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Prolonging Vase Life
of Sweet Peas
by Alexia Newman
with Pat Sherman
Problem: Sweet Peas have a short vase life. We
need to find a product that will make sweet peas last longer, keep the
sweet smell, and look outstanding after we have cut them and placed them
in an arrangement inside our home. These beautiful fragrant flowers do
not like to be cut off from their original habitat. Once you have them
in your house they usually only last a couple of days. (In a hurry? Jump
to conclusion)
Review of the Literature: We did our research and
found out there are different ways to extend the vase life of sweet
peas. In "Extending the Vase Life of Sweet Peas" (National
Sweet Pea Society, Annual 2000), Roy Sexton reported that a gas,
ethylene, is potent to sweet peas. Once off of the vine, sweet peas give
off a lot of ethylene gas, which will make the flowers droop and die
quicker. To avoid ethylene, Mr. Sexton reported, there are a few steps
of caution you could take:
- Keep sweet peas in ventilated areas. Since dead sweet peas give
off the ethylene gas other surrounding plants will "smell"
it and will cause them to die quickly.
- Store flowers at 4ºC (39ºF). Colored flowers will sometimes fade
in the cold and scent production may decline.
- Certain chemicals prolong vase life. Mr. Sexton reported at length
on the effects of several different chemicals. This part of his
report was quite technical. Unfortunately, the American products we
found did not list their chemical content. Consequently, we were
unable to do a one-on-one comparison with Mr. Sexton’s.
With this in mind, we decided to experiment with different solutions
to see which one would extend the life of the flowers. We wanted to
learn which products, available in the USA, would extend the life of cut
sweet peas. At the flower market on Swan Island in Portland, OR we
purchased Floralife Crystal Clear (Floralife, Inc., 715
Thunderbolt Road, Walterboro, SC 29488) and Chrysal (Pokon &
Chrysal-Naarden-Holand, PO Box 17, 140C AA, Bussum, The Netherlands).
Materials used for Experiment: Freshly cut Old Fashioned Sweet
Peas, mixed varieties.
- Vase #1- Plain water.
- Vase #2- ½ oz of Floralife Chrystal Clear in 1 pint water.
- Vase #3- 2 measure spoons of Chrysal in 1 quart water.
- Vase #4- 1 Tbs. sugar and 1 Tbs. Bleach- (no report given because
too much bleach)
We placed the three vases in different rooms since the flowers give
off ethylene gas. They were placed at room temperature and checked on
for three days.
Observations:
| |
Vase #1 (water) |
Vase #2 (Floralife) |
Vase #3 (Chrysal) |
|
Day 1 |
Water clear ~ Only 1 ‘Senator’ flowers is wilting ~ Smells
sweet ~ Overall looks healthy
|
Water clear. ~ ‘Senator’ flowers starting to fall over and
die. ~ Smells sweet ~ Overall look healthy
|
Water doesn’t look as clear- solution on bottom of jar looks
green. ~ ‘Senator’ flowers starting to fall over ~ Smells
sweet ~ Overall looks healthy
|
|
Day 2 |
Water clear ~ Flowers still look healthy ~ Can only see three
pea pods ~ Not too many flowers are dying ~ Smell is still really
sweet ~ Over all the healthiest |
. Water looks clear ~ Pea pods coming from ‘Senator’ type ~
Other flowers are starting to fall off ~ Smell is still sweet
|
I can see five pea pods ~ Water still looks cloudy the solution
is still on the bottom ~ Smell is almost gone – not as sweet
anymore ~ These flowers seem to die quicker |
|
Day 3 |
Water looks a little cloudy ~ Eight pea pods ~ Doesn’t smell
as good ~ Over all flowers are doing the best
|
Water and stems look good ~ Seven pea pods-almost all stems of
flowers have pea pods now ~ Almost all the flowers are dead ~
Flowers have a faint smell to them |
Water still has solution-doesn’t look too healthy-cloudy ~
Nine pea pods ~ About the same amount of flowers are dead as the
other jars ~ Very faint smell to them
|
Conclusion: Out of the
four vases, water seemed to keep the flowers looking the freshest and
lasting the longest. Many variables could have affected the results:
perhaps we started late in the season, temperature may not have been
exactly the same for each of the vases, different lighting and
atmosphere, too many varieties of flowers, the quantity of chemical
solutions.
Suggestions for Further Study
~ Start earlier in the season, when the flowers start to bloom.
~ Try several individual varieties of Spencers and Old Fashions
~ Make sure the temperature, lighting, and atmosphere are the same
~ Redo the sugar solution without any bleach.
~ Redo the sugar solution with one drop of bleach
~ Try placing an aspirin in the water.
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