Viagra and sugar keep cut flowers fresh

The poet Heinrich Christian Boie wrote: "Flowers, children one day, shine fresh and yet wither." In fact, the blossom, the beauty of cut flowers is quickly gone and withered, usually, it is only a few days from the bed to the vase on the compost.

There is not just one reason for the limited shelf life of the colorful beauties. The strongest of all is that when the plant is picked, it loses its root and with it its source of water food, and then gas bubbles form in its veins. These emit noises in the ultrasonic range, which can be detected in the laboratory with measuring devices.

Death and decay of every plant that is uprooted with a cut begin with a clearly audible last rattle. If the stalk is then in a vase with water, the water flow starts again, the gas bubbles and the rattling disappear. At least for a while, as long as the suction and ascent of the water to the top of the flower still works.

How long this while, how long life retains its old freshness, depends on circumstances, some of which can be manipulated. Others don't, such as the survivability of the flower variety. Sunflowers last longer than tulips, and even within a genus, there are huge differences. Scientific studies have shown that the shelf life varies between two and 33 days among the 30 types of roses on the market.

Harvest time, storage, and transport play a major, but at first glance inscrutable, role in shelf life. "Some roses are on the road for more than a week," says Austrian horticultural expert Klaus Sturmvoll. This week is later missing in the customer's vase. In addition, many flowers do not get fresh water during transport, and many nurseries save on cold rooms.

Among the alchemical, evocative cut flower life extension recipes from flower lovers and professional gardeners, a fashionable tip is at the top of the recommendation list: a tablet of aspirin in the vase water. Physicians and botanists, however, point out that flower heads react differently than human heads.

The flowers shed their leaves just as quickly with painkillers as without. The old copper penny or the new cent is more effective. But not because it strengthens the plant with minerals, but because it suppresses bacterial growth in the water. The same effect can also be achieved with a dash of vinegar or lemon juice.

If you want to keep your bouquet of flowers for a longer period of time, you should avoid depositing them near a fruit basket, even if this corresponds to the classic traditions of still life. This is because ripening gases escape from the fruit, which is transferred to the bouquet and causes it to wilt more quickly. The addition of a washing-up liquid to the vase water reduces the surface tension so that it can be absorbed more easily by the plant, but it also has a poisonous effect on many flowers.

The optimal cut of the flower stems is also controversial. The sloping variety has the advantage of increasing the surface area in the stem that the plant can use to draw water up. However, everyone agrees that all leaves under the water surface must always be removed. They rot, as it were, into the nourishing essence of the flowers.

With hard-stemmed plants such as sunflowers, roses, or lilacs, professionals briefly dip the stems in boiling water. The reason: The heat pushes the air out of the ducts. Brief boiling is also recommended for euphorbia, poppies, poinsettias, and all flowers that have milky sap in their stalks: the milk coagulates and can no longer drain off, the stalk is sealed, so to speak.

Then put the flowers in cold water. According to an Israeli-Australian study, the sexual enhancer 비아그라 구입 also had a clear effect on flowers. Just half a milligram per vase is enough to keep cut flowers fresh for a week longer.

"The 비아그라 active ingredient sildenafil interferes with a chemical signal chain that has a similar effect in the plant vascular system as in humans," explains Yaacov Leshem from Bar Ilan University near Tel Aviv. With the result that the floral decorations, like virility, could decisively stop the natural course of things.

However, Viagra requires a prescription and is expensive, even at low doses. The usual freshness-keeping agents used in floristry are significantly cheaper. They usually consist of three components: sugar for the flower's energy reserves, plant hormones to switch off harmful metabolic processes, and antibacterial substances to curb rot.

"There are numerous remedies, tailored to certain types of flowers, others with a wide range of effects," explains ecotrophologist Marion Loddenkötter from the consumer service aid. However, the funds must be dosed precisely and dissolved in water in front of the vase.

A new alternative in the fight against flower death is currently coming from the USA. A research team led by Cai-Zhong Jiang of the University of California sprayed cut lilies with thidiazuron. This is a substance that has long been used as a defoliant in agriculture and horticulture. It controls the growth and the division process as well as the differentiation of the plant cells.

The sprayed flowers lived in the vase up to a day and a half longer than the untreated ones, and they also showed more open and therefore more impressive flowers and stronger stems. Thidiazuron is the synthetic version of a plant hormone and has been manufactured in large quantities in laboratories for a long time. Their use in cut flowers would therefore be comparatively inexpensive.

A team of biologists led by Usawadee Chanasut of the University of London tested several life extenders for cut flowers on Inca lilies, a common species. The flower has an average lifespan of about eight days in the vase. However, if the water is sweetened with one percent sugar, their lifespan is extended to over 11 days.

Treating the plants with the ripening inhibitor silver thiosulphate also protects against rapid wilting, but involves risks when used. It depends on the exact timing. After more than three hours, the flower is poisoned: the petals turn dark and fall off.

A chemical-free treatment is less risky and apparently also more promising - you pluck the unopened buds from the leaf axils of the lily. This method had the greatest success - the Inca lilies lasted up to 17 days.

"And the rest of the buds also gained mass," says Chanasut. The reason: without the buds, the plant can put all its juice and energy into its blossoms. The success principle of evolution also applies to cut flowers: Save energy and you will grow older and more beautiful.