As many of you have noticed, the emphasis on cold chain management concerning cut flowers and potted plants has become increasingly more evident. It has become more widely known by horticulturists, as well as by the general public, that flowers have the ability to live much longer than they oftentimes do. In an article recently published by Dr. George Staby entitled “A White Paper”, we learn of the devastating effects that can and are taking place in our industry. Because of unfortunate choices concerning transportation and cold chain management on our part, we are losing customers. Inconsistent temperatures will affect the life of the flowers, increase ethylene levels, decrease performance of the flowers, and can possibly cause a devastating disease called Botrytis.

           Our first mistake is the transportation of our cut flowers and plants. The environment we live in today has convinced us that the fastest way is the best way. Delivery services such as FedEx and UPS have taught us that we can get our flowers “overnighted” to us with the simplicity of a phone call or the click of a mouse. Studies in our industry, however, have proven otherwise. These overnight delivery services do not have the refrigerated services that we should be demanding. Additionally, the boxes shipped in the back of these trucks often reach the out

side temperature within a few hours. Ice packs provide little benefit for our precious cargo.

            Increased temperatures also result in increased respiration levels. Increased respiration rates cause decreased life of cut products. Flowers are commonly exposed to temperatures of 50F, which causes them to age three times faster than if they had been kept at the ideal temperature of 32F. 

            Many of you are well aware of the effects ethylene gas can have on cut flowers. Ethylene is more fatal when exposed to higher temperatures.  Studies show that at room temperature (68F) waxflower will loose 40% of its blooms when exposed to 1 part per million of ethylene for 12 hours. On the contrary, waxflower treated with 100 times more ethylene for 48 hours at 35F showed no flower fall.

            I’m sure you have all heard the phrase “a picture is worth 1,000 words.” These pictures clearly show the effects of temperature on the performance of the flower when stored at certain temperatures for 4 days. Each flower is labeled with its temperature. Very slight changes in temperature have a great affect on the performance of the flowers.

            Botrytis, or grey mold, is found on almost all flowers. It is a vicious fungus that is very common in our industry.  Higher temperatures cause the flowers to increase their respiration rates, which in return causes condensation to form on flower sleeves. This condensation provides an incubator for the Botrytis mold. With this kind of exposure, it takes only four hours for Botrytis to germinate and begin its growth cycle, resulting in dreadful amounts of mold to envelop the flower.

            As you can see, the floral industry as a whole needs to improve the cold chain. As your wholesaler, we are continually trying to improve our transportation system to ensure that the cold chain is never broken all the way from the farm to you.   However, we must all do our part to not be the missing link. As retailers, you also need to keep the cold chain consistent as much as possible with all of your flower shipments. In order to assure that product is always dependable, we must consistently send out flowers that have all been treated in the same manner during transportation. This will increase the perceived value of the flowers we are sending out into the public. By doing so, we can in turn increase our sales.

            For more information on proper cold chain management, please request a copy of “A White Paper”, by Dr. George Staby from your sales representative.

          

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