Many of mine will last a week if you put a drop or two of Listerine in the vase water. It also helps that you put them in the water as quickly as possible after cutting. I carry the "primed" vase with me out to the garden and put the rose in as soon as I've cut it and stripped the thorns.

I used to use the Ray Riddel method of collecting the cuttings, then taking them indoors to make another cut while the stem was under water, but it never worked for me as well as the above. I buy the Walmart generic and it works just fine.

Thanks.
I have been using RayRiddel method and it doesn't work for me either.
I will try your method.
I read somewhere about refrigerating them for several hours after putting them in a vase.
Have you ever tried that?

I read this somewhere, and it seems to work. With your fresh cuttings, cut at a nice diagonal. Then rinse stems under hot (not burning, but not tepid) water. Then place into fresh clean water with some additive - sometimes i put in a copper penny, sometimes a little sugar, or the hummingbird feeder mix. Then daily redo the water and freshen your stem cut.

My neighbor told me to put a couple drops of Clorox bleach in with the water.

There is a siphon in the cane to draw water to the cane tip. Cutting the stem causes an air bubble in the capillaries, interrupting the siphon. Re cutting the cane while under water, removes the bubble, reestablishing the siphon so the flowers last longer.

The tricks are, place at least an inch and a half of the stem IN TO WATER and make the cut BELOW THE WATER SURFACE. Gently remove the stem from the water with a droplet of water dangling from the stem end and slip it into your vase of clean water. Simply cutting it again not under water or knocking the water off the re cut end results in another air pocket to interrupt the siphon. Continue with each stem until you've finished.

Stems and canes taper toward their tops. The adhesion factor of water causes it to stick to the sides of anything it contacts and rise above its own level in tapered tubes. Add the transpiration (sweating from the stomata on the leaf undersides) and this causes the sap to rise and flow from the roots to the cane tips. If re cutting your stems doesn't help keep flowers fresh it's because you either didn't get the air pocket out of the capillaries or you caused another one before getting the stem into water. Keep trying until you find what works with your "style".

As for what can be added to prevent algae and bacteria from forming and clogging the capillaries, there are many commercial and home brewed concoctions which work to varying degrees. I don't mix material in a vase. Most "fillers" turn into slime much faster than roses do so I don't add them to the roses. I start with a well scrubbed vase and use clean water and clippers. As long as the house remains cool and the vase is kept out of breezes (a/c, fans, open windows, etc. which can dries them out prematurely) and direct sun from windows, getting a week out of most roses in the house is easy without anything added to the water. But, if you want to add things, go for it. Cutting them properly to get the water flowing up the stem again will work wonders, with or without anything added to the water. I've done it for thirty years. Kim

Thanks Kim.
Sounds like great advice.
I do cut under water but just take maybe a half inch off the stem. Is that enough?
I never knew about the droplet of water that needs to stay on the stem.
I will be more careful.
Thanks again

All of the above, it works. But it also will depend on the variety of rose too. Some roses, like Veterans' Honor, will last forever, like a week at least. Some like Reine des Violettes won't last more than an hour or so no matter what you do! Try getting that puppy to a show, ha! Generally speaking roses with thicker, more substantive petals usually will hold up longer in a vase that ones with very thin, fragile petals. I've also found that for some reason ones with fewer petals hold longer than ones that are petal packed.

"The tricks are, place at least an inch and a half of the stem IN TO WATER and make the cut BELOW THE WATER SURFACE. Gently remove the stem from the water with a droplet of water dangling from the stem end and slip it into your vase of clean water. Simply cutting it again not under water or knocking the water off the re cut end results in another air pocket to interrupt the siphon. Continue with each stem until you've finished."

I don't know about the others, but I read Ray Reddell's Bible very carefully. Most of my roses were selected based on his recommendations. Yet, I don't how anyone - even those who may have just scanned the book - could get the idea that you didn't have to immerse the stem end or keep water on the cut. I just don't think that's the primary key, at least in my area of the country.

Maybe California is ideal (everyone keeps telling me so), but in Georgia heat (Hotlanta), if I wait to carry the stems into the house, the cut roses are often already wilted. Heck, just cutting one rose and carrying it into the house sometimes takes enough time that the dang thing is wilted.

IMHO, however much care you take in cutting the stem end in water is a lot of trouble taken too late. Putting the stems in water as soon as you've cut them - with prepared vases in the garden, at the handy next to the rose you're harvesting, seems to be the key for me. The Listerine, bleach, aspirin - whatever you want to use - simply assures that bacteria doesn't develop in the vase water over the next several days ... but it didn't determine the condition of the cut rose in the first place.

Just MHO from years of cutting roses ...

With intense heat, I believe you rosetom. I used to take a five gallon bucket of water out and cut like a fiend, dumping them into the bucket as I cut. Putting the foliage under water for a short time helps to rehydrate. As for half an inch being enough, could be. The longer they're out, possibly the higher the bubble rises so you may need a longer cut. Keeping the droplet on the bottom of the stem is important. What is the difference between cutting the stem and introducing a bubble outside and doing it at the kitchen sink? Interrupting a siphon is the same no matter where it's done. I haven't read Raydell's book so I'm not familiar with what he advises. My information came from an old florist. She was ancient when I was a whippersnapper. She re cut every flower she worked and they lasted forever.

Seil has a perfect point, if the flower you're harvesting isn't a decent lasting bloom, even recutting it isn't going to make it good. It's only going to last as long as it can last, but recutting it under water and making sure you have the droplet on the stem end as you put it in a vase will allow it to last as long as it can. Kim

Also helps to cut early in the morning like 6am. We are all nosing around out in the garden in our pajamas at that time anyway, right? :)

Also keep them away from apples sitting on the counter. The ethylene gas from the apples ages the flowers faster.

Graham Thomas said to slit the stem end or pound it to break it somewhat. I've tried that, with varying success. Any thoughts from the successful rose cutters?

Constance Spry said to crush woody stems such as lilac. I treat them exactly as I do the roses and they last extremely well. Keeping the water clean and full; keeping them away from moving air, heat and direct sun; and avoiding any kind of produce because of the ethylene gas (tobacco smoke, too, for the same reason), all help to make them last longer, too. A bright, cool, slightly damp room works quite well. When a water change is required, I also recut the stems. Kim

I don't know how to add a link, but there is a fantastic tutorial(with pics) submitted by Strawberryhill about adding calcium and epsom salts to make roses last. Search the Antique Rose Forum for:

Calcium to enhance Austin roses' sex appeal and epsom salt

If I am going to cut a number of stems, I take a container of water to the garden, and re-cut under water as I go.

I may well re-cut AGAIN, when I bring them into the house, then I allow them to REPOSE, with the stems and foliage under warm water in my dishpan for as long as an hour or so.

I usually don't put anything in the water, but it can't hoit. :-) One thing I have heard suggested (and it makes perfect sense, for it contains both alcohol and sugar is GIN.

I have no GIN (ick!) but a small amount of vodka couldn't hurt. :-)

Jeri

OH -- and yes. No matter WHAT you do, some roses have a good vase life, while others have almost none.

Some advice from experts:
A florist on TV swore that he had experimented with every above method. What works best is simply to add a little fresh water each day. (I love the simplicity).

Some recommend hardening over night. Cut roses in evening, not morning. Place in bucket of deep warm water in a cool dark place over night. Cover as much of the stem as possible with water. Arrange in the morning.

The shorter the stem, the longer the rose lasts.