Variety Trial Comparison Sheet
Turn a vague sense that one variety did better into something you can read back in January when the seed order is due.
GR-09 1 page
Growing results and crops · GR-24
Cut Flower Vase Life Test Record
A free printable vase life test record: up to ten vases of cut flowers, how each was cut and conditioned, a daily condition score and how long each one lasted.
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2 pages. Choose your paper size — both versions are laid out identically, so neither one gets shrunk to fit.
Print it and write on it
Fill it in type and save
The fillable versions have real form fields — open them in any PDF reader, type into them and save. Printing help.
What this sheet is for
Find out which varieties and cutting stages last longest in a vase in your own conditions. Sell and give the good keepers, and stop growing the ones that do not last.
Who it is for
Cut flower growers selling at the gate, to florists or at markets, and gardeners who grow flowers for cutting and giving.
How to use it
- Cut each variety or treatment on the same day where you can, and write how it was cut and conditioned against its vase letter.
- Stand every vase in the same room, in the same kind of vase and water, and note the set-up at the top.
- Score every vase once a day at the same time with F, D, P or E until each one has ended.
- Write each vase's life in days and your decision: grow again, sell, or drop.
What is on the sheet
2 pages, in this order:
Page 1
Printed under the title: A vase-life test run the same way for every variety or treatment: how each vase was cut and conditioned, its condition scored every day, and how long it lasted, so the best keepers are known before selling.
Score it the same way every day. Score each vase once a day at the same time: F fresh, D drooping or wilting, P petals dropping or browning, E ended (not fit to sell or give). Keep the room, the vases and the water the same for every vase, or the comparison tells you nothing. No vase life is printed for any flower: the result is what your own stems do.
Write-on lines: Test name or no. · Start date · Room · Scored by · Room conditions · Vase and water · Preservative · Water changed
Vases in the test — one vase per variety or treatment
Also printed: Vase · Variety · Cut on · Stage cut · Stem length · Treatment · Stems · Vase life · Decision · date, time · bud, half open · as cut · conditioning, preservative · last good day · grow, sell, drop
Page 2
Daily scores — F fresh, D drooping, P petals dropping, E ended
Also printed: Score for each vase · Day · Date · Water · Notes · changed? · Day 1 · Day 2 · Day 3 · Day 4 · Day 5 · Day 6 · Day 7 · Day 8 · Day 9 · Day 10 · Day 11 · Day 12 · Day 13 · Day 14 · Day 15 · Day 16 · Day 17 · Day 18 · Day 19 · Day 20 · Day 21
Ruled lines: What the test showed, and what to change next time
Questions
How long should cut flowers last in a vase?
It differs by flower, by variety, by the stage it was cut at and by the room it stands in, which is why the sheet prints no figure. The point of the test is to find out what your own stems do in conditions you can repeat, and to compare one variety or treatment with another.
Should I use a flower food or preservative?
Test it. Run one vase with it and one without, both cut and conditioned the same way, and the sheet will show whether it made a difference for that flower. Use any product as its label says.
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