5 Easy Tricks to Keep Your Tulips from Wilting, From Vodka to Soda

Keep your spring flowers happier for longer

There are many beautiful indicators of spring: light rain showers, the sun beginning to rise earlier and set later, allergies, and, of course, the blooming tulips. With their soft and elegant blooms and vibrant color variations, tulips instantly brighten up any space.

But when a tulip wilts, the weight of its head often tips the stem into a sad-looking, downward-facing bloom, no longer stretching towards the sun.

Keeping cut tulips fresh in a bouquet or vase isn’t a hard science to crack: with a few interesting techniques and a bit of TLC, you can extend the lifespan of your tulips and enjoy their beauty for even longer.

Here are a few smart hacks we love for keeping tulips fresher longer in a vase.

Before You Begin

Make sure your vase is clean, and fill it up with fresh, room-temperature water. When you get your tulip bouquet, trim the stems at an angle before you arrange them in the vase and soak them in lukewarm water for about an hour.

Then, pick out a smart spot to display your tulip bouquet. A cool area away from direct sunlight and heat sources—like your radiator—is the way to go.

Cooler temperatures help reduce water loss, which is, of course, pretty helpful for keeping your tulips looking plump and happy for longer.

Floral Preservatives

Oftentimes, a commercial floral preservative will come with your tulip bouquet. These solutions contain nutrients that help to feed and nourish the flowers, along with additives to prevent bacterial growth in the water. If your flowers come with it, go ahead and mix that in. If your flowers don’t, you can make your own flower food.

Aspirin

Some floral arrangers swear by this little trick. Take an aspirin tablet and crush it up, then drop that into the vase water. Aspirin has salicylic acid in it, which can help to lower the pH of the water, increase your tulips’ water uptake, and stop some of that wilting right in its tracks.

Vodka

Mix a few drops of vodka with the vase water to act as an antibacterial agent. According to Scientific American, this helps to inhibit ethylene production, which is a ripening gas some plants emit. It also helps keep your water clean and prevents microbial growth.

Just remember: plants shouldn’t have too much vodka, so keep the drops to a minimum.

Soda

Fill your vase up with a mixture of equal parts of clear soda like Sprite or 7-Up and water. The sugar in the soda provides nutrients and keeps the flower fresh, while the acidity helps water uptake by lowering the pH of the water.

One thing to keep in mind, though, is that adding in soda will likely encourage bacterial growth. You can combat this by adding just the tiniest bit of bleach—if you add too much, it’s harmful to the flowers, but a bit of bleach can do just the trick for killing off unnecessary bacteria.

No matter how you choose to maintain the freshness and beauty of your tulip bouquet, make sure to change the water every day or two.

In the end, any cut floral arrangement will eventually die. There are some pretty exceptional ways to preserve flowers, though, from flattening them in books and framing them to drying out the leaves and putting them on display.

Read Next: How to Grow Tulips Indoors

Read the original article on The Spruce.