Rant: I tried a new flower food recipe from a blog and it turned my roses brown in 12 hours

I saw a post saying you could make your own preservative with sugar, bleach, and lemon juice. Mixed it up for a big wedding order of 50 red roses. Woke up the next morning and the edges of every single bloom were brown and crispy. Had to do an emergency run to the wholesaler. Has anyone actually had luck with a homemade mix, or should we all just stick to the commercial packets?

3 comments

3 Comments

milam421mo ago

Wyatt_fox68 is right, that bleach is a killer.

simonreed29d ago

Yeah "crispy petals" really hits home lol. I used to think mixing my own was fine until wyatt_fox68 pointed out the tiny margin for error. Now I just buy the pre-made stuff and save myself the worry.

wyatt_fox681mo ago

Honestly, that bleach is the killer. It's way too easy to mess up the dose. You're basically playing chemist with a strong acid and a harsh disinfectant, and the margin for error is tiny. A fraction too much bleach and it's not food anymore, it's flower poison. The commercial stuff works because it's a balanced, buffered formula. Trying to copy that at home with kitchen ingredients is asking for crispy petals.