How to Use Flower Transport Gel® properly?

How to treat and handle the flowers, the packing/unpacking and processing properly in order to obtain good fresh flowers at final destination?

Packing/Processing the flowers

• Use good fresh flowers, cut at the right opening stage (for standards www.vnb.nl) (bad in = bad out!!)
• Put the flowers directly after harvesting (preferably inside the greenhouse) in Flower Care® (fresh flower food) for a couple of hours in accordance with the flower food instructions.
• Process flowers into flower bunches and in the Flower Transport Gel® (15-20 ml per bunch).
• Use a processing hall that is as cold as possible.
• Place the flowers, after processing them, as soon as possible within a cold store at 3 degrees Celsius for pre-cooling. (This way there is a minimum activity of the flowers and leafs and therefore increasing vase-life). Flowers can be placed in buckets and on a trolley.
• Upon departure of the reefer container, pack the flowers into boxes. This is best done within the cold store in order to avoid loss of cooling capacity.
• Use boxes that are as open as possible and as thick as possible (for more information concerning types of boxes consult FTG) in order to avoid boxes collapsing and therefore damaged flowers

Packing of the reefer container:

• Make sure that the complete floor space is being used in order to have good airflow (a reefer container has a special floor for the airflow control!)
• Make sure that there is little space between every box in order to have a good airflow (use sticks!)
• Make sure that all boxes are secured by placing each one against another one.
• Do not pre-cool the reefer container as warm air from outside will come and will cause humidity (even unto 100%) which is very difficult to get rid off during the rest of the transport.
• Set the reefer container upon closure on 0,5 degrees Celsius.

Unpacking upon arrival

• Open the reefer container and check information such as temperature still being set at 0,5 degrees Celsius.
• Take the flowers out of the boxes and put them in buckets as usual.
• Depending on the total time of the journey, the flowers can directly be placed out of boxes with the Transport Gel® into normal buckets or a special trolley. At 0,5 degrees Celsius the Flower Transport Gel® can be used for 30 days.
• If, for whatever reason, one decides to still want to put the flowers into water, it is strongly recommended to use treated water with fresh flower food like Flower Care®
• It is not necessary to cut 1-2cm of the stems, the flowers can be placed directly into water.
• Always process fresh flowers within conditioned circumstances.

General remark:

Always make sure that the complete process from harvesting until the final destination of the cut flowers is as short as possible with a total number of handling as few as possible within conditioned circumstances.

Specialty: Farm – Final Consumer

With the Flower Transport Gel® it is also possible to prepare complete finished bouquets for wholesalers or retailers at the production place itself (the farm). Therefore a special sleeve has been developed that keeps the Flower Gel® in its place. A special Fresh Flower Food stick has been developed to replace the traditional Flower Food Sachet. This way the total traditional travelling time of flowers from the farm, through importer and processor towards the retailer can be reduced and at better/fresher quality conditions.

For more Information about other FTG products like Flower Care® products, special sleeves and boxes, please contact FTG.

The same concept can also be used by florists around the world, as the consumer that purchases flowers, always takes the flowers home without water. This means that the flowers start to dehydrate. Although we now know this in not necessary. By putting them in Flower transport Gel®. The first trials have already been done with a few florists in Holland and both consumer as well as florist (after a hesitating period) was enthusiastic about it.

For more information check the manual