9 steps to deliver better floral products (and increase profits)

The U.S. floral industry has changed significantly over the last 100 years. Most plants aren’t grown in close proximity to consumers. Despite the perishability of these crops and abundant research-based information emphasizing the importance of temperature management, the industry often fails to provide proper temperature control, especially during transportation. The combination of long-distance transportation and poor temperature control can result in flowers and plants with inadequate longevity, increased shrinkage, disappointed customers and decreased profits for all segments of the floral industry.

9 tips

Here are some temperature-related recommendations to improve consumer satisfaction, sales and profits.

1. Cool plants rapidly. Most cut flowers and potted plants (except for tropicals) should be cooled rapidly to proper temperatures (normally 33°F-35°F) and maintained at appropriate temperatures (no higher than 41°F) throughout the cold chain. This often requires using forced air or vacuum precooling technologies.

If day-ahead flower and plant ordering and/or day-ahead flower and plant harvesting is used, cooling them overnight before shipping allows crops to be cold at the time of transport.

2. Drive improvements yourself. Buyers, mainly large wholesalers and mass marketers, must drive improvements in flower and plant temperature management during distribution (demand-pull). Only when the companies that pay for the products and transportation services start making demands will temperature management improve significantly. However, these demands must be realistic and based on facts, not on the subjective mind-set of some mass-market floral buyers.

3. Require loggers. Time/temperature indicators proven effective for floral crops or data loggers should be required in all shipments to document cold-chain issues. There are no excuses for not monitoring temperatures during distribution, especially when some temperature-monitoring systems cost pennies per box. There’s a list of indicator devices in the Product and Service Company Links section on the Chain of Life Network Web site (www.chainoflifenetwork.org) under the “temperature or relative humidity measuring devices” category.

4. Practice day-ahead ordering by buyers and/or day-ahead flower and plant harvesting by growers for many crops to ensure that adequate time is available to cool the products before transportation. While almost all crops can be harvested or ordered in this manner, day-ahead harvesting might work best since growers can sell out of their coolers and buyers have an extra day to order.

5. Convince companies that precooling services can be profit centers. Transportation or third-party companies should offer precooling services as profit centers to ensure that all boxed flowers and plants placed in trucks are at 32°F-41°F (excluding tropicals, most of which should be stored at 55°F-60°F).

6. Probe flowers and plant growing media. Record temperatures and make results available to growers, shippers, wholesalers, retailers and transportation companies in a timely manner. This could be done by third-party inspectors, who could provide independent, accurate records. Durable, needle-type temperature probes work best, not infrared types.

7. Watch temperatures. Other than tropicals, flowers and plants with a temperature higher than 41°F should not be transported and must either be cooled to below 41°F (32°F-35°F preferred) before being transported or returned to the shipper. This function would likely work best if third-party companies were involved in making the measurements and subsequent decisions.

8. Identify and publicize grower, shipper, transportation, wholesale and retail companies that have adequate low-temperature facilities and use them properly. Highlighting these companies may help to get others to follow suit.

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9. Invest in and use the equipment needed to prevent breaks in the cold chain. Equipment includes precoolers, adequate refrigerated storage, sealed and trailer-height dock doors, refrigerated docks, refrigerated trucks and marine containers.

Flowers respond to elevated temperatures

Flowers and plants are often shipped at 10°F-40°F or more above their ideal storage temperatures. How do flowers and plants respond to elevated temperatures?

University of California plant physiologist Ed Maxie showed the effects of temperature on the average respiration rate (heat production) of roses and carnations.

At a temperature that flowers and plants are commonly exposed (50°F-60°F), these flowers respire (and age) three to 10 times faster than at the ideal temperature of 32°F.

Effect of temperature on cut roses and carnations

There is also a strong negative relationship between respiration during storage and subsequent vaselife of cut flowers. The higher the respiration rate, the shorter the vaselife. Plant sciences professor Michael Reid and researchers at University of California-Davis showed that ‘Ambiance’ roses stored at 32°F for five days had a vaselife of 11.5 days, whereas roses held at 50°F for five days lasted only seven days, a 39-percent decrease in vaselife.

- George Staby

- March 2008