An Alternative Postharvest Handling Strategy for Cut Flowers – Dry Handling After Harvest

Abstract

The most traditional first step after harvesting flowers is to place the cut stems into water or a postharvest solution. Although this step is thought to reduce desiccation, and thereby extend postharvest life, there has been no detailed study of this hypothesis. We harvested rose flowers from commercial farms near Bogotá, Colombia and Quito, Ecuador. Flowers were either hydrated as per conventional practice, or not provided with immediate postharvest hydration. They were then processed and transported to Davis, California, following standard commercial practices. Despite substantial loss of water during transport, dry-handled flowers rehydrated fully, and performed at least as well in the vase as flowers handled according to the standard protocol. Our data suggest that the value of immediate hydration of harvested flowers should be carefully examined, not only for roses, but for other important species.

Dry Storage Effects on Postharvest Performance of Selected Cut Flowers

“…Moreover, hydration ensures continued petal expansion and flower opening of cut flowers (Evans and Reid, 1988). Unfortunately, if done immediately after harvest, hydration can increase bacterial plugging of stems (Macnish et al, 2009b;van Doorn and de Witte, 1991;Zagory and Reid, 1986).…”

“…On the other hand, more space is used by the storage buckets, stems can deplete food reserves rapidly, and buds can open more quickly. Finally, wet storage provides more opportunities for pathogenic contamination, resulting in plugged stem ends, blocked water uptake, accelerated wilting, and ultimately death of the stems (Macnish et al, 2009b;Nell and Reid, 2000). Many researchers feel that the negative effects of water storage are so great that stems should remain dry entirely from harvest until receipt by the retailer and that any hydration of the stems in the marketing chain accelerates bacterial contamination and stem plugging (de Witte and van Doorn, 1988;van Doorn and D'hont, 1994;Zagory and Reid, 1986).…”

La refrigeración en húmedo y seco afecta la vida poscosecha de flores de corte de Lisianthus (Eustoma grandiflorum) ‘ABC Blue Rim’

“…El transporte a lugares de venta al menudeo es en seco o en húmedo y sin refrigeración. Macnish et al (2009) life of some cultivars of lisianthus (Liao et al, 2001;Farokhzad et al, 2005;Hojjati et al, 2007;de la Riva et al, 2009;Loyola and Guzmán, 2009;Hassanpour and Karimi, 2010;Kazemi and Shorki , 2011;Kioamohammadi and Hashemaabadi, 2011;Kazemi et al, 2012).…”

Vase life and rehydration capacity of dry-stored gladiolus flowers at low temperature

“…Good results in dry and cold storage depends on the knowledge of the ideal temperature and storage time (MACNISH et al, 2009;AHMAD et al, 2012). According to REID (2004), for gladiolus, the recommended temperature is 5 ºC, as it is safe regarding to chilling.…”