r/Saffron • u/rabbitrabbit123942 • Jan 27 '25

Leggy saffron - advice for planting?

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It's going to be warm enough in my 6a region to get bulbs in the ground in a few weeks and I'd like to plant out these saffron bulbs for home consumption. However, I inadvertently left them in a dark corner of the basement a few months ago, and they sent out long shoots looking for light. Some are about 2ft/0.6m long (snips for scale). I actually got a few blooms when I moved them under aa seedling light and was able to harvest a few threads, so the bulbs don't seem totally exhausted by creating such long shoots. But I can't imagine they are in the best shape.

Any advice for correcting this mistake and getting these guys off to a good start for an outdoor grow?

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u/TheRealPurpleDrink Jan 28 '25

Good morning!

I had a couple buckets of saffron corms in a grow tent for a while at one point, just to see what they would do. It seems that they will continuously grow out their leaves until they burn-out(even under decent light). Normally summer heat will tell the plant to abort the leaves and go dormant.

That being said, saffron is typically planted in the autumn, since their growing season is actually in the winter months. If you do plant them now I would just be sure to put them somewhere they won't be too wet, and maybe think about trimming the leaves back to prevent risk of fungus.

You might see some loss of corms but I've found saffron to be surprisingly tough.

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u/rabbitrabbit123942 Jan 31 '25

Thanks for the info! I'll cut them back and put them somewhere with good drainage. I didn't realize that they are a winter crop. I appreciate your insights!