Truths Old wives' tales often persist long after scientific evidence proves them wrong. Take the case of cut tulip flowers. Home remedies abound for keeping cut tulips fresh longer in the vase. Tulips thrive on just plain clean water.
Tulips are self-sufficient.
But what they see is merely a mini-surge of energy in the flower and not the aftermath, which is often a shortened lifespan. To a cut flower, the secret to long life is fresh water and lots of it, he says. While commercial flower food provides a balance of components addressing all three areas, home remedies generally address only one or two. In fact, lemon-lime drink is actually closest to commercial flower food in providing both sugar and citric acid, but it lacks an antibacterial. Unfortunately the abundance of sugars encourages bacterial growth.