Is It a Bad Idea to Put Roses in Sugar Water? What Florists Recommend

Key Points

• Adding pantry sugar to vases of roses is not recommended because bacteria can build up quickly.

• Sugar (sucrose) is added to commercial flower food, but that also contains antimicrobial agents.

• Make sure to refresh water in rose vases regularly, and keep them away from radiators and heat.

Roses can have a short vase life, depending on the variety, and their delicate petals usually begin to drop off within several days. But some people use tricks and home ingredient hacks to make their cut flowers last longer (or so they think). These include hacks like combining vase water with sugar, distilled bleach, vinegar, citrus, and even citrus-flavored soda.

Here’s what a professional florist and a rose farmer actually recommend for keeping roses in a vase looking lush for as long as possible.

Meet the Expert

• Sullivan Owen is a professional floral artist whose work has been featured in many international magazines.

• Tyler Francis is a lead farmer with April & Ashley, a family-owned rose bush and bouquet purveyor.

Does Adding Sugar to Water Make Roses Last Longer?

The logic for wanting to add sugar to water in flower vases is understandable. This DIY tip is based on the ingredients in commercial flower food, like those little packets often included with store-bought bouquets.

Sucrose (i.e., sugar) is “a common ingredient in flower food,” professional floral designer Sullivan Owen explains.

Seeing this ingredient listed may have led people to assume that pantry sugar on its own was an acceptable additive to water for cut flowers.

Sugar does have benefits for feeding cut flowers, which is why it’s added to the mixtures used by florists, but in flower food formulas, the sucrose is blended with antimicrobial elements to keep the water free from bacteria.

Adding sugar to the vase water alone is “not a great idea” Owen says, adding that sugar alone increases the level of carbohydrates that bacteria can feed on.

What Experts Recommend for Cut Roses

Experts agree that commercial flower food, such as that used by florists, is the best choice for keeping cut roses fresh in a vase. Tyler Francis, the lead farmer for April & Ashley, says roses will last longer this way.

Owen recommends using Chrysal flower food or similar products specially formulated for this purpose. For the best results, flower food should be stirred into water and thoroughly dissolved before cut flowers are added.

Are Other DIY Flower Food Recipes Safe for Cut Roses?

Sugar is one of a number of substances people add to the water in flower vases, believing it will help keep flowers fresh. Some folks combine bleach and sugar.

From bleach to vinegar to soda drinks to honey, ostensibly added for their antibacterial properties, florists say that these additives aren’t effective and may cause cut flowers to die faster.

One myth is that using lemon-lime soda such as Sprite keeps flowers fresh because the citric acid prevents the sugar from feeding bacteria. But, says Owen, it’s hard to know what the ratios of ingredients are in such products, and it’s best to avoid using them for your roses.

Owen doesn’t recommend using these for cut roses, and warns that, used in inappropriate amounts, such mixtures can kill your cut roses prematurely. Even diluted bleach is a strong chemical to be using in your flower vase water.

Francis says if you are going to go the DIY flower food route, choose gentler ingredients. Vinegar has strong antimicrobial properties but is less toxic than bleach. The recipe he recommends is:

• 2 tablespoons of white vinegar

Just as with flower food, dissolve the sugar and mix thoroughly with the water before adding flowers.

Other Expert Tips for Keeping Cut Roses Fresh

Aside from what’s in the water, there are a few steps you can take to keep your cut roses looking their best:

1. Make sure your stems are angled at the bottom. Francis says one important tip to cut the stems at a 45-degree angle using pruners before placing roses in a vase. If you don’t have pruners handy, a sharp pair of good quality scissors will do.

2. Keep your vase is clean. As you can probably sense based on the above, keeping roses bacteria-free is key to their survival, and that means keeping the vase clean. Francis says to wash your vase thoroughly with mild soapy water before adding the stems, and fill it 3/4 of the way full with lukewarm water. Then, refreshing the water and flower food every two days can extend the life of your roses.

3. Don’t overstuff the vase. The vase should be big enough to allow air circulation: try not to jam the stems in tightly. You can also trim some leaves from the lower stems using your snips to improve airflow.

4. Don’t let the roses get too hot or too cold. Place your vase of roses away from bright sunlight, heat sources (such as radiators) or cold drafts, as all of these can stress the petals and cause them to dry out prematurely, Francis warns. Typically, cut roses last longer in a cool spot.

Read the original article on The Spruce