Does Sugar Help the Life of a Cut Flower?

Table sugar may help the life of a cut flower.

When you cut a flower at its immature closed-bud stage, the stems and leaves may not have enough stored energy to feed the blossom. You can help the life of a cut flower by adding table sugar to the water.

Significance

Flowering is an energy-intensive activity that uses all of the stored nutrition in the leaves and stems. Plants use photosynthesis to change table sugar into food energy for the emerging blossom. Keep the leaves closest to the blossom attached to the stem, to absorb the sunlight necessary for photosynthesis to occur.

Function

Most flowers do well with a 2 percent sugar solution. Some flowers, however, require significantly more or less. Gladioli blossoms benefit from a 4 to 6 percent sugar solution, while at the other end of the spectrum, zinnias would experience damage at any concentration above 1 percent.

Flower Color

Flowers with too little sugar in the water tend to have paler coloring than the same species of flower with an adequate amount of sugar, according to the University of Massachusetts Agriculture and Landscape Program.

Warning

Sugar feeds harmful microorganisms in the vase, causing them to multiply. Add a half-filled medicine dropper of household bleach for each pint of water every day.

References

• University of Massachusetts: Sugar and Acidity in Preservative Solutions