Rant: It took me 8 years to realize I was cutting stems totally wrong

I always snipped my flower stems straight across like I was trimming garden weeds. Then last Tuesday, a customer brought in a wilted bouquet from two days ago and asked what went wrong. I told her it was probably the heat, but she pointed out all the stems were flat and sitting on the vase bottom. I felt so stupid when I looked it up and learned you need a 45 degree angle cut for water uptake. Eight years in this shop and I never questioned it. Has anyone else had a basic skill totally backfire on them like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

rayy8325d ago

Wait, you mean there's an actual RIGHT way to cut stems? I've been doing the straight snip for years too and never even thought about it. That honestly makes so much sense now that you mention it, water probably just sits on a flat cut instead of getting sucked up. Thanks for the tip, I'm definitely changing how I do it from now on.

camerony8225d ago

Nah, the angle doesn't keep water from sitting on the cut, just gives more surface area.

karenhenderson25d ago

@rayy83 yeah the whole "water probably sits on a flat cut" thing is what got me too. But here's something else I noticed nobody's talked about. That 45 degree angle also stops the stem from just resting flat on the bottom of the vase and sealing itself off. I had a customer once who used a really sharp knife instead of scissors, said it kept the stems from getting crushed. Never tried it myself cause id rather just use pruners but it made me wonder how many other little tricks we skip cause nobody tells us.