One special aspect of carnation dying is that it is one of the few plant
physiology experiments that actually is used commercially by florists to
produce colors that are in short supply or colors not available
naturally, like green carnations for Saint Patrick's day.
Keys to successful carnation dying were listed by D. Edward Smith and
H.C. Kohl, Jr. in a 1967 article, "Dependable Carnation Dying" as follows:
1. Use proper dye. Acidic dyes work best. Certified food dyes (e.g.
Brilliant Blue, Food Green #1, Yellow #5) are desirable because they are
nontoxic.
2. Wilt flowers for rapid dye uptake. The most uniform wilting method is to
refrigerate the flowers dry until the flowers are flaccid.
3. Use fully mature flowers because flower parts that develop after dying
will not be colored.
4. Recut stems underwater before placing in dye solution to remove air
blockage in xylem caused by the wilting step. In their experiments it
took 60 minutes for dye to reach the flower with unrecut stems but just 2
minutes in stems recut under water.
5. After dying place flowers in water containing a flower preservative.
******************************************************************
David R. Hershey
Snail mail: 6700 Belcrest Road #112, Hyattsville, MD 20782-1398
Adjunct Professor, Biology/Horticulture Department
Prince George's Community College, Largo, MD 20772-2199
Email: dh321 at pgstumail.pg.cc.md.us
*******************************************************************
