Fresh is what flowers are all about.  Without freshness, there is not color, vibrancy or any of the other qualities that consumers say they want most in fresh cut flowers and potted plants.

Fortunately, freshness takes just a few minutes a day to preserve in the store with easy-care mums.  The time you spend, will more than pay for itself in customer satisfaction and sales.

 

Yoder offers the following guidelines to ensure your success:

 

• Immediately remove garden mums from sleeves or boxes used for shipment.

• Check for water.  If the root medium is dry to touch, water pots thoroughly.

• If practical, place plants on a display structure rather than directly on pavement, which can heat up excessively during the day, injuring roots.

• Locate plants where they received at least one-half day of sun.  If sunlight is so intense that plants seem to appear dry and wilted most of the time, then plants may need 25 to 30 percent shade.

• It is common to display garden mums outdoors, because of this; they often require frequent watering during the sunny, windy days of late summer and early autumn.  Check plants twice a day to be sure root medium remains moist to the touch.  Allowing a garden mum to wilt will decrease its useful life.  Wilting can decrease the plant's useful life by three to five days.

• Groom plants daily to remove withering or broken leaves and flowers.

• As plants sell, consolidate them in order to maintain an attractive display that does not look picked over.

Click here to print or download these guidelines.