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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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.
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