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Tropical Flowers: handling and caring

I have been asked continously about how to handle and prepare tropical flowers before arranging. The BIGGEST AND WORST mistake made by many florists is they tend to place the tropical flowers in the cooler. BIG NO-NO!! Tropical flowers such as: bird of paradise, varieties of gingers, heliconias, anthuriums are NEVER to be placed in the florist coolers. All you need to do is prepare the bucket with the water and food, cut the stems as you would any flower and place in the bucket. Leave them at room temperature until you work with them. Placing tropical flowers in the cooler will ruin the flowers with "black spots", especially anthuriums!
Orquids on the other hand, [mistakingly thought of as "tropical" actually "exotics"], should be placed in the coolers. When you receive your orquids from the wholesalers, they arrive with stems in plastic water tubes. Just make sure these tubes have enough water in them to cover the bottom of the stem. Place them upright in a dry bucket or container in the cooler; [they will hydrate from the water tubes]. Try to handle them the least possible until you are ready to work the arrangement. Orquids are delicate, especially the dendrobriums. The blooms tend to fall off quite easily.
Hope this helps...

Comment by A Pleasant Grove Florist on August 7, 2009 at 3:36pm: We do not place orchids in the cooler either, we have found that it is to cold unless you have then in a box covered with shredded paper. We keep them laying down on a flat surface, but you have to make sure that the water tubes are filled with water to cover the stems. We change the water every 2 to 3 days, our Orchids normally last about 3 weeks like that. If we arrange them in a vase we don't use any flower food because we found that the regular food is not good for Orchids. If we make an Orchid arrangement we use Orchid food, very diluted, but it makes them hold up longer.

Comment by MIA BELLA by Nanette Zambrana on August 7, 2009 at 4:39pm: I have tried to leave orquids out of the cooler but they will not hold up too long, they wilt very fast. Maybe because here in Puerto Rico we can have temps running up to 105F during summers. My cooler is at 40 degrees constantly. I will try your tip on Orchid food...Thank you!

Comment by A Pleasant Grove Florist on August 17, 2009 at 9:58am: How warm is it in your shop? we get around 100 here in Texas and we keep the shop at 72, so they hold for us about 7 - 10 days normally. If I get them from the local warehouse, they last 1 week, if I get them from FTD/Teleflora or Grower Direct, they last 2 weeks. Good luck!

Comment by MIA BELLA by Nanette Zambrana on August 19, 2009 at 1:25am: Maybe I will try Grower Direct. Must be that local wholesalers are selling them already a few days [weeks?] old. Thank you for the tip ;-))

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