Tried using bleach on a hydrangea arrangement and completely wrecked it

Ngl, I saw some TikTok where a florist said a tiny drop of bleach in the water keeps hydrangeas from wilting. I tried it on a big order for a wedding in Greenville last Saturday and within 4 hours the petals were all brown and mushy. I panicked and had to run to the wholesale house at 6 AM to redo the whole centerpiece. Learned my lesson the hard way - never trust random internet tricks without testing on a scrap stem first. Anyone else had a flower hack totally backfire on them?

2 comments

2 Comments

taylor_wells7d ago

Wait actually hold on, I gotta push back here. I've been using a tiny splash of bleach in my hydrangea water for years and it works perfectly for me. Maybe you used too much? Like I'm talking literally a few drops in a gallon of water not a full capful. The trick is also to cut the stems at a sharp angle and dip them in boiling water for 30 seconds before putting them in the vase. I think your issue was mixing too strong a bleach solution with stems that weren't prepped right. Also the timing matters - adding bleach to already wilting flowers is a death sentence but if you do it fresh from the shop they perk up nice.

keith1646d ago

Boiling water for 30 seconds" sounds more like I'm about to cook dinner than save some flowers lol. Maybe I'll just stick to killing them the old fashioned way (by forgetting to water them).