Scientists have tested whether bouquets can be prolonged with the help of plasma

The idea is to find a cleaner alternative to the usual preservatives for bouquets. Nowadays, cut flowers are often transported long distances and treated with chemicals to keep them looking fresh for longer. This creates an additional environmental burden and complicates supply chains.

Important: this is not yet a ready-made technology for all flower shops, but a preliminary experiment. The scientists have tested several treatment options and obtained promising results, but the method still needs to be tested more widely - on other types of flowers and in conditions close to commercial storage.

Details

Atmospheric plasma is an activated state of gas. Under these conditions, particles are formed that can sanitise surfaces and inhibit bacteria and pathogens without the usual chemical preservatives. Plasma is already being studied and used in medicine, agriculture, seed treatment and food preservation.

The Griffith University team took three types of cut flowers: roses, gerberas and dahlias. They were divided into five groups, ranging from no treatment at all to atmospheric plasma treatment. Normal water and flower feed were also used for comparison. The condition of the bouquets was monitored for a fortnight.

The researchers assessed daily how the flowers changed: whether they lost weight, how much water they absorbed, how they retained their colour and how quickly the external signs of wilting appeared. By the end of the experiment, the plasma-treated bouquets generally retained their integrity, colour and fresh appearance better, according to the project participants.

The authors emphasise that the flowers used for the experiment were local and not pre-treated. This is important: so that the effect of the plasma itself could be more accurately assessed, rather than a mixture of the effect with commercial products already applied.

Why it's important

Cut flowers look like a light and beautiful commodity, but there are often long logistics behind the bouquet: growing, cooling, packaging, transporting and treating with products that slow wilting. If plasma can replace some of the chemical preservatives, it could make flower storage more environmentally friendly.

For floristry, this method would also be useful because many flowers quickly lose their marketability. Even a few extra days of freshness could reduce write-offs, make delivery easier and make bouquets more resistant to transport.

But there's still a way to go before practical application. The technology needs to be tested on more flowers, different varieties, different storage and transport conditions. It's also important to understand how cost-effective and safe the treatment will be for mass use.

Background

Plasma technology has long been studied outside of physics. Cold atmospheric plasma has been used in research into wound care, surface decontamination, seed germination stimulation and food preservation. So the idea of applying it to cut flowers is logical: one of the causes of wilting bouquets is related to microbes that multiply in water and block the vessels of the stem.

There are close scientific papers, too. For example, Scientia Horticulturae previously studied plasma-activated water for cut roses and reported that such treatment prolonged the life of flowers and improved their quality. But the Griffith University experiment is different: it tested atmospheric plasma treatment on bouquets of roses, gerberas and dahlias.

This approach still looks like an early stage of technology. It shows the direction, but does not replace full-fledged tests with a large number of samples and published data.

Source

The material is based on the Griffith University report "Can plasma help cut flowers last longer? Experiment puts blooms to the test", published on 11 May 2026. In the experiment, Griffith University researchers treated cut flowers - roses, gerberas and dahlias - with atmospheric plasma and compared them to control groups for a fortnight. The team monitored weight loss, water absorption, colour change and external wilting on a daily basis.

The study has so far been presented as a university experiment rather than a peer-reviewed article in a scientific journal. The findings should therefore be considered preliminary: plasma treatment has shown promise, but its efficacy still needs to be confirmed in larger trials.