What Happens If You Don't Add Sugar to the Vase of Water of a Cut Flower?

Food Supply

• Flowers receive their primary food source from the leaves and the stem of the plant. Once cut, they no longer have a supply of food. Sugar is the alternative food supply that provides fresh-cut flowers with the nutrients they need to survive. This is why many people add sugar to the water in the vase. Without a secondary food source, such as sugar, flowers begin wilting a few days after cutting them and placing them in water.

Alternative to Sunlight

• Fresh-cut flowers must adapt to the lack of direct sunlight they receive once indoors. The stems and leaves of the flowers contain nutrients, produced by the sun, which helps feed the flower. Sunlight is essential for flowers because it is responsible for photosynthesis, which helps the flower harness energy from the sun and produces carbohydrates. The sugar placed in the vase, along with water, supplies the flowers with the carbohydrates they need to live longer. Without sugar, flowers lose their firm structure. They begin deteriorating, which is visibly apparent when their stems and petals begin drooping.

Keeps Leaves Healthy

• According to The University of Minnesota, sucrose provides the flower with energy, which helps to make up for the loss of functioning leaves. Sucrose also aides continued development of the flower, which makes it last longer. Even a week after removing them from their main food supply, flowers continue looking fresh.

Opening of Buds

• Closed rose petals are beautiful in their own unique way; however, roses with opened petals and multifaceted layers have a captivating presence. According to MasterGardeners.org, sugar helps the rose in two ways: it helps open the buds of freshly-cut flowers and makes them last longer. Therefore, not only are the roses displayed in the most favorable manner, they are also well-preserved.