Vase life is one of the most important factors that determine the marketability of cut flowers and is greatly affected by the water balance. The vase life of cut hydrangea flowers varies greatly depending on the postharvest solution management.
Therefore, this study investigated the vase life of freshly harvested hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Verena’) according to the three types of preservative solutions (tap water (TW), 1% Chrysal Professional Ⅲ (CPⅢ), 2% sucrose + 250 mg/L 8-hydroxquinoline + 100 mg/L citric acid (SHQC)) and the combination solutions (pretreatment; TW, 0.1% Chrysal RVB (RVB), Floralife Quick Dip (FQ), transport; TW, CPⅢ, Floralife Clear (FC), preservative; CPⅢ, FC) for each distribution stage (pretreatment–transport–consumer). In the preservative comparison experiment, compared with the control, SHQC and CPⅢ significantly increased the vase life in 2019 (0.7 days, 3.4 days) and 2020 (1.4 days, 3.1 days), respectively.
In the comparative experiment, by solution combination, the group (RVB, FQ) using the pretreatment significantly extended the vase life by 5.9 days and 4.6 days compared with the TW. These results confirm the importance of preservative solutions and pretreatment, suggesting that appropriate pretreatment and preservatives should be used to improve the marketability of cut hydrangea flowers.
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