Commercial Floriculture

Microwave oven drying

• Principle behind microwave oven drying is liberating moisture by agitating water molecules in the organic substances with the help of electronically produced microwaves.

Procedure:
• Embedded flowers and foliages in silica gel contained in a non-metallic earthenware or glass ware are kept in an oven for few minutes to induce effective drying.
  
• After the treatment the containers are taken out and kept at ambient temperature for a particular period, so that the moisture of the container gets evaporated and the plant material gets fully dried called as “setting time”.
  
• Generally, drying period varies from 1 to 4 minutes and setting time 2 to 5 hours.
  
• Microwave heating is a type of dielectric heating using high frequency waves. When a substance like water is absorbed in its free state and then micro-waved it responds by heating and vaporizing.

Advantage of Microwave oven drying :
• Unbelievably fast
• Quality product

Disadvantages:
• Costly method.
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