Why does salt prolong the life of cut flowers the longest?

according to my school science project experimant


salt prolongs the life of cut flowers the longest.


what i did was us cut daisies and place them in vases w/ each of these solutions:


salt water


distilled water


vinegar


sprite


sugar water


and no water





the first on to die was the one with vinegar


the sugar on was like the third to die


and it produced some odd small black bumps


=|


wat was that?%26gt;





well what im trying to figure out is why did sugar prolong the life of a cut daisy the longest?





i need details

Why does salt prolong the life of cut flowers the longest?
I%26#039;m confused, did sugar prolong the life of the cut flower the longest or was it the 3rd to die? I’m guessing by the title that the salt prolonged the most.





I’m not certain on details, or what exactly happened in each case of your experiment, but cut plants will die mostly because of lack of water. Of course vinegar being an acid is expected to be the harshest on the plants. It could also have dehydrated the plants by osmosis.





The small bumps formed in your sugar water are probably some sort of mold or fungi. Water with sugar is very favorable condition for a lot of microorganisms to grow. Mold, fungi or deteriorated leaves will block the pores in the stem that pull the water to the flower and cause it to die for lack of water.





The salt in the other hand might inhibit mold, fungi and even bacterial formation, minimizing that problem. Salt might also have minerals that the plants needs.





I would guess the ideal solution is sugar (because it also feeds the flower) and something to prevent bacterial/mold growth would be most favorable to the plant. Maybe even sugar and salt together. I also heard crushed aspirin or a small amount of mouthwash with sugar is the best for cut flowers. But the concentration of sugar and whatever else you add to the water has to be low because of the osmotic equilibrium. Plants require environment with lower osmotic pressure than the cells. Plant cell walls will prevent cells from expanding to the point of bursting so even distilled water would be good for them.





However to make cut flowers last you need more than the right solution. Air bubbles can also be formed when you cut the stem and block the pores. That’s why florists recommend cutting flowers under water. Another recommendation is to never have leaves immersed in the water to avoid the deterioration.





I would be very curious to know what the full result of your experiment was. I would guess sprite can’t be good for flowers. No water sometimes makes flowers die without wilting which makes it hard to define when exactly it is dead. I’m also curious why you didn’t use regular water to compare to distilled water. I would be very curious to know that.
Reply:it most like wasn%26#039;t the just the sugar that maintained the flower, but its concentration in the water. the solute concentration (sugar) in the water was probably equal, or close to equal, to the solute concentration in the cells of the flower. this would establish an osmotic equilibrium that satisfied the maintainance of the cells for an extended period of time. you%26#039;ll want to try repeating this experiment with varying concentrations of sugar for each flower. the same is true for all of the solutions you used: vinegar, which contains no water would have drained the flower of water. the solutions that contained water would easily have lasted longer than the vinegar by the same principle that a kind of temporary osmotic equilibrium would be established allowing those flowers to live longer



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