- Drying gerberas - that's how it's done!
- Hang airy, dry but not sunny
- Never dry in the oven or freeze
- Post-treat dried gerbera
- tips and tricks
Gerbera is particularly popular in bridal bouquets and bouquets for special events. To preserve the cut flowers as a keepsake, you can try drying them. If you keep a few points in mind, the dried gerbera will last forever.
Drying gerberas - that's how it's done!
- Choose fully bloomed flowers
- hang upside down
- Coat with glycerin or clear coat
- Cover with wax
The gerbera is taken out of the vase and dabbed dry at the end of the stem. Tie several stems or the whole bouquet together with twine. Don't pull the thread too tight to avoid kinking the stems.
Hang airy, dry but not sunny
It takes time for a gerbera to really dry. Depending on the thickness of the stems and the humidity, it can take a good two to three weeks for the flowers to dry.
Hang them in an airy place, which absolutely must be dry. You should avoid direct sunlight, as this will cause the colors to fade.
Never dry in the oven or freeze
Some cut flowers can be dried in the oven or preserved by freezing. This is not recommended for gerberas.
In the oven, even with careful heating, the flowers quickly turn brown and unsightly. This method is only recommended if you want to cover the flowers later with colored wax.
Putting gerberas in the freezer is not a good idea. The flowers will become rock hard from the frost, but at room temperature they will soften and become mushy.
Post-treat dried gerbera
Unfortunately, dried gerbera is no longer as colorful as fresh cut flowers. The after-treatment with glycerin and clear varnish preserves the color intensity better.
If the color is very faded, you can cover the gerbera flower with colored wax. Dip the dried flower in water at about 60 degrees and gently swirl it back and forth. Then the wax has to dry.
tips and tricks
It is often recommended to treat the gerbera flowers with hairspray after drying to make them more durable. However, this is not advisable as it will make the surface of the buds sticky. The dried flower treated in this way develops into a dust collector.
The garden journal freshness ABC
How can fruit and vegetables be stored correctly so that they stay fresh for as long as possible?
The garden journal freshness ABC as a poster:
- as a free PDF file to print out yourself