Saffron
Alberto Castillo (Mon, 31 Oct 2005 08:22:27 PST)

Dear all:
My saffon corms were purchased some 20 years ago from the de
Jager & Sons firm, New York. I don't know if they are in the business
nowadays. They had excellent stocks of all kinds of hardy bulbs and each one
was huge and flawless (priced accordingly).
In this climate, app. zone 9 b in winter and zone 10 in summer
with year round rains and very rich alkaline soils, saffron crocuses are
almost a weed. They are in a raised bed for themselves and flower reliably
every April. Flowers are huge and they (fortunately) never showed any
striking (that in crocuses invariably means virus). They show the same
original vigour and only the really big ones flower year after year. These
have been left in place for over eight years now and in those cases they had
to be dug the flowering corms were found at 30-40 cm deep (12-16 in.). They
are really large plants only suitable for beds and tubs, not for normal
pots. Kathy, there are not two clones, their behaviour depends on the depth
at which the corms are. If not planted really deep, they will use theri
flowering energy in burying themselves deeper. Jim has mentioned most facts
about this rather undemanding crop. Curcuma (turmeric) is the spice used in
Indian cooking rather than saffron. Saffron was used as a priced dye at
first and later as a spice. As for Carthamus this is a nice beeding plant
for hot dry positions. It is a dye and not really a spice. In our humid
climate saffron is produced abundantly but the scent is not as strong as
that obtained in a drier region.
The practice mentioned by Angelo (they do the same in Spain) of replanting
in manure enriched soil (something unthinkable for most bulbs) must be
understood in the context of poor soils in dryish climates.

Best regards
Alberto
in Buenos Aires where saffron leaves are dry and the corms have just entered
dormancy. Ants love saffron foliage

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