2019 ASHS Annual Conference

Water is extremely important for maintaining postharvest quality of cut flowers. Lily grower have questioned the need to maintain careful sanitation on the idea lilies are less susceptible to “dirty water” than other flowers, e.g. gerbera. We hypothesized that lily stems held in water with increasing population of bacteria would have reduced water uptake and postharvest performance. Lilium ‘Sorbonne’ stems were harvested 1-2 days before the first flower opened then exposed to different populations of bacteria (0 to 2 x 10⁷ CFU/ml) in the vase solution. The average individual flower life was negatively related to the initial population of bacteria. Moreover, flower diameter was greater in control versus other bacterial water (BW) treated stems. When bacteria population was greater than 10⁶ CFU/ml, water uptake and flower life were reduced dramatically. To investigate the duration of exposure to BW, stems were exposed to 2 x 10⁷ CFU/ml bacterial water for 1, 2, or 3 days, then placed into clean water, or were held in BW continuously. By 24 h, BW reduced total water uptake by 43% compared to controls. The longer the exposure time in BW, the less water uptake. Flower diameter and individual flower life were both significantly reduced when the exposure time in the BW increased. Taken together, the data show increasing bacterial population and exposure time reduce water uptake, flower diameter and flower life. Growers who wish to reduce costs associated with sanitation procedures would be well advised to carefully wash buckets and maintain cleanliness to maximize lily postharvest quality.