Stem counts: how many stems to order
The recipe says what goes into the piece. The order has to cover what goes into the piece plus everything that does not survive the trip. Those are different numbers, and confusing them is how a build day goes wrong.
The Florist Heaven desk / Chapter 4 of 5
Count from the recipe, not from the photograph
A reference image cannot be counted. Stems disappear behind other stems, the photograph flattens depth, and the piece in the picture may be twice the size of the one being discussed. Any number derived by looking at an image is a guess wearing a number's clothes.
A recipe can be counted, because you wrote it. That is the argument for writing it before you order rather than after.
total stems of a variety = sum over pieces of (pieces x stems each)
(1 bouquet x 28) + (4 bouquets x 14) + (6 boutonnieres x 2) = 96 stems
Multiply each piece type by the stems it takes, then add the types together. Do it per variety, because you order per variety.
Wholesalers sell bunches, not stems
Your recipe is in stems and your order is in bunches, so every variety needs a rounding step. It always rounds up, because there is no such thing as most of a bunch.
bunches = round up (stems needed / stems per bunch)
round up (96 / 10) = 10 bunches, which is 100 stems
Divide the stems you need by the bunch size and round up. Bunch sizes differ by variety and by supplier, so this is a number to confirm rather than assume.
The rounding is not waste. The four spare stems in that example are the first line of defence against a stem that arrives broken or opens too fast, and a job ordered to the exact stem count has no defence at all.
Ordering for loss
Some proportion of what you buy will not make it into finished work. Stems break in transit, some arrive too far open or too tight to move, some are damaged in processing, and some are simply not good enough for the piece they were bought for.
We are not going to tell you what that proportion is. It depends on the variety, the season, the supplier, the distance, and your own handling, and any number we published would be invention. What we can tell you is how to apply your own figure once you have measured it.
stems to order = recipe stems / (1 - expected loss)
96 / (1 - 0.10) = 106.7, so 107 stems, so 11 bunches of 10
Divide by one minus the share you expect to lose, then round up to whole bunches. Ten percent here is a placeholder, not a recommendation: replace it with what your own records show.
To measure your own loss rate, count what you ordered and count what you used, on a handful of jobs. The difference is the figure, and it is the only version of that number worth having.
Enter each piece and its stem count, and the tool totals the job and converts the total into whole bunches.
Open the stem count calculatorThe count is also the cost
The stem count and the recipe cost are the same document read two ways. Once the count exists, costing it is one multiplication per line, which is why the pricing chapters insist on the recipe existing first.
From the costed recipe to a quoted price, with each step shown.
Read the pricing formula chapterQuestions this chapter answers
- How many stems are in a bridal bouquet?
- It depends entirely on the flowers and the size of the piece, and we publish no standard count because there is not one. What the chapter gives you instead is how to count from your own recipe, how to order in whole bunches, and how to apply your own measured loss rate.