For this month’s column, we thought we’d put you to the test. Quiz yourself and your employees to evaluate your care and handling IQ. Then make changes as needed to improve your bottom line.
1.Why is it important to leave as much foliage intact as possible (above water level) while blooms are hydrating?
a) To prevent stem damage
b) To ensure flow into blooms
c) So stems look more natural
2.What is the number 1 quality issue resulting in high shrink?
a) Placing flowers in dirty buckets or vases
b) Storing deco moss and buckets in the cooler
c) Attack by a non-specific fungus disease called Botrytis
d) Letting wholesaler deliveries sit out of cooler in the
back room until you can get to them
3.When flower boxes are dropped onto pallets or the floor, the impact triggers an internal production of ethylene in blooms. Ethylene gas kills flowers dead, fast! What other precautions should you take to avoid ethylene damage?
a) Avoid exhausting into shop while vans are
loading or unloading flowers
b) Ask if flowers received an STS treatment at grower
level
c) Make sure space heaters are operating properly
d) All of the above
4.Is it better to err on the side of over-dosing or under-dosing when mixing solutions for buckets and vases?
a) Over-dosing is worse – too rich a solution could burn
flowers
b) Under-dosing is worse because you get a bacteria
soup, fast
5.How often should you spray work tables and tools with a flower cleaner?
a) At the start of the day
b) Throughout the day and every time I start on a new
design project
c) At the finish of the day when cleaning up shop
6.Flowers perform differently depending on the solution used. For hard to hydrate flowers like hydrangeas, woodies, veronica, lysimachia and bouvardia, the best choice is:
a) Low-sugar flower food (display bucket treatment)
b) Hydration solution
c) Full-sugar flower food used for vase filling
7.For flowers coming from bulbs, corms, rhizomes and tubers, the best solution to process is:
a) Plain water
b) Food with hormones
c) Hydration solution
8.Some flowers foul the bucket fast. What is the best solution to use when processing coxcomb, zinnias, gerberas and ornamental kale?
a) Food with hormones
b) Clean tap water
c) Slow release chlorine pills
9.Dull knives and choppers result in ragged edges. What is the down side to ragged cuts?
a) Cells bleed into solution and cause a bacteria feeding
frenzy
b) Ragged stems are hard to insert into foam
c) Ragged stems don’t look professional
10.Spray orchids are ethylene sensitive:
True or False
11.Protea species are lumped into the tropical family of flowers. At what temperature should you store minks, banksias and queens and kings?
a) 1-4 C
b) 10-12 C
c) 15-20 C
12.Sugar is important in flower food for three reasons: It provides energy for buds to open, stabilizes colour and enhances any fragrance potential that exists. It also:
a) keeps leaves green
b) prevents Botrytis
c) helps control stem curling in callas
Care & Handling Quiz Answers
- b.
Leaves contain specialized cells to pull solution up the stem. Leave as much foliage intact (above water level) when processing for good flow.
- c.
Respecting temperatures is important, using clean containers and keeping ethylene producing material (deco moss) out of coolers are all very important, but keeping your blooms dry is the best way to fend off loss by the non-specific fungus that loves all flowers, Botrytis.
- d.
Ethylene is the ripening hormone. Buy flowers farm treated with STS and avoid exposure to sources of ethylene like smoke, exhaust, fruits, mosses and any kind of rotting green plant parts.
- b.
When you under-dose, there is not an ample amount of clarifiers to keep the water clean and flowing into stems.
- b.
Work clean. It makes a huge difference in overall quality.
- b.
Hydration solutions stimulate flow and keep the solution free of stem-clogging pollution.
- b.
Bulbous flowers suffer premature leaf yellowing and short vase life. Rebalancing the hormones eliminates the negative symptoms and increases vase life by two to five days.
- c.
Slow-release chlorine pills are active for up to three days, so stems are completely filled with clean solution.
- a.
Sharp, clean cuts on stems helps keep solutions from becoming turbid, cloudy and polluted fast.
- True.
Ask if orchid supplier treats against ethylene with STS. It makes the difference of a five-day life versus 12 days.
- a.
Protea are native to South Africa. Stems should be stored at 1-4 C in high-sugar solutions (vase solutions) to keep foliage from turning black.
- c.
One response of harvest stress is stem curl. Process calla flowers (and cut amaryllis) in a flower food solution to ensure cells receive adequate carbohydrates (sugars) that otherwise would be produced in photosynthesis. Postharvest care provides nutrients and water to mimic Mother Nature.
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