I don’t understand why flowers last longer if you change the water every day but fall apart if they are left in a full vase of water from yesterday. Are they removing nutrients from the water?
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They are likely taking nutrients from the water, if you could supply what they needed in a water based medium it is likely you can extend the frequency of water changes
One thing I do know is that the cut ends of the stems degrade and can’t pull up the water after a while. If you recut the ends when you change the water the flowers last a lot longer.
Tap water contains a lot of nutrients beyond just pure water. Much like the roots, the cut stems of plants can absorb these nutrients from water, though roots are much better at the job. As such, when you place cut flowers into water, you are basically doing a form of [hydroponics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroponics) by placing cut flowers into water.
Overtime, diseases are likely to develop in the water, and are generally dangerous long before you can notice them.
As the stem is not intended to be cut, it will eventually heal and lose its ability to pull in the water and nutrients. Due to this, periodically retrimming the stream will extend the life of the flowers.
They take oxygen out of the water, once that’s gone the water doesn’t have anything it needs and also begins to become gross, gross water is toxic and also hurts the flowers.
It’s essentially like soda going flat.
Some plants can survive in water entirely so long as it’s kept fresh. If you’d like to learn more about that you want to be looking up ‘propagation’.
The bacteria that develops over time rots the ends of the stems causing them to no longer take in water. Changing the water and snipping the ends helps trim away at the dead material not taking in nutrients and exposing the parts of the stem that can.
What would you rather drink yourself…
Water from a pond or water from a running river?
Not sure if that is really the right metaphor haha, but I hope you catch my drift.
After sitting around for a few days bacteria will grow in the water which increases the acidity of the water. This is why adding teaspoon of bleach to the water will also increase the longevity of cut flowers. Tap water provided by a city (i.e. not well water) SHOULD only has trace amounts of nutrients.
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