Donn,
Cut young and prime flowers at an angle and place the flowers into a pail or pitcher of water immediately. Then when you've finished, take them into the house. Swirl any dirty flowers or foliage in a sink/tub of water. Cut the stem again underwater, about 1/2" above the last cut, again on a slant. (That's not under a running faucet, but rather in a tub of water, with the cutting area submerged.) Drop it into a clean vase or pitcher with fresh water, or better yet, a hydrating or conditioning formula. (Do a search for Jeanne's conditioning formula on this site.) Let the flowers sit at least two hours before arranging. Enjoy! Flowers add so much to a home's setting.

Thanks, Jan. I searched every way I could think of for Jeanne's conditioning formula, and even found mention of it, but not the formula itself. I did find this one, from Octogenarian:

1 cup regular 7-Up (the sugar provides energy) 1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon household bleach (controls bacteria). Increase proportionately if you need more liquid.

Jeanne's recipe is as follows ---1 gal water --2 Tbsp sugar --2 Tbsp white vinegar and 1/2 tsp bleach.

The bleach and the vinegar together can make a nasty gas if not diluted enough with water -- so I always add the bleach at the end -- in this small of amount its no big deal but if you are working with 5 gal increments, it might be a problem.

Also cut your flowers either early in the morning or late at night. Coolest time of day and in most instances -- you need to strip all the leaves off the sunflowers. Other leaves that will be under water also need to be stripped.

I think that the down and dirty basics!!!

Cathy

Here's Jeanne's formula which I printed out a couple years ago:
1 gallon water
2 Tablespoons plain white sugar
2 Tablespoons cheapo plain white vinegar
1 teaspoon plain bleach (later modified to 1/2 tsp)

Put the sugar and vinegar into the container/bucket first. Add a little hot water and swish briefly to start the sugar dissolving. (If using cold water, swish a little longer.) Continue adding cooler water. ***Don't add the bleach until at least half the water is in, to avoid dangerous gas you don't want to breathe.*** Keep tightly covered.

I found it under "preservative recipe." I'm small scale, and I don't market, so I make mine up in well-rinsed gallon milk jugs. Good luck in your cutting!

Excellent! Thanks a bunch.

Donn,
Cut into clean buckets. I usually use a soft toilet brush (made of fabric type material not plastic, and swish with detergent, then rinse and do a final swish covering all surfaces with bleach and water. Then rinse and your bucket is ready without bacteria to contaminate the new material.
Regarding cutting under water: I think the latest Armitage book said that in most instances that is no longer needed, with maybe roses (can't remember precisely) the exception. Anyone else remember?
I often cut, strip the leaves and put the flowers in buckets in the field in water that already has preservative in it. It makes one less handling.
The article that someone mentioned on this forum from GPN (I think) was interesting in that it said that many of their flowers didn't do much better with hydrating and/or preservatives, but it depends on which variety you are handling.
You could do some of your own experiments also.
Ann