During the last few weeks Chrysal and the BFA have embarked on a project to test the flower food Professional 2 for its ability to lengthen the amount of time you can use your water without replacing it. The aim was to hopefully prove that this product can, not only, prolong the life of your flowers but also help florists to save money and the environment by improving our levels of water usage.
We asked a few of our members to take part on a weeks trial, some were sent the T-Bag style food and some were sent the liquid food. Both came with instructions on how to use each product as can be seen below. All the florists were asked to monitor their conditioned flowers throughout the week take photos and comment on the condition of the flowers and the water longevity.
Our member florists taking part
CloudHill Flowers
Katrina used the liquid Pro 2 and gave us these images and comments…
Katrina said “I would conclude that the flower food significantly added to the health and look of the flowers in the vase containing Professional 2. The nutrients clearly added to the longevity & health of the flowers so justifies its use. However, the water consumption was the same but due to the quality of the flowers at the end of the test I would recommend the use of Professional 2 Flower Food.”
Flowers by Donna Cornish
Donna used the Pro 2 T-Bags and gave us these images and comments…..
Donna said “Definitely recommend the T-Bags moving forwards for flower quality and saw a sight difference in the water clarity too”
Helensburgh Flowers
Denise used the Pro 2 T-Bags and gave us these images and comments…..
Denise said “I didn’t notice much difference in the quality of the flowers from day 1-5 but I have to say the lisianthus with Chrysal looked and felt considerably better and stronger then the lisianthus with just plain water. No notable change in water in both vases and did not have to top up. I would highly recommend the t-bags. Handy size and easy to dilute and use.”
KyeLee Flowers of Onley
Lee used used the liquid Pro 2 and gave us these images and comments…
I’ve found the flowers in just the water are not opening as much and even the large rose. I’m not sure if it will open to its full potential before it finishes. I’ve also noticed some of the agapanthus flowers have dropped off in the vase without food, yet the one with the food is staying strong.
Lee said “Flowers within the vase with food opened up quicker but remained stronger. Still plenty of live left in them. Flowers with just water haven’t opened to the full bloom and I don’t believe they will before they start to die back. All flowers were grade A, cut to the same length and kept In the same environment”
EXTRA FOLLOW UP NEWS FROM LEE:
Started the trial on 28th Feb and on the 14th March I got rid of the flowers in just water. Can you believe it’s the 21st March today and the ones in food are still going!
Stems of Jedburgh
Sarah used the liquid Pro 2 and gave us these images and comments…
Sarah said “Minimal difference between the vases……I have not changed the water at all. I think I should have used more flowers maybe to see how dirty the water got. I may have another go at it!! “
The BFA look forward to any updates from Sarah and will update the post if we hear more.
The Flower Lounge Manchester
Em from the Flower Lounge used the Pro 2 T-Bags and gave us these images and comments…..
DAY 1: We chose a mix of different flowers so we could gauge the efficacy of the flower food on different stems.
DAY 2: We didn’t see much change on Day 2. They were kept in our workroom so the temperature is really nice and cool, with no natural light.
DAY 3: We started to notice some difference on day 3. The water without the Pro 2 had started to go a little bit cloudy. The roses which were more open felt more solid in the vase with the Pro 2 and the leaves of the matricaria were holding up much better.
DAY 4: The water without the Pro 2 continued to get more cloudy. The bottom petals on the stocks started to go a little softer.
DAY 5: The Matricaria stems without the Pro 2 started to wilt slightly. The larger roses were more hollow than those with the Pro 2. The water was substantially more cloudy without the Pro 2.
DAY 8: The shop was shut on day 6 and 7, Day 8 is when we reopened. Without the Pro 2, the bottom leaves of the stocks and Matricaria had started to yellow. The water had started to go cloudy in the Pro 2 vase, but it was considerably murkier in the one without.
Thrive Floristry
Claire used the liquid Pro 2 and gave us these images and comments…
Claire commented that she didn’t see much difference in the end but that she thought it would be good to compare once summer comes as she felt that might show a difference.
West Malling flowers
Maddy from West Malling Flowers used the Pro 2 T-Bags and gave us these images and comments…..
Maddy from West Malling Flowers said “It was great to be a part of this test. Whilst it was difficult to see a big difference against our traditional conditioning methods, we will continue to use the T-Bags and hope to notice a difference over time”
We’d like to thank all the members who took part, giving their time and flowers for this test. We hope florists find this useful and it’s interesting to see the difference in water quality with the different types of flowers used, whilst we didn’t see much difference in the water clarity as we had hoped, It’s good to see water usage on the radar. Thanks to Chrysal for taking part in the impartial tests and we hope they get some use for the findings too!! It’s clear that Chrysal Pro 2 for florists does indeed help the overall condition of the cut stems with most florists recommending its use.
For florists interested in using the liquid flower food who do not do so already Chrysal can install a dosing unit to your water supply ensuring that the correct ratios are maintained without you having to do any measuring.
Any members who wishes to do a test for themselves can email BFA on info@britishfloristassociation.org and the first 50 florists will receive free flower food to conduct a test. Any results posted online or on blogs should tag in both BFA and Chrysal so we can like and share your findings!
We’d love to see your results and hear your thoughts. Perhaps differences in water, in different UK areas, together with different stem types could be another factor to investigate further?
Andrew Hey from Chrysal would like to express their thanks also to the members had this to say…..
“The water saving aspect is that when you have 20, 30, 40 stems in a BUCKET (or large vase etc) then if the florist does not use Chrysal Prof 2 then definitely the water quality will deteriorate very quickly indeed. Of course, then the Florist will find that either they have very dirty water and/or they then need to change the water every day/other day- whereas with the Prof 2 the special ingredients used result in the water remaining fresher for much longer so the water change every day is not needed.
The reason this happens in the shop bucket/large vase is that in this situation (where the flowers are being ‘held’ in effect prior to being used in arrangements) there are a lot of stems per litre of water- generally much more than compared to a vase with a finished arrangement. This means that the water pollutes very quickly- and more so in summer time. The rate of deterioration is also affected by the type of flowers as well- so field grown crops/hairy stems like sunflowers pollute much more rapidly than alstroemeria for example.
One other aspect about Professional 2 is that whilst the product does contain some nutrition- the balance with the purifying ingredients is to provide a small amount of food to maintain quality without pushing the blooms to development whilst keeping the water fresh. This is because the flowers need a small amount of food when in ‘shop’ temperatures especially above 5C. If no nutrition is provided then the metabolic process of the flower will reduce flower quality – even over a few days in the shop.”
