1. Fresh Flower Quality Assurance

2. Our goal is to provide our customers with the best quality product available.

3. Make sure when pulling orders for your customers that you are pulling in rotation. Pull from front buckets first to keep the product as fresh as possible.

4. Why rotation is important Example: A bunch of roses at 14 days goes into the discount section. It may look fine on the top, but once you open it you can see the moldy petals and sometimes mold growing on the leaves.

5. Things to look for when pulling product to pack: Mold on stems/flower heads Broken flower heads Mushy stems Smashed/bruised heads Dark coloring on the edge of petals Frozen product Spots and Blemishes Wilted Heads/leaves Petals dropping To much moisture Exposure to heat

6. Mold on stems can develop from sitting in buckets. Sometimes the heads can look good at first glance, but the stems/leaves may have mold.

7. Hidden Mold When packing alstroemeria take one sleeve off to check the leaves and stem for mold before packing.

8. Broken Flower Heads Sometimes you will see a bunch that has a few heads broken and the rest of the bunch looks good. This can happen in shipping or by getting bumped while walking around them in the cooler. Help eliminate waste by taking 2 bunches and making one good bunch.

9. Mushy Stems Some flower varieties have softer stems that can disintegrate and turn mushy. Often found on calla lilies, ranunculus, hyacinths, and other bulb flowers.

10. Smashed and bruised heads Can be caused from shipping, being dropped/bumped, old product, or packed carelessly with heads touching the box.

11. Dark coloring on the tip of the petals When flowers are old the tips of the petals will darken in color, this is a sign that the flower is aging.

12. Frozen Product When product has been frozen the petals will turn translucent/sometimes crunchy and the flower will not open. Caused when the cooler/refrigerated trucks are running too cold.

13. Spots and Blemishes Delicate flowers can be sensitive to touch, temperature, and water drops. Keep in air tight container.

14. Wilted Heads/leaves When flowers start to age they will start wilting, the edges will start to shrivel.

15. Dropping Petals As some flowers age they will start dropping petals, agapanthus, phlox, and delphinium are flowers to watch for petals dropping.

16. Too much moisture When water is dropped on the heads of flowers or inside the sleeves it can cause the flowers to mold. When flowers come in with paper wrapped around the flowers inside the sleeves it should be removed before going in the cooler. When the paper is left on the bunch of flowers and gets wet from the water in the bucket it will cause the flowers to mold.

17. Exposure to Heat When flowers are exposed to heat they start to deteriorate. Example: A bunch of stock can wilt and die within 1-2 hours out in the heat.

18. Keeping Flowers Fresh When putting product back in the cooler or walking through the cooler make sure all products are in water in the buckets. When you see a bunch sticking higher than the rest of the bunches take a minute and make sure it is in water.

19. By rotating flowers every shipment we can provide the freshest product to our customers and have satisfied customers!