Abstract
Cut flowers are usually cut under water to facilitate rehydration by Japanese flower retailers. This procedure, cutting stems under water, is laborious for retailers. Based on questionnaires, cutting stems under water was found to be practiced by 62% of retailers, and 72% of retailers believed that cutting under water is effective in facilitating the rehydration of cut flowers. Next, we investigated whether cutting under water is effective in facilitating rehydration using cut chrysanthemum, rose, lily, lisianthus, gerbera, alstroemeria, and stock flowers that had been dried. In chrysanthemum and gerbera flowers, an increase in the fresh weight of the cut flowers was accelerated by cutting stems under water, but it was not in the other cut flowers. There were no significant differences in the vase life of all cut flowers between cutting under water and cutting in air. These findings suggest that the effect of cutting stems under water on the rehydration and vase life of cut flowers is limited.
