I run a small flower shop on Main St in El Cajon, and the #1 thing people get wrong about buying flowers isn't the arrangement — it's the water.

A few things I tell every customer walking out the door:

• Cut the stems at an angle, underwater, right before they go in a vase. Air bubbles get trapped in the stem when you cut in open air, and that blocks water uptake. This alone adds 2-3 days of life.

• Change the water every 2 days, not when it looks cloudy. By the time it looks bad, bacteria has already been feeding on the stems for a day.

• Keep them away from fruit bowls. Fruit releases ethylene gas as it ripens, which speeds up flower aging. Sounds made up, it's not.

• Skip the fridge unless it's a walk-in cooler at the right humidity. Home fridges are too dry and will actually stress the stems.

• That little packet of flower food they hand you? Use it. It's not a gimmick — it's citric acid (feeds the flowers) and a tiny bit of bleach (kills bacteria in the water).

We do all of this in-house with our walk-in cooler, which is honestly why our bouquets outlast most grocery store flowers by a week or more. Started this shop because I got tired of seeing people spend real money on arrangements that were dead in 3 days.

If you're in El Cajon, come say hi — 1183 E Main St. Custom orders welcome, and we always keep a rotating stock of ready-to-grab bouquets in the cooler for walk-ins.