustaining the turgor pressure in the petals, crucial factors for prolonging their lifespan.
The researchers also proposed that the method known as OJIP transient, which measures changes in chlorophyll fluorescence, can be used as an effective tool to evaluate and predict photosynthesis rates in cut flowers. Photosynthesis rates and chlorophyll fluorescence parameters were found to correlate with the vase life of cut roses, reinforcing this method’s potential usefulness.
With a little extra light and a sprinkle of sugar, your roses may bloom brighter and last longer, making life a bit more beautiful.
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Ha, S.T.T., Department of Horticulture and Breeding, Andong National University, Andong 36729, Korea, Ham, J.Y., Choi, B. and In, B.-C. (2023) “Use of chlorophyll fluorescence to estimate photosynthesis and its relationship to vase life of cut roses,” Flower Research Journal, 31(1), pp. 10–22. Available at: https://doi.org/10.11623/frj.2023.31.1.02.
