We want our Roses to stay fresh and fragrant for as long as possible after we cut them and bring them indoors. The usual vase life of a Rose can span anywhere between a week and two.
There are a few steps you can take to achieve the two-week and maybe an even longer lifespan for your Roses. One of them is placing them in water as soon as they’re cut.
How Long Can Roses Go Without Water?
Roses can go a few hours without water after being cut. However, this period shortens in hot, dry conditions. For best results, immediately immerse roses in water after cutting. This practice extends their vase lifespan by 3-4 days. Delaying this can reduce their freshness equivalently.
Why do Roses Need Water?
When a flower is cut from the plant, the petals, along with the foliage that you leave on the stem, lose moisture through transpiration.
Placing the stems in water allows them to suck the water they need to keep up with the transpiration rates. This keeps the Rose fresh.
In case water is not provided, the foliage and petals keep losing water to the atmosphere, and the water does not get replaced. The plant cells become flaccid, and the Rose wilts.
Best Practices for Cut Roses
Expert florists recommend taking a wide bucket, half-filled with fresh water, along with you when you cut the Roses from the plants.
Having a ready water bucket will allow you to immerse the Roses in water as soon as they are cut, so they spend zero time without water.
This increases Rose’s vase lifespan by 3-4 days. For instance, if a Rose is kept out of water for 3-4 hours after cutting, its lifespan is reduced by 3-4 days.
Factors Affecting the Freshness of Cut Roses
If the weather is hot and dry, your cut Roses won’t survive even an hour out of the water and will definitely start showing signs of stress.
Hot and dry weather accelerates the transpiration rates, and your flowers will lose moisture and freshness at an exponential rate.
Conversely, if the weather is cool and humid, the Roses can stay out of water for longer and will not show any signs of wilting. Maybe even up to 8 hours.
The variety of Rose also has a part to play. Florists’ favorite varieties, such as Long Stem Roses can survive longer out of water compared to other delicate Roses.
If you cannot put the Roses in water immediately after cutting, wrapping them in a wet cloth will also do an excellent job of keeping them fresh for as long as 8 hours.
Flowers that have not yet fully bloomed, those with their inner petals still closed, will survive for a greater time out of the water than fully bloomed ones.
After placing the Roses in water, feed them with flower food and keep them in a cool place for maximum vase life. Following the proper steps and placing the Roses in the water right after cutting them will survive for 2 weeks or more.
Daniel has been a plant enthusiast for over 20 years. He owns hundreds of houseplants and prepares for the chili growing seasons yearly with great anticipation. His favorite plants are plant species in the Araceae family, such as Monstera, Philodendron, and Anthurium. He also loves gardening and is growing hot peppers, tomatoes, and many more vegetables.