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What’s Your Care and Handling IQ?

Whether taken just for fun or used as a training tool, this teaching quiz is designed to educate—not berate or intimidate.

1.  The growth of flower-stem-plugging bacteria can be reduced by cleaning flower buckets, cutting tools, workbenches and countertops, and coolers with:

  1. a professional cleaner/disinfectant made specifically for use in flower shops (Chrysal Professional Cleaner, Floralife® D.C.D.® Cleaner, Syndicate Sales Fresh-n-Clean®)

  2. a solution of one part chlorine bleach and 10 parts water

  3. a household sanitizing spray (Clorox®, Fantastik®, Lysol®, etc. disinfecting cleaners)

  4. disinfecting/antibacterial wipes (Clorox®, Lysol®, etc.)

  5. any of the above

2.  When flowers arrive in your store, you should immediately check the temperature inside the boxes or the temperature of the water in wet packs with a needle thermometer. The temperature should be no higher than:

  1. 40 F

  2. 45 F

  3. 50 F

  4. 55 F

3.  If you cannot unpack flowers immediately upon their arrival in your shop, you should:

  1. open the boxes and leave them at room temperature

  2. place the boxes unopened in a floral cooler at 33 F to 35 F

4.  As you process flowers, it is best to remove all sleeves and bindings.

  1. True

  2. False

5.  To remove dried-out stem ends as well as dirt, debris and microbes in the stem cells, how much of the stems should you cut off?

  1. 1⁄2 inch to 1 inch

  2. between 1 inch and 3 inches

  3. 3 inches or more

6.  The difference between hydration solutions and flower foods is:

  1. hydration solutions do not contain a nutrient (sugar)

  2. flower foods do not contain a wetting agent to accelerate water uptake

  3. both A and B

  4. none of the above

7.  Mixing flower-food solutions to the proper concentrations is really not too important; it is simply a ploy by the manufacturers to sell more product.

  1. True

  2. False

8.  Why is it important to use bulb-flower-specific flower foods with cut bulb flowers?

  1. Bulb flower foods contain plant hormones to replace those that bulb flowers lose when they’re harvested.

  2. Bulb flower foods have less sugar than standard flower foods, and sugar can aggravate leaf yellowing in bulb flowers.

  3. both A and B

  4. none of the above

9.  Some bulb flowers do not benefit greatly from the nutrients in flower foods, so it’s not necessary to place these flowers into flower-food solutions.

  1. True

  2. False

10.  Many flower care authorities recommend placing bulb flowers into cold flower-food solutions.

  1. True

  2. False

11.  All species of Narcissi (daffodils, paper-whites, etc.) should be isolated from other bulb flowers for a time following processing.

  1. True

  2. False

12.  Most flowers (except tropical flowers and some bulb flowers) should be placed into a floral cooler at 33 F to 35 F immediately after processing rather than left out at room temperature to hydrate.

  1. True

  2. False

13.  Most tropical flowers should be stored at what temperatures?

  1. 45 F to 49 F

  2. 50 F to 55 F

  3. 60 F or higher

  4. room temperature

14.  Except for design time, you should always keep flowers refrigerated until sold or delivered.

  1. True

  2. False

15.  You should check your cooler temperature every two days.

  1. True

  2. False

Click here for a downloadable version of this quiz that you can use for training purposes.

Click here to view the answers.

 


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PO Box 4368
Topeka, KS   66604

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