I put a whole bag of sugar in the water for a big peony order and the stems turned to mush

Had a wedding in Portland last weekend that needed 50 peony stems to open fast. Saw an old forum post saying sugar helps blooms open, so I dumped a full cup into the bucket. Checked them after 12 hours and the stems were slimy and weak, half of them bent over. Lost about $200 worth of flowers and had to do an emergency run. Turns out sugar feeds bacteria like crazy unless you also use a proper preservative. Anyone have a safe trick to speed up peonies without ruining them?

3 comments

3 Comments

wade_dixon4d ago

Yeah, that's the thing with quick fixes...

abbyhall4d ago

Quick fixes" like what exactly? I feel like people throw that term around for totally different things lol

hannahj494d ago

Even the good ones just kick the can down the road.