What does the cold chain bring to flowers?

The Impact of the Cold Chain System on Flower Quality

The cold chain of flowers is a systematic project to ensure the quality of cut flowers and their vase life by maintaining a certain low temperature environment at all stages of the process, from harvesting to handing them over to the end consumer.cold chain Before discussing the cold chain, we first need to understand how temperature affects cut flowers.

First of all, temperature has an important effect on the bottling period. Plants have respiration, and one of the key things we need to realize is that after flowers are cut, their stems, leaves and flowers are still alive and respiration continues. Heat is generated during respiration and gradually increases as respiration increases.

At the same time, the flower no longer has a source of nutrients when it is cut down,cold warehouse so respiration is a process that uses up its own energy. If we can continue to provide it with energy, it will continue to open. What growers and traders need to do is to fill the cut flower with enough energy so that it can have a long vase life.

Once we understand the principles, we can target our response. To extend the vase-life of a normal flower, the first is to maintain a low temperature environment after harvest and during transportation to reduce respiration and energy consumption, which is the basic principle of the cold chain system; the second is to replenish the flower's energy, and the simplest and easiest way to do this is to add specialized preservatives. Similarly, the higher the temperature, the faster the rate of opening and the shorter the period of vase insertion.

Secondly, temperature also plays an important role in the control of gray mold. Gray mold can be fatal to flowers. Experimental data show that gray mold bacteria between 10 ℃ and 30 ℃ only need 8 hours to complete the whole process from bedding to infection and outbreak, and below 5 ℃ gray mold bacteria have very little vitality, so low-temperature environment can effectively reduce the infection and outbreak of gray mold.

Again, the effect of temperature on ethylene should not be ignored. Plants and fruits produce ethylene, and some flowers are more sensitive to ethylene in the air, such as carnations, Australian wax flowers, and some cut flower moonflower varieties, etc., which are manifested as not being able to open normally, dropping petals, bending the head, dropping leaves, and failing in advance. Experimental data show that low temperature conditions can effectively reduce ethylene uptake by flowers, especially during transportation.

The concept of hourly heat is used to measure the time of vase insertion period

There is now an international measurement formula: temperature × time = hourly heat, used to determine how long a flower still has a vase period. For example, if a flower is stored in a 20°C room temperature environment for 24 hours, the hourly heat of the flower for one day is 480.

To transport the ambient temperature of 20 ℃ for example, the fastest two days to reach the hands of the florist, which is equivalent to say that the consumption of two days of the vase period, the hourly heat on the road for 960; if the transport ambient temperature is reduced to 10 ℃, the hourly heat is reduced by half, which is equivalent to only consume a day of the vase period; if the whole cold chain, the temperature is maintained at 2 ℃, the hourly heat is reduced to 96, the transport link is only 0.2 days of the hourly heat, which is also equal to only 0.2 days of bottle insertion period is lost.

Through the concept of hourly heat, we can measure the effect of the cold chain system, the quality of flowers and the number of days of effective vase-laying period. In practice, foreign flower companies usually place three temperature detectors in the transportation process, one in the overall environment of a container, one in the middle of the flower box, and one at the edge of the box, in order to observe the ambient temperature of the batch of cut flowers and their own temperature, and thus to determine their remaining vase time.

Post-harvest treatment is crucial

Post-harvest handling is critical to flower quality, and the water absorption of cut flowers is a key factor. At the post-harvest stage on the farm, once the cuttings are infected with bacteria, the water-absorbing holes in the stems of the plants will be blocked, and a flower that cannot absorb water will not be able to maintain its vase-life even if it is transported by the best cold-chain system. At present, the international common post-harvest treatment process in addition to post-harvest to reduce field heat treatment, the use of freshness-retaining agents to absorb water, grey mold water stained flower head and other major links, there are many details need to pay attention to, such as loading flower bucket cleaning and disinfection.

Foreign farms only flower bucket cleaning there are three standard steps: one is to use water to clean off the surface of the dirt; the second is to use detergent to clean all dead ends should be carefully cleaned, do not use the brush will produce scratches in order to avoid residual bacteria; the third is to use special cleaning disinfectant or disinfectant containing chlorine and then soak again to keep at least 5 minutes to thoroughly sterilize the washed bucket to be inverted and dry.

Cold storage use precautions

Cold storage use should pay attention to details. First of all, the cold storage temperature should be maintained at 2 ℃ to 4 ℃ between; Secondly, flower racks, carts, flower boxes placed directly affect the efficiency of cold storage use. Usually the flower bucket or flower box can not be close to the wall of the cold storage to leave space to maintain a certain air flow in order to achieve a good cooling effect; In addition, the cold storage chiller below the high temperature can not put flowers, flower boxes or flower bucket placement to keep horizontal vertical placement with the air outlet when the cold air will be lost through the aisle utilization rate is reduced; Finally, the purchase of refrigerated trucks to choose the bottom of the ventilation slot if there is no ventilation slot need to be used with a wooden board overhead Make a vent at the bottom to ensure air circulation to enhance the temperature to reduce efficiency.