If you’re tired of your flowers wilting so fast, a hacks expert revealed a trick to keeping them alive longer. All you need is some baking soda.
Popular TikTok user John Brown (@daddybrownn) uses baking soda in the majority of the hacks he shares with his nearly 300,000 followers. He previously told the Daily Dot his background in chemistry has helped him come up with such hacks. “My goal is to teach people how they can get the same results (or better) using cheap and simple ingredients that are non toxic rather than buying name brand chemicals that are harmful to humans and pets,” Brown said of his content.
In one of his latest videos, he uses Great Value baking soda to keep flowers from dying so fast. The video racked up over 178,000 views.
Why do flowers die so fast?
“The reason why flowers die so quickly is ’cause, over time, the water becomes acidic,” Brown explains in his clip. “So, when we add baking soda, this is gonna neutralize the water, which is keeping the flowers alive longer.”
This is true.
Baking soda does neutralize the water, per Blooming Box.
Brown takes a teaspoon of baking soda and dumps it into the water in the vase. “That’s all it takes. If your water becomes cloudy or dirty, you can change it and then add more baking soda when you fill it back up,” he says.
“Another tip is when you’re emptying the water before you put it in, make sure your vase is extremely clean. Yes, you can still use the flower food that comes with the flowers, but just throw that in there, add the water, add baking soda,” Brown concludes.
Here are four other hacks you can employ to make flowers last longer.
Remove the leaves off the stems
According to Real Simple, cutting the leaves off the flowers extends their lifespan. “These leaves can contaminate the water with bacteria and kill the arrangement more quickly. Keeping the water clean and free from these leaves can help flowers stay fresh and smelling good,” per Real Simple.
Flower stems and dead leaves should be chopped every three days to keep the flowers rehydrated and fresh. By doing this, you can prolong a flower’s life up to 10 extra days.
Change the water or put them in fridge
You should also change out the water in the flower vase. Switching out the water every three days reportedly keeps flowers hydrated and stops bad bacteria from building up. Not only does this keep the flowers alive longer, but it also prevents bad odor from permeating. If you do not have enough time to switch the water out, you have another option. Just pop the flowers—vase and all— into the refrigerator overnight. This too, can slow down the flowers’ aging process.
Add bleach
If you don’t have baking soda but have bleach on hand, this also works to keeping flowers fresh. The amount of bleach you need to add depends on the size of the bouquet. However, adding a quarter teaspoon every three to four days in a vase with a liter of water keeps the bad bacteria at bay. On the other hand, another recommendation is to add three drops of bleach and a teaspoon of sugar to your vase. “This will also keep the water from getting cloudy and inhibit the growth of bacteria,” per Bayside Garden Center.
Feed your flowers
Just like us and other living things, flowers need food to survive. Flower food (or flower preservative) contains sugar, citric acid, and bleach. “The sugar feeds the flowers, the acid is included to maintain an appropriate pH level in the vase’s water, and the bleach helps to mitigate the sugar’s potential to create a build up of bacteria,” per Garden Stead.
When you change out the vase’s water, add in some flower food to extend your bouquet’s life. You can buy flower preservatives at Walmart, Target, Amazon, Lowe’s, and other retail stores. You can also make your own DIY flower food with different recipes.
The Daily Dot reached out to @daddybrownn via TikTok comment and direct message.
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