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How to Grow Your Own Saffron

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Saffron threads in a bowl with pile of saffron threads on the table beside it.

Of all of the herbs and spices in the spice aisle at the grocery store, saffron is almost always the most expensive one you can find. Saffron’s high price tag makes it a special occasion spice rather than an everyday spice for many people. But since saffron actually comes from the inside of crocus flowers, it’s possible to grow your own saffron for a much cheaper price than you could ever buy saffron at the store. 

I decided to try growing my own saffron last year, and I was pleasantly surprised by how easy and simple the process was and by how much more economical it was than buying store bought saffron. Sometimes growing your own food ends up not really being much cheaper than just buying food at the grocery store, but in this case it’s definitely much cheaper.

I bought 15 saffron crocus bulbs that were on sale for $8.49, so that one-time expense of $8.49 will give me saffron threads every year for as long as the crocuses keep on blooming. And since the flowers will gradually spread and multiply, too, the amount of saffron threads I get each year will gradually increase too. This past year I got about 28 saffron threads from my crocuses, and I’m looking forward to seeing how many I’ll get this coming year! 

It’s also nice to be able to have complete control over the quality of the saffron, too, because I know exactly where it was grown and how it was grown (organically without any chemicals). And you can’t get any fresher saffron than going out to your yard and picking it by hand yourself! 

Where to Find Saffron Crocuses

While you can often find regular spring-blooming crocuses at local garden centers, saffron crocuses are more difficult to find, and your best bet is probably to get them online. You can find them from online garden websites like this one and you can also find them on Amazon.

The one thing you want to make sure of when you’re buying crocuses is that they are the saffron crocus with the botanical name crocus sativus. There’s another type of crocus that also bloom in the fall with the name of colchium and those do not produce saffron threads. So you want to make sure that you see the crocus labeled as a saffron crocus (crocus sativus).

Important Notes About Growing Saffron Crocus Bulbs

Saffron crocuses will grow well for a majority of people, but they might not survive really cold harsh winters. In the United States, they will grow best in garden zones 6-9 (but if you live in zone 5 you might still be able to give them a try.)

It’s also important to note that these aren’t squirrel-proof either, so if you have a problem with squirrels digging up bulbs where you live then they might eat the saffron crocuses too, and you might have to replace the bulbs in that case. Squirrels left my bulbs alone for a couple of years after planting them, but then they dug them up during a really dry summer with a drought, so I’m not sure if it was the drought that made them want to dig them up or if it just took them awhile to discover them. 

Either way, if you have a really bad problem with squirrels where you live, then the cost of continuously replacing bulbs could potentially end up negating the cost-saving benefits of growing your own saffron unless you are able to find ways to deter the squirrels from digging up the bulbs. 

I’m thinking of possibly trying to plant some saffron crocuses inside a fenced-in part of my garden, maybe even with some netting over the top, for the future to try to help stop the squirrels from getting to them. I had planted my crocuses in a place where they would look nice when they bloomed in the fall, but I think in the future I might need to focus more on protecting them from the squirrels rather than putting them in an aesthetically pleasing area of the yard. 

When Should You Plant Your Saffron Crocus Bulbs?

Saffron crocus bulbs will bloom in the fall, and they are usually planted in late summer. My crocus bulbs were shipped to me in August, and I planted them as soon as I got them, and they had blooms by October. 

How Many Crocus Bulbs Should You Get?

The number of bulbs that you buy really depends on how much saffron you want to use. The 15 bulbs that I planted produced about 28 threads (something happened to one of my flowers – it either didn’t bloom fully or my dog might have trampled it.) In general you should expect to get 3 saffron threads for each flower that blooms. 

So the first year you plant your saffron, you’ll most likely get one flower blooming for each bulb that you plant. So if you plant 15 bulbs like I did and they all bloom, you can expect to get about 30 saffron threads. For me that was enough for my first time trying them since I’m not used to cooking much with saffron, and I don’t mind waiting a few years to get a larger amount. 

If you really love using saffron in your cooking, though, you might want to plant more bulbs to begin with so that you can get a larger harvest of saffron threads the first year and beyond. 

In this picture below, you can see the red stigmas (which are the saffron threads) coming out of the center of the crocus flowers. 

Saffron crocuses with red stigmas in center.

How to Plant and Take Care of Your Saffron Crocus

Planting saffron crocuses really isn’t any different than planting regular crocuses or other types of bulbs. In the steps below, you can see the process that I used to go from crocus bulbs to harvesting my saffron threads. 

saffron threads in bowl and on table

How to Grow Your Own Saffron

Active Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Estimated Cost: $8-15

Growing your own saffron is as easy as simply planting a few crocus bulbs in the ground and harvesting the red saffron threads in the fall, and you can grow your own saffron for much cheaper than what it costs to buy it in the store.

Materials

  • Saffron crocus bulbs (crocus sativus)
  • Small spade or trowel

Instructions

  1. Select a planting location that will get either full sun or partial sun and that has well-draining soil. (You don't want to plant the bulbs in a place where the soil stays damp and soggy for a long time.)
  2. Using a spade or trowel, loosen the soil where you plan to plant the bulbs to a depth of about 8 inches.
  3. You can add in some optional compost if you feel like your soil might need the extra nutrients. (I didn't add any compost to my soil and my bulbs still bloomed ok, but if you have poor soil than it might be a good idea to add a bit.)
  4. Place the bulbs in the soil about 4 inches deep and a couple of inches apart with the pointy end facing up and the roots facing down. (Crocuses can be a bit harder to tell which end is which, so if you're not sure you can just place the bulb on its side, and the flower will eventually find its way up.)
  5. Fill the hole in the rest of the way with the remaining soil and gently press with your hands to firm it down.
  6. Give the plants a good watering right after planting. For the first few weeks, you may need to water them occasionally if there is a dry spell without any rain, but it's a good idea to let the soil dry out in between waterings because crocus bulbs will rot if they sit in soil that stays continuously damp. Once the plans are established, you probably won't need to water them unless there is a drought.
  7. In about 6-10 weeks you should start to see blooms forming, and once the blooms have fully opened, you can harvest the red stigmas in the center of each bloom.
  8. Once you have harvested the red stigmas, you can either use them immediately in recipes calling for saffron, or you can lay them out on a tray to dry for a few days and save them in a dry place to use later.

Notes

  • Crocus bulbs don't keep very well, so it's a good idea to plant them as soon as you can after receiving them in the mail.
  • Once you've harvested your saffron threads from the flowers and the blooms have started to fade, you can cut back the blooms to ground level, but it's a good idea to leave the green leaves for a few weeks because the plants will continue to gather nutrients for future seasons. Once the leaves have turned yellow and died back, you can cut them down to the ground.
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Saffron crocuses and bowl with saffron threads and pile of saffron threads on the table beside it.
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The information in this post is not to be taken as medical advice and is not intended to diagnose or treat any disease.

Tanya

Thursday 3rd of August 2023

I thought up an idea for protecting your precious bulbs, for those who have squirrel problems. It's a bit of a variant on the idea of using bulb basket, which are just plastic "baskets" with wide slots and holes in it. You dig a hole for the basket, then arrange your bulbs in it. You then bury it. Stops you from losing your bulbs in the soil.

MY idea is to make your own BULB CAGE, out of that square (1cm?) wire chicken mesh. I think there's a larger size mesh if that one is too small. Not sure how big the bulb necks are. Seal up your bulbs in that before burying. Stitch it closed with wire make it secure. The shoots should come through the squares easily enough, but the horrible little furballs won't be able to get past the wire cage, lol! They might do damage to the aerial sprouts, but at least your bulbs will survive to sprout another time. Bulbs are expensive!

Lori Elliott

Thursday 3rd of August 2023

That sounds like a great idea! Thanks so much for sharing it!

Karen in MI

Sunday 15th of January 2023

I ordered Saffron Crocus bulbs from Holland Bulb Farm last summer. They don't ship until harvested in fall. Great quality, info and service. Planted hundreds of bulbs from HBF in my new landscaping. https://www.hollandbulbfarms.com/saffron-crocus

Lori Elliott

Monday 16th of January 2023

That's really neat that you planted hundreds of bulbs! They must look so beautiful to have that many blooming all at one time! And thanks for the info about that source for finding them, too.

sushila appavoo

Saturday 22nd of May 2021

it is wonderful to know we can grow saffron as I use a lot kindly give me where the address I can buy the correct crocus I am exited to try sue

Lori Elliott

Thursday 27th of May 2021

There are several different places where you can find saffron crocuses. If you're looking for something local to where you live, you might be able to find some at a garden center near you. Or, you can also find them online from several different places. I've seen them on Amazon, and American Meadows is another place where I've seen them listed (https://www.americanmeadows.com/flower-bulbs/fall-flowering-crocus-flower-bulbs/saffron-crocus-bulbs). Wherever you decide to buy your crocuses from, you just want to make sure you see the words "crocus sativus," to make sure they are real saffron crocuses and not the regular ones that do not produce saffron threads.

Jeff

Sunday 29th of November 2020

Can the bulbs be grown indoors?

Lori Elliott

Tuesday 1st of December 2020

That's a great question. I've never tried it, so I couldn't say from personal experience, but I would think that they probably could be. And growing them indoors would certainly avoid the possibility of squirrels eating them, too.

Uncompahgre Gal

Wednesday 15th of January 2020

I have had great luck using tiny scissors (eyelash scissors) to snip the blooms first thing in the morning, and using tweezers to handle the stigmas once I've pulled off the flower petals.

Lori Elliott

Friday 17th of January 2020

Those are good ideas for handling the delicate blooms and stigmas. Thanks for sharing!

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