Why Does Aspirin Preserve Cut Flowers?

Hi this is Jessica Smith. I'm with Blands Nursery in West Jordan, Utah and today we are talking about why aspirin works in your cut flowers. I personally do not believe that an aspirin does extend the bloom or how long your cut flowers actually last. I have actually had better success with just changing out the water and giving them new water and just rewatering on a daily basis but some people say that an aspirin actually will extend the life of the cut flowers. Aspirin or lemon juice or vinegar area actually an alkaline and it will help actually reduce some of the bacterias that grow in the water. A copper penny also has been said that if you put that at the bottom of the vase it will reduce fungi and yeast. Some people have said that the aspirin have salts in it. We have a high salt water content around where we are at. We are very high alkaline so adding extra salt is something that I don't actually recommend. You can also pick up though the preservatives if you prefer not to use that at your local flower shop and basically that's doing the same thing for you. If it works, if there is a science behind it I'm not aware of it. Again try it, if it works for you then I'd say do it.