Book Description

Cut 'Freedom', 'Charlotte' and 'Classy' rose stems were subjected to various pH and EC solutions created by adding NaCl, Na2SO4, or CaCl2 to various base solutions: Floralife Professional; distilled water; or solutions of HCl, H2SO4, NaCl, Na2SO4, or NaOH. It was determined that the ideal laboratory solution has a low pH, 3.5 to 4.0, and an EC of 1.0 dS" 1. The best salt to add is Na2SO4, but all tested salts provided acceptable results. The average vase life of cut Rosa stems placed in a 1.0 dS" 1 vase solution was 13.9 d and the minimum, 5 d, was recorded for a 'Freedom' rose in either distilled water or a H2SO4 solution. Low pH solutions partially counteracted the negative effects of a high EC, but did not result in the longest vase life for the study. When vase life is plotted against EC, distilled water has a slope of -1.71, while HCl and H2SO4 have slopes of -0.84 and -0.21, respectively. The flatter slope of the acidic solutions indicates that the vase life of stems placed in a low pH solution did not decrease as EC increased as drastically as stems placed in water of a higher pH. In preliminary temperature studies, when using a standard mercury thermometer, 11, 13, or 14 h were required for a quarter, half, or full size box, respectively, to warm up from 3 to 23.8 & deg;C and twice as long for the same boxes to cool to 3 & deg;C. However, during a fluctuating temperature study using temperature data loggers, a half size box only required 4 h to warm up and 8.5 to 9 h to cool down. In a variable temperature study, the longest vase life, 15.3 d, was obtained when 'Freedom' stems remained in a 1 & deg;C cooler for 48 h, while the shortest vase life, 11.5 d, occurred when stems remained in a 20 & deg;C environment for 48 h. In a constant storage study, the longest vase life, 11.7 d, was obtained when 'Freedom' stems were placed in a 1 & deg;C cooler for 12 h. Vase life decreased linearly with both time and temperature to 6.4 d at 30 & deg;C.