Saffron is expensive, both the spice as well as the corms are expensive. Saffron is really well suited to growing in the backyard and is really low maintenance. Saffron grows such a pretty flower, the flower smells nice, bees seem to like them, and the spice is lovely and so easy to collect on a small scale.
I am surprised at how few home gardeners grow saffron. More people should grow saffron at home.
I used to be told by home growers that saffron is simple to grow but difficult to get to flower. The high price and the reputation for difficulty getting a crop made me put off growing saffron for years. I eventually paid a lot of money for a handful of tiny corms and discovered that growing saffron was really easy.
I was given good advice by knowledgeable people and did lots of research when I started growing saffron. I find saffron easy to grow and it flowers well for me.
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| Saffron threads ready for harvesting |
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| Saffron flowers are pretty, smell nice, and produce saffron threads |
Saffron only flowers once per year, and each flower only produces 3 threads, so you want your corms to flower each year and you want multiple flowers per corm.
Although I say that each flower produces 3 threads you will notice that some smaller flowers will only produce 2 threads. From what I have seen they only do this when the plant is exhausted after they have already produced a number of flowers. It is like the plant is giving one last push to get out as many flowers as possible but it lacks the energy to make a full sized flower with 3 threads. This is nothing to worry about. An extra 2 threads is better than nothing.
Some of the biggest mistakes people make are not removing competition, and not allowing them to have enough sunlight or decent soil. Competition, either from being planted too close or from other plants nearby will deprive the plants of energy and they won’t flower.
Saffron also needs full sun to flower. If something is shading them they are in the wrong spot and may not flower for you. I grow some in pots and some in the soil, they all flower equally well. Once they have finished flowering you need to leave the plant alone, if you cut the leaves they will not capture enough sunlight to feed the corm and you won’t have flowers next year.
Saffron corms only flower when they are large enough and have enough stored energy, small corms will not flower no matter how well you look after them. Many growers measure the circumference of their corms and consider 7cm to be the minimum circumference they will reliably flower.
My 7cm corms always put out a few flowers, but I get more flowers out of my larger corms. Smaller corms can flower in future years, so look after them well and they should grow fatter and divide and you should have multiple plants flowering next year.
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| Some saffron grows the flower before the leaves, others grow leaves before the flowers |
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| Saffron is as pretty as ornamental flowers - why isn't it grown more often? |
I am told by people with a lot more experience in saffron than I have that in order to initiate flowering saffron needs a hot summer, a cold winter, and for the corms to be planted surprisingly deep.
The cold winter thing makes sense, a lot of flowering bulbs need cold winters in order to flower. The winter here is cold and my saffron always flowers well. I am told that unlike things like tulips that you should not put saffron corms in the fridge. Apparently they need heat while they are dormant. I am not sure if this is true as I have not experimented with it, I store them in the garage where it is hot, or I leave some in the soil over summer where it is also hot/dry, and they flower well for me.
The planting depth is really surprising to me. Normally you only plant corms and bulbs to a depth of two or three times their width, saffron corms need to go a lot deeper! Even though the corms are really small they are meant to flower best when planted 15 to 20 cm deep. I don’t know if this is true or not and I haven’t messed around with this, I plant mine at least 20 cm deep and they reliably flower well.
It seems odd to say that I have not experimented with any of this, but the people who gave me the advice really knew their stuff and through following their advice my saffron has flowered reliably. Most people I know with saffron don't have great success, while I have great success, so I keep doing what I was told would work. If it works then there is no reason for me to mess around with it.
As saffron completes its growing season it tends to divide into new corms. I am told that saffron corms can increase anywhere from 0 to about 15 new corms every year. Higher numbers sound great as it means you would have plenty of new plants, but if they divide into too many then most/all would be too small to flower. It is probably best for them to split into fewer corms and for most of them to flower the following year.
I am told that planting at 10cm results in many tiny corms and no flowers. I haven't played around with this, I plant deep and get a lot of flowers. Perhaps I should plant a couple really shallow next year to build up numbers.
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| Saffron - I removed the weeds before they grew too big |
For some reason, maybe the depth I plant, maybe the cold winters, maybe something else entirely, mine tend to divide into 2 large corms and they both usually flower the following year. I am happy with this as I end up with two corms that are flowering size from each one that I originally planted.
Sometimes I get more and sometimes I get a few smaller ones, but for me they mostly divide into 2 flowering sized corms. This means I essentially double my saffron investment each year.
Saffron is dormant over summer, and it likes to be dry when dormant. If you have wet summers then dig the corms up and put them somewhere safe. I just use a mesh bag in the garage away from direct sunlight. If the soil is pretty dry over summer you can leave them where they are. I dig some and I leave some, it depends if I need that space to grow something else. If you grow them in a pot of soil it is easy to keep them dry over the dormant season.
I am not sure if saffron suffers any pests or diseases, I haven’t had anything bother mine yet. While pests don’t appear to like them, beneficial insects such as honey bees appear to like saffron.
I am told that bees collect nectar as well as pollen from saffron, and I often see honey bees work the flowers early in the morning. I don’t grow much saffron so I am sure it makes very little difference to the bees, but if everyone in my street grew saffron it would make a difference to the local bees.
I grow saffron in several places in the garden, this year I also grew some saffron in a large pot. These corms grew foliage first, then flowered. Just like all the others, each corm produced multiple flowers.
The pot was filled with cheap potting mix in the top and guinea pig manure/straw underneath, these corms grew large, the largest was about 18cm circumference. I wonder how many flowers I will get from a corm this large!
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| Saffron starting to grow |
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| Saffron flowers - I had already harvested the threads from the open flowers |
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| Saffron plants gathering energy prior to going dormant - I planted 3 and you can see they have already divided |
Saffron is a sterile triploid that does not produce seed. Saffron does produce pollen and can (with difficulty) pollinate some of the wild ancestors, but that is a story for another time.
Saffron grows from corms, to get corms you must divide existing corms. Some varieties are evidently more potent or better than others. I am not sure how these varieties arose or what variety I have.
I am told that saffron corms with a circumference of 7cm or larger should flower. In my limited experience this appears to be true. Saffron corms are not perfectly round, they are odd shaped and have rounded parts and flat parts and various bumps, I guess this is why I am told to use circumference rather than diameter. To measure the circumference I wrap a piece of string around the corm and then measure the string.Very simple.
I sell saffron corms in Australia when they are dormant through my for sale page. I don't sell any that are less than 7cm circumference so they should flower for you. I don’t have large numbers and they reproduce slowly for me, so I never offer many for sale. If you are overseas and are sure your country will allow them in then I could also post to you. I can’t guarantee the corms that I sell will flower, but I only sell corms that are large enough to flower and in my garden would produce multiple flowers.
Very good post and quite informative. I'm looking at growing saffron in South Africa and it's nice to have the knowledge of somebody who has personally grown the plant. Thanks :)
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