Which Solution Keeps Cut Flowers Fresh Longest?

My hypothesis is that the cut flowers in sugar water will stay fresh the longest because sugar helps provide food for the flowers, as cut flowers cannot do photosynthesis. Other solutions may harm them, or stop them from absorbing water properly.

Have you ever wondered how to keep cut flowers fresher for a longer time? When flowers are cut, they stop getting the nutrients they need. Without care, they can start to wilt and dry out very quickly. People can use different solutions to help flowers stay fresh for as long as possible.

Flowers have a xylem which a tube that is used to transport water and nutrients from the base of the stem to the flower and leaves. But once a flower is cut, air enters the xylem which blocks water flow and causes the flower to dry out. Bacteria can build up as well which blocks the stem form getting any nutrients.

Different Solutions can be used to help flowers freshness.

Regular Water: Water does not prevent any bacteria growth which makes it wilt faster.

Sugar Water: Provides the flower with food which keeps it fresh longer, however it encourages bacteria growth.

Bleach Water: Bleach kills all the bacteria clearin the xylem so it can transport water easily. However too much bleach can damage the flower.

Vinegar Water: Vineger lowers the waters pH which can help move water but the flower still wilts overtime.

Salt Water: Salt absorbs the moisture which causes the flowers to dry out faster which leads to faster wilting.

.If I w:ere to do this experiment again, I would try using different amounts of each solute to see if that would make a change. We could also try using By trying different solutions, we can figure out which one helps flowers stay fresh and beautiful the longest.

Controlled

• The type of flower

• Size of flowers stem

• Amount of water

• Amount of solute

• Size of cups

• Room Temperature and same lighting

• Duration of experiment

Manipulated

• Type of solution used (Regular water, Sugar, Salt, Vinegar, Bleach)

Responding

• Freshness of the flowers :

• Wilting

• Stem condition

• Petal condition

• Water level

• Petal drop count

Uncontrolled

• Room Temperature

• Humidity Level

• Sunlight

1. Gather all materials

2. Label each cup with the name of the solute

3. Fill ¾ of the cup with water (7cm)

4. Add 1 tablespoon of the following solutes to their named cups: Sugar, Salt, Vinegar, Bleach

5. Stir each solution to ensure it has been dissolved

6. Get the cut flowers, and place them into each of the cups.

7. Do the experiment in a window to get natural light.

8. Record your observations every day for 7 days. Observe for Wilting, Petal and stem condition, petals dropped and water level.

9. Repeat this experiment a total of five times using five flowers per tria for accuracy.

10. To determine the general score, rate every flower based on wilting, petal conditon and stem condition on a scale of 1-10. The higher the score the fresher the flower. At the end of the experiment you can compare the scores to see with flower was fresh the longest

Water: After 7 days water had lost 0.7mm of water and had dropped 1 petal in total. The flower had started to wilt, more petals were about to fall, and the stem had developed black lines. At the end we gave it an average score of 5.

Salt: After 7 days salt had lost 0.5mm and had dropped 1 petal as well. The flower was very wilted, the petals were black and wrinkly and the stem was brown. We gave it an over all score of 2 which was the lowest.

Sugar: After 7 days sugar had lost also 0.5mm of water and had dropped 0 petals.. The flower was starting to wilt, the petals were opening and the stem had a little brown. We gave it an average score of 6 which was the highest.

Bleach: After 7 days bleach had lost only 0.4mm and had dropped a total of 4 petals. The flower showed no signs of wilting, but the petals were black and wrinkly, also the stem had developed some white spots on it. We gave it an average score of 3.5.

Vinegar: After 7 days vinegar had lost the least amount of water which was 0.4mm. It dropped 6 petals which was the most. The flower did not wilt, yet the petals were black and wrinkly and the stem was completely brown. At the end we gave it a score of 2.5.

TRIAL 1 TABLE

TRIAL 2 TABLE

TRIAL 3 TABLE

TRIAL 4 TABLE

TRIAL 5 TABLE

Start

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Yes, different solutions do affect how long flowers can stay fresh. We saw this in our experiment. Over 7 days, the flowers in sugar water stayed the freshest, with almost no petals dropped and very little wilting, getting the highest general score (6). The regular water flowers did well too but started wilting slightly and also dropped a few petals. We gave it a score of 5 which was the second highest. Bleach water scored a score of 3.5 as it had no wilting but many petals dropped and the stem was turning white. Vinegar water had the most petals lost, the stem was very brown and we gave it a score of 2.5. Salt Water was the worst as it caused a lot of wilting and had a few petals dropped as well. It got the lowest score of 2. Overall, Sugar Water kept the flowers the freshest and healthiest.

Change in Water Level Trial 1

Day | Water | Salt | Sugar | Bleach | Vinegar

Trial 1 | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm

Day 1 | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm

Day 2 | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm

Day 3 | -0.2mm | -0.1mm | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm

Day 4 | -0.4mm | -0.2mm | -0.1mm | -0.1mm | 0mm

Day 5 | -0.6mm | -0.3mm | -0.2mm | -0.2mm | -0.1mm

Day 6 | -0.8mm | -0.5mm | -0.4mm | -0.3mm | -0.2mm

Day 7 | -0.10mm | -0.5mm | -0.5mm | -0.5mm | -0.3mm

Change in Water Level Trial 2

Day | Water | Salt | Sugar | Bleach | Vinegar

Start | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm

Day 1 | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm

Day 2 | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm

Day 3 | -0.2mm | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm

Day 4 | -0.3mm | -0.1mm | -0.1mm | -0.1mm | -0.2mm

Day 5 | -0.4mm | -0.3mm | -0.3mm | -0.3mm | -0.2mm

Day 6 | -0.5mm | -0.4mm | -0.4mm | -0.2mm | -0.3mm

Day 7 | -0.7mm | -0.5mm | -0.5mm | -0.3mm | -0.5mm

Change in Water Level Trial 3

Day | Water | Salt | Sugar | Bleach | Vinegar

Start | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm

Day 1 | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm

Day 2 | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm

Day 3 | -0.2mm | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm

Day 4 | -0.3mm | -0.1mm | -0.1mm | -0.1mm | -0.2mm

Day 5 | -0.4mm | -0.3mm | -0.3mm | -0.3mm | -0.2mm

Day 6 | -0.5mm | -0.4mm | -0.4mm | -0.2mm | -0.3mm

Day 7 | -0.7mm | -0.5mm | -0.5mm | -0.3mm | -0.5mm

Change in Water Level Trial 4

Day | Water | Salt | Sugar | Bleach | Vinegar

Start | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm

Day 1 | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm

Day 2 | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm

Day 3 | -0.1mm | -0.1mm | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm

Day 4 | -0.3mm | -0.2mm | -0.1mm | -0.1mm | -0.1mm

Day 5 | -0.4mm | -0.3mm | -0.3mm | -0.1mm | -0.2mm

Day 6 | -0.6mm | -0.5mm | -0.4mm | -0.2mm | -0.4mm

Day 7 | -0.8mm | -0.5mm | -0.5mm | -0.3mm | -0.5mm

Change in Water Level 5

Day | Water | Salt | Sugar | Bleach | Vinegar

Start | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm

Day 1 | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm

Day 2 | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm

Day 3 | -0.2mm | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm

Day 4 | -0.3mm | -0.2mm | -0.1mm | -0.1mm | -0.1mm

Day 5 | -0.4mm | -0.3mm | -0.2mm | -0.2mm | -0.2mm

Day 6 | -0.5mm | -0.5mm | -0.4mm | -0.3mm | -0.3mm

Day 7 | -0.6mm | -0.6mm | -0.6mm | -0.4mm | -0.4mm

Change in Water Level Average

Day | Water | Salt | Sugar | Bleach | Vinegar

Start | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm

Day 1 | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm

Day 2 | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm

Day 3 | -0.2mm | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm | 0mm

Day 4 | -0.3mm | -0.2mm | -0.1mm | -0.1mm | -0.1mm

Day 5 | -0.4mm | -0.3mm | -0.2mm | -0.2mm | -0.2mm

Day 6 | -0.5mm | -0.5mm | -0.4mm | -0.3mm | -0.3mm

Day 7 | -0.6mm | -0.6mm | -0.6mm | -0.4mm | -0.4mm

In conclusion, my hypothesis was proven correct as sugar water kept the flowers the freshest. We found out that sugar water helped the flowers stay fresh the longest because it provided food and energy to the flowers, preventing them from wilting quickly. Regular water was the second best, as it kept the flowers healthy but didn’t provide extra nutrients. Bleach water came in third, as it slowed down bacteria growth but also caused petals to become wrinkly. Vinegar water was fourth because it caused a lot of browning and salt water was the worst, as it caused the flowers to dry out and wilt very quickly.

This experiment can help my mom with her gift business were she uses alot of cut flowers in the gifts. By finding which solution keeps the flowers fresh the longest, it can help my mom save money, reduce wasre and make sure her flowers are looking beautiful and fresh. My research can also help other florist who need flowers to last for longer. If I were to do this experiment again, I would try using different amounts of each solute to see if that would make a change. We could also try using other solutions, like baking soda or lemon juice, to see how they would affect the flowers. We could have done this experiment for a longer period to see how the solutions work over time. By trying these new things we could make our experiment better and learn more about keeping flowers fresh.

If I were to do this experiment again, I would try using different amounts of each solute to see if that would make a change. We could also try using other solutions, like baking soda or lemon juice, to see how they would affect the flowers. We could have done this experiment for a longer period to see how the solutions work over time. By trying these new things we could make our experiment better and learn more about keeping flowers fresh.

• Conditions of the room like changes in temperature, light, or humidity could have affected how fresh the flowers stay. To reduce this we did the experiment in the same window and kept the conditions the same through the same 7 days.

• Judging the general score and conditions could vary slightly based on personal opinion. We made sure to stay consistent while judging them and we made sure to do daily checks to see smaller changes as well.

• Solution could have not been stirred correctly. To reduce this we made sure the solutions were properly mixed in and the correct amount as well.

• Some flowers might naturally last longer than others. To reduce this impact, we made sure to do five trials and got an average result instead of just picking on flowers results.

• https://ucanr.edu/datastoreFiles/234-76.pdf

• https://ag.umass.edu/greenhouse-floriculture/fact-sheets/sugar-acidity-in-preservative-solutions-for-field-grown-cut

https://bouqs.com/blog/how-to-bring-dying-flowers-back-to-life/#:~:text=The%20main%20reason%20why%20flowers,water%20can%20enter%20the%20stem.

• Thanks to my mother who provided me with all the materials for the science fair

• Thanks to my brother who assisted me in taking the pictures.

• Thanks to my teachers Mrs. Sandhu and Mrs. Aulukh for giding me.