The flowers are harvested with its long stem when 1/4th to 3/4th flowers on the spadix are open, indicated by the change of colour. Colour change varies with the varieties.
Post-harvest operations
(Source: http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/fb/anthuriu/anthuriu.htm#top)
Although the industry has no major packaging problem, it is very much concerned with the shelf-life and the quality of flowers upon arrival at the markets.
Floral injury
Factors such as the mode of transportation, conditions during transport and while in storage at the distributors, time lag from shipment to ultimate sale ("Chain-of-Life") are very important in the maintenance of quality and extending shelf-life. The industry believes that most of the abuse suffered by the flowers occur after the flowers leave the packing shed and before they arrive in the markets. Flowers sometimes freeze in transit during the winter. During the summer, flowers are damaged while they are stored in containers left in the open at airports where the temperature within the containers could reach 49oC or higher.
The quality of the water in which flowers are held after harvest also affects the quality of the flowers.
Post-harvest life
The industry would like to see if proper nutrition and other cultural practices could pre-condition flowers to withstand post-harvest handling and transportation abuses better. Reduced post-harvest life is apparently associated with clogging of the vascular tissue in the stem by a flower-produced material. Silver nitrate (together with distilled water) treatment of the stem reduces this blockage and helps maintain water conducting tissue, thereby increasing post-harvest life by up to 50%. Initial results indicate that surface shipping of anthuriums and accumulation of flowers for peak demand with air shipment is feasible using dry packing procedures and silver nitrate treatment.
Reduced water loss from the flower by wax coating also increases post-harvest life up to 30%. The best wax of those tested was a carnauba base wax (FMC-819). Both of these treatments (silver nitrate and wax) have commercial possibilities with the wax treatment being the easiest to use. Some growers who have used the wax treatment say that the added sheen is very attractive.
Vaselife
In tests conducted on the farm, it was found that calcium nitrate treatment in combination with waxing at 80% relative humidity (RH) significantly increased shelf-life of miniature anthuriums.
In experiments on refrigerated storage, it was found that there is no significant difference in the vase-life of flowers when stored at 13oC and at room temperature for 7 days.
The major limitation to post-harvest life is apparently the clogging of the water-conducting tissue of the stem. Until this problem is completely overcome, other treatments may not significantly improve total post-harvest life.