SEWELL, USA, January 11, 2010: Delaware Valley closed out the year by further investing in our staff by bringing in Dr. George Staby in December for a series of meetings with each segment of DVWF.  Doctor Staby has long been recognized as the guru of the cold chain and maintains an 18,000+ page care & handling website www.chainoflife.com.
While at Delaware Valley, Dr. Staby gave presentations to the sales department, quality control, operations, purchasing, and even our “after hours” team….the group that burns the midnight oil after everyone else leaves the building. Delaware Valley has always been the advocate of the “cold chain” and has worked hard to keep the “cold chain” in place for the betterment of our flowers….and for the betterment of our customers.
A couple of “George-ism’s” dispensed were:
• Concerning the use of flower foods…20% don’t use it…55% use it incorrectly and only 25% use it correctly.  Read the directions and use it correctly.
• Temperature is the single most important factor in longer vase life..  The correct temperature to store flowers is 32 degrees F.
• Buy only quality flowers.  An inferior flower never improves…no matter how good the post harvest treatment is.
• Prevent the negative effect of Ethylene.  30% of flowers and plants die prematurely due to Ethylene exposure.
• Cleanliness is next to Godliness.  If you are not prepared to eat or drink out of the buckets…they are probably not clean enough for your flowers.
• Dry handling and shipping of cut flowers is best.  The best place to hydrate flowers is at the retail level.
• Identify and market each floral crop by cultivar name.  Dr. Staby made an interesting point that most retailers and wholesalers know more apple and lettuce varieties than they know rose and carnation varieties.
• Maintain correct temperature control in your coolers and your trucks.  Flowers maintained at 50 degrees versus 32 degrees lose their freshness 3 times faster.
• Sea container shipping is definitely the way of the future as they will be less costly and the constant temperature can be better maintained.
Dr. Staby’s nature is to engage and challenge the student.  He might have left Ohio State a few decades back but he still enjoys a good discussion with his audience. It’s Delaware's hope that some of the Staby “pearls of wisdom” will stay with its team and help them continue to assist their valued customers.