Saffron

Whwoz · May 8, 2019

Have been toying with the idea of growing this for several years and had the opportunity to get some just before Christmas and again at the local farm machinery field days, called Farm World.

Eleven of the first dozen have come up and I am not expecting the last one too, scratching around it cannot be seen. Of the 51 from farm world 28 are up, more will come through yet and a quick check this morning found one pulled out. So photos below are of pulled out plant with side shoots on corm, one that has been up for 10 to 14 days and one that has been up for 6 or 7 weeks.

May 8, 2019

Always been curious about it; never grown it.

bower · May 9, 2019

I grew saffron one year. You can't overwinter them here of course. Expensive to buy a dozen, the flowers were gorgeous in the fall.

And produced a wee crumble of spice.
It looks like your bulbs are dividing, Whwoz? I mean the side shoots, will they form little new ones at the end of season? You will have a crop forever, if that's the case.

Worth1 · May 9, 2019

Quote:

Originally Posted by bower

I grew saffron one year. You can't overwinter them here of course. Expensive to buy a dozen, the flowers were gorgeous in the fall.

And produced a wee crumble of spice.
It looks like your bulbs are dividing, Whwoz? I mean the side shoots, will they form little new ones at the end of season? You will have a crop forever, if that's the case.

The middle eastern good stuff is around $252 an ounce.

Roughly about the same price for an ounce of good marijuana in an area that it is highly illegal.
In other words Austin Texas less $150 Conroe Texas more $260.
A field of saffron could be a good thing to consider.

I have a wee bit of the good stuff (saffron) here some place.

Nematode · May 9, 2019

Saffron is free, its the tweezing it out of the flowers that costs $250/oz.
Wouldn't mind having a few here to mess with though.

mcsee · May 9, 2019

Woz told us about him purchasing and growing Saffron and it's something my wife has wanted to do for years, so we ordered 25 corms @ $2.00 each.

We were pleasantly surprised when we planted out the 38 corms that arrived in the box.

Whwoz · May 10, 2019

Bower, yes I believe that the corms will multiply from each of the side shoots. We were told that they multiply up quickly and at the rate they are sideshooting I believe they will, just need to keep the birds from pulling them out.

For the spice, each flower has three stamens, which need to be picked before the sun dries them out in the morning otherwise the quality drops off fairly rapidly from what we have been told. Mind you they flower in March here when the days can still be rather warm.

Mcsee, sounds like you got the value pack.

May 10, 2019

It's the stigma that is used, not the stamens.

Worth1 · May 10, 2019

Whwoz · May 27, 2019

Looks like we have 61 out of the 63 planted up and growing. Possibility of the other two being up and planted in the wrong box after the Magpie pulled them out. Going from the number of shoots on some of the corms, I reckon that they will multiply by 3 on average, with up to 6 possible.

May 10, 2019	#7
Whwoz Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Victoria, Australia Posts: 870	Bower, yes I believe that the corms will multiply from each of the side shoots. We were told that they multiply up quickly and at the rate they are sideshooting I believe they will, just need to keep the birds from pulling them out. For the spice, each flower has three stamens, which need to be picked before the sun dries them out in the morning otherwise the quality drops off fairly rapidly from what we have been told. Mind you they flower in March here when the days can still be rather warm. Mcsee, sounds like you got the value pack. Last edited by Whwoz; May 10, 2019 at 12:10 AM.

May 8, 2019	#2
PlainJane Guest Posts: n/a	Always been curious about it; never grown it.

May 9, 2019	#3
bower Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Newfoundland, Canada Posts: 6,794	I grew saffron one year. You can't overwinter them here of course. Expensive to buy a dozen, the flowers were gorgeous in the fall. And produced a wee crumble of spice. It looks like your bulbs are dividing, Whwoz? I mean the side shoots, will they form little new ones at the end of season? You will have a crop forever, if that's the case.

May 9, 2019	#5
Nematode Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2012 Location: massachusetts Posts: 1,710	Saffron is free, its the tweezing it out of the flowers that costs $250/oz. Wouldn't mind having a few here to mess with though.

May 9, 2019	#6
mcsee Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Victoria. Australia Posts: 543	Woz told us about him purchasing and growing Saffron and it's something my wife has wanted to do for years, so we ordered 25 corms @ $2.00 each. We were pleasantly surprised when we planted out the 38 corms that arrived in the box.

May 10, 2019	#8
LDiane Guest Posts: n/a	It's the stigma that is used, not the stamens.

May 10, 2019	#9
Worth1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Den of Drunken Fools Posts: 38,539

May 27, 2019	#10
Whwoz Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Victoria, Australia Posts: 870	Looks like we have 61 out of the 63 planted up and growing. Possibility of the other two being up and planted in the wrong box after the Magpie pulled them out. Going from the number of shoots on some of the corms, I reckon that they will multiply by 3 on average, with up to 6 possible.