Drying Flowers with Silica Gel

Inside your pack of Silica Gel you will find a small piece of humidity paper (HIP) which should be kept in the Silica Gel. This will be blue when you open the pack and will change to pink when the gel’s moisture absorbing power is spent. When this happens, the gel then needs to be regenerated (see step 5).

We recommend using gloves when handling Silica Gel to prevent drying out of the skin.

Recommendations for use in drying flowers for preservation

Once the flowers have been picked they should be dried as soon as possible, within 2 or 3 days for bouquets.

Obtain a sealable container and put a layer of Silica Gel on the bottom, about 1cm deep.
Lay your flowers on the Silica Gel. Delicate blooms may need protecting with cotton wool to prevent distortion and petals may need protecting with tissue paper.
Another 1cm layer should then be gently poured over and around the flowers.
Seal the container, making sure the HIP if visible and place in a warm dry environment but not somewhere hot. An airing cupboard would be ideal.
Make sure you periodically check the flowers. This process will take at least two weeks. When the HIP turns pink the Silica Gel will need regenerating. To do this:
- Remove the Silica Gel and the HIP from the container.
- Place the Silica Gel into a heatproof, clean and open container ( a baking tin would be ideal) and then place the container into a cold oven before heating at the maximum setting for about an hour, occasionally stirring.
- Once cooled, replace the Silica Gel and the HIP into the container with the flowers in step 1 and continue until the flowers are dry.
The flowers must be kept in a dry, sealed environment to prevent the flowers from reabsorbing moisture from the air. Glass domes are ideal.