Homemade Cut Flower Food
- 1). Juice one lemon or two limes. Squeezing them by hand works fine.
- 2). Pour a gallon of lukewarm water into a pitcher. Use filtered water if available; otherwise, tap water is fine. Florists use warm water to help preserve cut flowers.
- 3). Add 1 Tbs sugar to the pitcher and stir to dissolve it. Sugar provides nourishment to the flowers to increase their vase life.
- 4). Add 1 Tbs. bleach and 2 Tbs of lemon or lime juice to the cut flower food mixture. The bleach kills bacteria and the citric acid makes the water more acidic, which helps the cut flowers take in the water.
- 5). Cut flower and foliage stems at a 45-degree angle with garden shears or a sharp knife. Place them in a container with the cut-flower food mixture immediately after cutting the stems.