Air Drying Flowers

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Florist shops offer a variety of dry flower arrangements that have been industrially prepared. Large-scale flower drying projects involve the use of special technologies, using complex equipment, thermostats, sensors, reagents, dyes. At home, a huge amount is not harvested and therefore the process is much easier. Now you will learn how you can air dry herbs and various plants while preserving their appearance and natural colors

What is Air Drying

A type of preservation by dehydration is called drying. The process is aimed at removing fluid and increasing the solid mass of tissues, this state is important for storage, transportation. The main task of drying is to create special conditions for the rapid removal of moisture, stop biological processes and preserve the natural look.

The effectiveness and duration of drying depends on the characteristics of the plant: stem thickness, leaf structure, bud size, pubescence, initial moisture. Sometimes, before drying, preliminary wilting is carried out, with cutting the leaf, notching the thick parts of the plant material. Air drying is subdivided into sun and shade.

What plants should be air dried

To get a good result and beautiful dried flowers, you need to know which plants and flowers are suitable for drying. If we consider a group of annuals that can be grown in the country, then the best option would be kermek, helipterum, celosia, immortelle, milk thistle, amaranth, willow loaf, yarrow. These plants stand out for their decorative qualities and dry well.

From perennials, you can use echinacea, cornflowers, muzzle, lavender, gypsophila, physalis, rose. They lend themselves well to drying, do not lose their decorative effect and look harmonious in compositions. Almost all cereals are ideal: oats, barley, rye, as well as reeds, bamboo, hare tail, and shake. The invariable color is given by the cattail, hydrangea and herbal inflorescences. Do not forget to dry the branches of flowering shrubs, they invariably participate in the preparation of floristic designs.

When to collect material for drying

The right time to cut plants and flowers to dry is a good sunny day. Choose a period when the morning dew has disappeared and the evening dew has not fallen. For drying, it is not necessary to take the whole plant, you can cut off those parts that will be useful to you for future floristic arrangements, for example, you can sort it into stems, leaves, inflorescences, seed heads when cutting.

Time for cutting also matters: in the bud phase, you need to take tulips, amaryllis, ammobium, daffodils, mordovnik. Half-open cut off helipterum, decorative onions, violets, rudbeckia, liatris, immortelle, roses. With full disclosure of inflorescences, take lavender, hydrangea, chrysanthemums, hellebore, zinnia, kermek, gypsophila, cuff, larkspur, amaranth. Ripe - poppy, physalis, seed bolls. The peony is cut at all stages of development, including seed formations.

Air Shade Drying

It is carried out in a dark room (closet, attic), provided there is good ventilation. Plants are laid out on paper on a horizontal surface. The best option for laying out would be an iron or plastic mesh, this will provide uniform ventilation and good air draft.

There is a hanging drying method, for this the flowers are tied in small loose bunches, so that the heads do not touch. The stems are held together with an elastic band and hung upside down. The most convenient way is to dry it in the form of bouquets placed in a vase; of course, there should be no water.

In any case, it is not necessary to allow drying out, otherwise the plants will become fragile, and it will be impossible to work with them in the future. Typically shade drying lasts a week. Stem flexibility, elasticity or flabbiness is a consequence of increased moisture during the process. High-quality dried plants do not break, keep their shape well.

Air solar drying

The method involves laying out plant elements in a thin layer (up to 3 cm) in a sunny place, using periodic inversions during the day. At night - in a dry room. Buds and inflorescences are stacked individually in one layer; to maintain their integrity, they cannot be turned over.

Those plant species that contain a minimum of moisture and have tubular stems are dried in the sun. Cereal crops are well suited for this method: feather grass, fescue, reed grass, kaleria, pinnacle, bristle grass. In order to avoid cracking of grain pods in wheat, oats, millet, it is recommended to treat the spikelets with hairspray on the second day of drying.