Packaging flowers is an intriguing yet sophisticated process we carefully consider when exporting flowers to their required destinations.
Five essential processes must be strictly upheld in our flower cold chain before any client receives imported fresh-cut flowers from Kenya.
These processes are essential for flower preservation, and sharing such critical information with our clients creates transparency, trust, and reliability between us and our clients.
These are the processes:
Harvesting fresh-cut flowers for packaging is essential yet critical. Because fresh-cut flowers are highly perishable, handling them post-harvest also depends on the variety.
Doing it too early or too late could significantly reduce their vase life and the quality of the floral produce, so we ensure they are handled and harvested at optimum time.
After they are harvested, our flowers must be transferred to a cold room to recut their stems according to their required sizes. Once they are cut, flowers immediately start to lose water, causing them to wilt.
When packaging flowers, we ensure they are placed in cooler temperatures and rehydrating solutions to prevent fast wilting. This helps them recover from wilting and prepare for packaging.
For most producers and exporters, packaging flowers is the most challenging process in successfully transferring horticultural produce, famously known as the ‘cold chain’.
According to Flowerwatch, over 20% of flower produce in the flower cold chain is unacceptable due to poor post-harvest, poor packaging, heat exposure, and systematic underperformance.
Dr.Michele Bruni, founder and chief commercial officer at InspiraFarms, states that optimal precooling practices can avoid fast flower decay.
He also mentions that the rate of aging in flowers can significantly reduce when they are cooled as soon as they are cut and implementing precooling techniques.
Compared to standard cooling, precooling can bring temperatures to optimum in as little as 15 to 60 minutes, while standard cooling can take up to a day (24 hours).
De-leafing is the process of removing leaves and thorns from the stems of fresh-cut flowers. Most farms have de-leafing machines, which make our work easier and the flowers ready for transport.
Removing these leaves, especially the lower leaves on flower stems, is vital when packaging flowers.
Leaves left in the water will rot and discolour the hydrating solution, which must be frequently changed.
Once the de-leafing process has been successfully done, it’s time to grade, sort, bunch, and package our flowers according to our client’s order.
Grading is done according to stem length or size. We don’t want to pack the flowers in different-looking sizes because they might not be visually appealing to our clients.
Sorting then occurs using the following criteria. Cultivar (cultivated variety), stage of maturity, the extent of damage due to pests, malformed floral parts, diseases, and colour effects.
The flowers are then bunched. Usually, we bunch all flowers except for orchids, anthuriums, hellebores, and delphiniums, among other specialty flowers.
We use elastic bands, strings, or paper-covered wire, which are commonly used to hold the bunches together.
As the standard arrangement when packaging flowers, we pack single-head roses in groups of 10, 12, and 25 stems.
Conversely, we group spray roses by size, weight, or the number of open flowers.
We typically package our flowers using carton boxes. These boxes are usually telescopic and have holes at the end of the sides to avoid humidity buildup.
According to Subhra Shil and Dipak Nath, the telescoping design is the most famous way of packaging flowers for export. It reduces the depth of the flowers in a box, reducing physical damage to the roses.
Paper sleeving also seems to be embraced in the industry, as plastic sleeves create humidity buildup and are a significant environmental concern.
In a 2020 study conducted by Tow Sides mentioned by Floral Daily, 62% of consumers see paper and cardboard packaging as better solutions for the environment, and 70% of the surveyed consumers mentioned that they were actively taking steps to reduce their use of plastic packaging.
This is the final process after other flower packaging processes have been upheld.
Once the cut flowers are ready for transport, we transfer them from the farm’s cold room to the airport cold room.
The transportation process is also delicate, as the cargo handlers must ensure that the blooms are provided with specialist cold storage to maintain strict temperatures and cold chain integrity.
Once the flowers arrive at the airport cold room, the regulatory body (HCDA) inspects them for health and quality issues and clears them for dispatch by handing us phytosanitary certificates.
Dispatch is usually handled by logistics and cargo companies, which ensure our flowers reach the clients’ destinations in the best conditions possible.
Once our flowers reach their destination, specialized importers often repackage them in plastic buckets and supply them to wholesalers and florists.
The florists receiving our imported flowers are now responsible for maintaining their vase life and preparing them for sale or, in some cases, re-exporting.
These florists might use floral preservatives, proper care and storage, and provide our flowers with proper nutrients to keep bacteria away.
All parts of the cut flowers must be free of damage caused by animal or vegetable origin parasites, visible extraneous matter affecting the appearance, bruising, and defects of development. Stems must be straight, rigid, strong, and single, with healthy leaves.
Moistened foam is an excellent choice for flower stems, especially in arrangements. It hydrates the stems, ensuring the flowers remain fresh and vibrant.
Roses are often packaged in cardboard boxes. The quantity of roses in these boxes is increasing to reduce costs.