LA Retail Florist Exam Content UPDATED
ACTUAL Exam Questions and CORRECT
Answers
first and foremost basic need of cut flowers - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔water
second basic need of cut flowers - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔food
factors affecting quality of cut flowers (7) - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔1. production
2. transpiration
3. floral food
4. temperature
5. humidity
6. ethylene
7. microbial activity
effect of harvesting flowers too soon/cutting flowers prior to harvest stage - CORRECT
ANSWER- ✔✔flowers will have difficulty opening and maturing properly and tight buds
will never open
effect of harvesting flowers too late/cut past their prime harvest stage - CORRECT
ANSWER- ✔✔reduced vase life because flowers are too mature
natural loss of water in plants and flowers through stomata - CORRECT ANSWER-
✔✔transpiration
energy source for the flower - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔commercial floral food; sugar
temperature that would accommodate most flowers - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔36 - 40
degrees
,recommended amount of humidity for most flowers stored in the refrigerator - CORRECT
ANSWER- ✔✔90%
ways to minimize ethylene damage (6) - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔1. STS pre-treatment
2. ethylene block treatment
3. removal of damaged and unhealthy tissue
4. keep refrigerator clean from old flowers and foliage
5. do not store fruits, vegetables, or evergreens in the refrigerator
6. cooler temperatures of 40 degrees F and below
How does microbial activity reduce vase life of cut flowers? - CORRECT ANSWER-
✔✔plugging the stem of flowers reducing the water intake capacity
ways to prevent and keep microbial activity damage to a minimum (2) - CORRECT
ANSWER- ✔✔1. good sanitation: washing buckets after each use with bleach or bucket
wash, washing refrigerator floor once per week, removing foliage from lower stem that
would be underwater in the storage container
2. proper use of commercial floral food
3 main ingredients of commercial floral food - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔1. sugar
2. bio-inhibitor
3. acidifier
2 commonly used bio-inhibitors in commercial floral food - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔8-
hydroxyquinoline citrate (HQC) and Physan
ideal pH of acidic water - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔3.5 - 5.0
Why use and invest in commercial floral food? (3) - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔1.
commercial floral food is scientifically blended to the correct proportions of sugar, bio-
inhibitor, and acidifier
2. commercial floral food is 40-80% more effective in extending vase life
,3. commercial floral foods are much less expensive, especially when used on a large scale
Why use commercial floral food if turnover of flowers is rapid? - CORRECT ANSWER-
✔✔keeping customers satisfied and providing an excellent product
procedure used prior to the normal usage of floral food - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔pre-
treatment
procedure used after the flowers are already processed in a floral food solution - CORRECT
ANSWER- ✔✔post-treatment
What is STS? - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔silver thiosulfate
environmentally friendly treatment that prevents negative effects of ethylene gas that comes
in a powdered form and released as a gas and can treat large quantities of flowers at one time
- CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔MCP (1-methyleopropene); EthylBloc
lowers pH of water without creating a toxic environment for the flower - CORRECT
ANSWER- ✔✔citric acid
What does rapid hydration/water uptake using citric acid pre-treatment accomplish? (2) -
CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔1. flowers will be completely turgid (full of water) in the shortest
time possible
2. completely saturated flowers creates a clean, unobstructed pathway for the follow-up
procedure using floral food
How long does the first type of treatment procedure for citric acid take? - CORRECT
ANSWER- ✔✔1 hour
What is the procedure for the first type of citric acid treatment? - CORRECT ANSWER-
✔✔Place freshly cut stem in citric acid solution and stand at room temperature for an hour
and then place in high quality floral food solution and put in refrigerator. Do not recut stems
prior to placing in the floral food solution.
, What is the procedure for the second type of citric acid treatment (quick dip)? - CORRECT
ANSWER- ✔✔Dip freshly cut stems into the quick dip citric acid solution for 1-2 seconds
and then transfer to floral food solution without recutting stems.
act of preparing flowers and foliages for use in designs - CORRECT ANSWER-
✔✔processing
Types of flower and foliage processing procedures (6) - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔1. regular
processing
2. underwater cutting processing
3. soaking and submerging processing
4. woody stem processing
5. foliage processing
6. forcing processing
Regular Processing of Flowers steps (5) - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔1. open floral shipping
box or wrapping to assess quantity of buckets/containers needed and prepare floral food
solution filling about 1/3 fill
2. process flowers needing citric acid hydration first
3. de-bunch and loosen or remove sleeve or wrapping which may not allow flowers to expand
4. conditioning: all flowers remain in tepid water/floral food solution outside the refrigerator
for a period of time until they become turgid
5. hardening: place in refrigerator after absorbing maximum amount of water or reached
preferred stage of maturity
What is underwater cutting processing? - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔place stem ends in a
bowl or something that is filled with water and slant cut 1 inch of stem off underwater to
prevent air from entering the stem when a droplet of water forms over the stem end when
transferring to a holding container
What is the soaking and submerging process of flowers? - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔stem
ends are cut underwater and then entire flower is submerged underwater for 15 to 30 minutes
ACTUAL Exam Questions and CORRECT
Answers
first and foremost basic need of cut flowers - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔water
second basic need of cut flowers - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔food
factors affecting quality of cut flowers (7) - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔1. production
2. transpiration
3. floral food
4. temperature
5. humidity
6. ethylene
7. microbial activity
effect of harvesting flowers too soon/cutting flowers prior to harvest stage - CORRECT
ANSWER- ✔✔flowers will have difficulty opening and maturing properly and tight buds
will never open
effect of harvesting flowers too late/cut past their prime harvest stage - CORRECT
ANSWER- ✔✔reduced vase life because flowers are too mature
natural loss of water in plants and flowers through stomata - CORRECT ANSWER-
✔✔transpiration
energy source for the flower - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔commercial floral food; sugar
temperature that would accommodate most flowers - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔36 - 40
degrees
,recommended amount of humidity for most flowers stored in the refrigerator - CORRECT
ANSWER- ✔✔90%
ways to minimize ethylene damage (6) - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔1. STS pre-treatment
2. ethylene block treatment
3. removal of damaged and unhealthy tissue
4. keep refrigerator clean from old flowers and foliage
5. do not store fruits, vegetables, or evergreens in the refrigerator
6. cooler temperatures of 40 degrees F and below
How does microbial activity reduce vase life of cut flowers? - CORRECT ANSWER-
✔✔plugging the stem of flowers reducing the water intake capacity
ways to prevent and keep microbial activity damage to a minimum (2) - CORRECT
ANSWER- ✔✔1. good sanitation: washing buckets after each use with bleach or bucket
wash, washing refrigerator floor once per week, removing foliage from lower stem that
would be underwater in the storage container
2. proper use of commercial floral food
3 main ingredients of commercial floral food - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔1. sugar
2. bio-inhibitor
3. acidifier
2 commonly used bio-inhibitors in commercial floral food - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔8-
hydroxyquinoline citrate (HQC) and Physan
ideal pH of acidic water - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔3.5 - 5.0
Why use and invest in commercial floral food? (3) - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔1.
commercial floral food is scientifically blended to the correct proportions of sugar, bio-
inhibitor, and acidifier
2. commercial floral food is 40-80% more effective in extending vase life
,3. commercial floral foods are much less expensive, especially when used on a large scale
Why use commercial floral food if turnover of flowers is rapid? - CORRECT ANSWER-
✔✔keeping customers satisfied and providing an excellent product
procedure used prior to the normal usage of floral food - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔pre-
treatment
procedure used after the flowers are already processed in a floral food solution - CORRECT
ANSWER- ✔✔post-treatment
What is STS? - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔silver thiosulfate
environmentally friendly treatment that prevents negative effects of ethylene gas that comes
in a powdered form and released as a gas and can treat large quantities of flowers at one time
- CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔MCP (1-methyleopropene); EthylBloc
lowers pH of water without creating a toxic environment for the flower - CORRECT
ANSWER- ✔✔citric acid
What does rapid hydration/water uptake using citric acid pre-treatment accomplish? (2) -
CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔1. flowers will be completely turgid (full of water) in the shortest
time possible
2. completely saturated flowers creates a clean, unobstructed pathway for the follow-up
procedure using floral food
How long does the first type of treatment procedure for citric acid take? - CORRECT
ANSWER- ✔✔1 hour
What is the procedure for the first type of citric acid treatment? - CORRECT ANSWER-
✔✔Place freshly cut stem in citric acid solution and stand at room temperature for an hour
and then place in high quality floral food solution and put in refrigerator. Do not recut stems
prior to placing in the floral food solution.
, What is the procedure for the second type of citric acid treatment (quick dip)? - CORRECT
ANSWER- ✔✔Dip freshly cut stems into the quick dip citric acid solution for 1-2 seconds
and then transfer to floral food solution without recutting stems.
act of preparing flowers and foliages for use in designs - CORRECT ANSWER-
✔✔processing
Types of flower and foliage processing procedures (6) - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔1. regular
processing
2. underwater cutting processing
3. soaking and submerging processing
4. woody stem processing
5. foliage processing
6. forcing processing
Regular Processing of Flowers steps (5) - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔1. open floral shipping
box or wrapping to assess quantity of buckets/containers needed and prepare floral food
solution filling about 1/3 fill
2. process flowers needing citric acid hydration first
3. de-bunch and loosen or remove sleeve or wrapping which may not allow flowers to expand
4. conditioning: all flowers remain in tepid water/floral food solution outside the refrigerator
for a period of time until they become turgid
5. hardening: place in refrigerator after absorbing maximum amount of water or reached
preferred stage of maturity
What is underwater cutting processing? - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔place stem ends in a
bowl or something that is filled with water and slant cut 1 inch of stem off underwater to
prevent air from entering the stem when a droplet of water forms over the stem end when
transferring to a holding container
What is the soaking and submerging process of flowers? - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔stem
ends are cut underwater and then entire flower is submerged underwater for 15 to 30 minutes
