Here at The Flower Blooms, we’ve always been on the fence as to whether or not flower food actually does any good for cut flowers.
Having been in the floristry industry for over twenty-five years, Claire has never seen the benefit of using flower food. So since starting The Flower Blooms in 2020, we’ve been conducting our own experiments and doing our own research into the use of flower food, to decide as to whether or not it helps to prolong the life of cut flowers.
The jury is finally in and the result is negative. Flower food does not help your flowers last longer. In fact, in some cases, it can shorten their life span, and so here’s why we aren’t using flower food anymore.
Flower food is made up of two components- a cleaning agent and a food source.
The cleaning agent will contain a bleach-based chemical that aims to help keep the water clean.
The food source is a sugary-based substance to help the flowers bloom to their fullest potential- but here lies the problem.
Of course, we want our flowers to bloom to their fullest potential, but what you’ll find, and what we’ve come to realise, is that the food component aspect essentially accelerates the flower to bloom too quickly. Thus shortening its life span.
Think of the food component as a sugary snack- the flowers drink up this source super quickly because it’s very yummy, which in turn causes it’s to fully open quicker than if it were left to bloom naturally.
This type of acceleration to bloom works well for weddings and events, when open flowers in full bloom are required for typically one day of appreciation, but not when you want to enjoy your cut flowers in your home or workspace for a much longer period.
A good example of this is the Lily- which is a long-life flower. You should receive Lillies closed and in bud. If they are left to open at their own pace, you can expect Lilies to last at least two weeks. However, if you use flower food, you will accelerate their opening which could mean they would only last up to a week.
As for the cleaning agent chemical- we encourage all of our members to cut and refresh their bundle into a clean vase every 2-3 days, which is a much better and more effective way to help prolong the life of your flowers.
So please don’t be alarmed if your bundle is missing a sachet of flower food from now on. We firmly believe that your flowers will be happier and healthier without it, but should you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch and one of the team will be on hand to help, hello@theflowerblooms.co.uk