Detailed Explanation of Saffron Planting Methods and Cultivation Management Techniques
Saffron prefers a warm, humid environment. Saffron is relatively cold-tolerant, but it fears waterlogging and rain damage. It can be grown in partial shade, and it is best to avoid direct sunlight. Next, let us take a closer look at how to plant it.
1. Soil selection
For saffron cultivation, it is best to choose a well-drained, humus-rich sandy loam soil. If the soil is too heavy or damp and shady, it will grow poorly.
2. Planting
We generally propagate saffron by corms, which are shaped like a ball of soil and contain the saffron seed material. The planting density is chosen according to the size of the corms. Place the corms in the dug holes with the main bud facing upward, press them gently into the soil, and then cover them with a thin layer of burnt mud ash.
3. Fertilizing
For fertilizing, the base fertilizer must be sufficient to promote its growth and development and to favor the swelling of the corms.
Now that you have planted the saffron, you cannot just leave it alone. There is still a lot of later-stage management that requires your constant care for the saffron to grow healthily, and there are also many precautions we need to learn when planting saffron! Let us take a look together!
What is the flower language of saffron? Planting methods for potted saffron
Do you know what the flower language of saffron is? Next, the editor will introduce the flower language and planting methods of saffron in detail to help everyone grow saffron better.
The flower language of saffron:
The flower language of saffron: colorful, sincere, happy, joyful
The flower language of yellow saffron: broken-hearted love
The flower language of red saffron: worried about loving me too much
The flower language of yellow saffron: please believe me
The flower language of blue saffron: although I believe you, I still feel uneasy
The flower language of purple saffron: regretting loving me
Cultivation methods for potted saffron:
Planting
Prepare the potting soil in advance, choosing fertile, loose soil rich in humus. When selecting the corms, you must choose robust corms that are large, plump, and free of mold spots and disease spots.
In autumn, plant the corms in flower pots. In principle, one plant per pot, but according to the size of the plants and pots, 4-6 plants can be appropriately planted per pot. After planting, cover with 5-8 cm of soil.
Within one week after planting, place the flower pots in a cool, ventilated place. After one week, they can be moved to a bright place for care.
Watering
Saffron is usually planted in autumn, and its growth period is winter and spring. The climate is cold and dry, so appropriate watering is needed.
After planting, seedlings emerge in about 20 days. Water once before emergence to promote seedling emergence. Water once before winter to prevent freezing and increase the soil temperature. Water once in mid-April to reduce the harm of dry hot winds.
When watering, note that when the temperature is relatively low, do not water with ice-cold water. The water temperature should be equivalent to room temperature, so as not to freeze the potting soil and affect plant growth.
Fertilizing
Before planting, add sufficient base fertilizer to the potting soil, such as cake fertilizer, barnyard manure, burnt soil, plant ash, chicken and duck manure, etc. Some superphosphate should also be applied.
After planting and rooting, apply a dilute liquid fertilizer balanced in nitrogen and phosphorus once every 10 days. When fertilizing, be sure not to apply too concentrated a fertilizer, so as to avoid excessive leaf growth and affect flower bud growth.
After saffron blooms in October, apply 1 to 2 more applications of a quick-acting fertilizer balanced in nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium to favor the growth and development of the corms, so that the corms can store enough nutrients for more and better blooms the following year.
Corm storage
From late April to early May, the aboveground branches and leaves of saffron gradually turn yellow, and the corms can be dug out of the pots for storage. After digging them out, classify the corms, and promptly handle, remove, or discard rotted corms and those with disease spots.
Place the saffron corms in a gauze bag and store them in a place with little light, cool and ventilated, keeping the room dry. They can be replanted in autumn.
Precautions for potted saffron cultivation
Variety selection
For saffron in winter and spring, gardening enthusiasts can choose different varieties according to their needs when planting. It is recommended to choose spring-blooming varieties, as the spring environment is relatively better, and storing the corms promptly after blooming allows for a longer flowering time.
Pot size
For planting pots, it is best to choose clay pots with a diameter of 15-20 cm, or plastic pots with good air permeability. Plant 4-6 large corms per pot, planting them in September-October. Small pots can also be used, 3-5 cm black plastic pots, with one corm per pot.
How is saffron planted? Saffron planting techniques
Saffron is also called fanhonghua and xihonghua. Its stigma is a precious Chinese medicinal material with sedative and expectorant effects, mainly used for jaundice, enlarged liver and spleen, regulating menstruation, fever, and other conditions. Saffron is widely cultivated throughout China. Below is an introduction to saffron planting techniques, for reference by growers.
I. Plant characteristics
Saffron, also known as xihonghua and fanhonghua, blooms but does not bear fruit and reproduces asexually through corms. Saffron prefers a mild, cool climate, fears heat, is relatively cold-tolerant, and is suitable for growing at -5°C to 25°C. The soil is best if it is fertile sandy land. The corms go dormant in summer and develop roots and sprout leaves in autumn. They bloom in late October. The flowers open during the day and wither at night. In China, the method of propagating corms in the field and collecting flowers indoors is mostly used; the filaments have high effective components and excellent quality, and saffron can be cultivated in most regions.
II. Preparations before putting saffron on the shelves
1. Room selection
Choose a room facing south, with good ventilation, and spacious and bright.
2. Shelf design
The saffron shelves are designed to be 1.5-1.8 m long, 1 m wide, and 1.8-2 m high.
3. Disinfection
Use a 500-fold dilution of 25% carbendazim to disinfect the bed surface, bed frame, and trays to prevent disease.
III. Indoor management techniques for saffron
1. Putting on the shelves
For first-year planting, it is necessary to buy robust corms weighing 20-30 g each and free of mold spots and disease spots. Generally, corms can be used for 8-10 years. Saffron corms increase by about 2 times each year. After the second year, no investment in corms is needed, and the planting scale can still be expanded to increase planting benefits. The corms can be put on the shelves in mid-to-late August. Before putting them on the shelves, soak the corms in a 500-fold dilution of 25% carbendazim for 20 minutes to prevent disease. Place the corms with the head facing up and the base facing down, closely arranged in a single layer in the trays, and then place the trays on the wooden shelves.
2. Management during the budding stage
From late August to mid-September is the flower bud differentiation stage, requiring the room temperature to remain at 24-27°C; indoor humidity should be maintained at 70-80% to promote sprouting. From late September to mid-October, the corms begin to sprout; room temperature should be kept at 16-23°C, indoor light should gradually be increased, and natural light should be enhanced. Indoor humidity should be controlled at about 80%.
3. Management during the flowering stage
From late October to mid-November is the flowering stage, with a suitable temperature of 15-18°C; otherwise, dead flowers and rotten flowers are likely to occur. Humidity should be kept at 70-80%.
4. Keep the terminal buds and remove the lateral buds
From late September to mid-November, the corms will grow many lateral buds. In order to cultivate large corms and increase filament yield, the lateral buds should be removed in time. Generally, corms below 20 g keep 1 main bud, those of 20-30 g keep 2 main buds, and those above 30 g keep 3 main buds.
5. Flower harvesting
Indoor corms bloom at the end of October and finish in mid-November, with a flowering period of about 15 days. The flowers are harvested before full bloom. Generally, harvesting is done at 8-10 a.m. and 1-3 p.m., with two concentrated harvests each day. Flowers that open on the same day are picked that day.
6. Filament extraction
The harvested fresh flowers also need to have the filaments removed promptly, and this process is called filament extraction. The pistil of saffron is composed of three connected stigmas and the style below them, and its most effective part is the red stigma of the pistil. The method of extracting the filaments is to gently open the harvested petals, pinch them off at the branching point of the filaments, and take out the red part of the style. Note that the style should not be left too long, as too long a style will affect the appearance of the filaments. In production, it is required to harvest the flowers, strip the flowers, and extract the filaments on the same day. If the fresh flowers are not all stripped that night, the piled fresh flowers will generate heat and cause the filaments to deteriorate easily.
7. Processing methods and storage
To ensure the quality of the filaments, artificial drying is mostly used now. Spread the collected saffron stigmas thinly on white paper and dry them in a drying oven at 35-40 degrees for 6-8 hours. The dried filaments should be stored in a sealed, cool place.
IV. Field cultivation management
1. Treatment of corms
Plant the corms from which the filaments have been harvested into the field in mid-November. Before planting the corms, soak them in a 500-600-fold dilution of 25% carbendazim for 20 minutes to prevent pests and diseases.
2. Land preparation
Saffron likes crop rotation and avoids continuous cropping. Choose a well-drained, loose, fertile sandy plot. The previous crop is best if it was beans, corn, rice, or similar crops. Saffron is a fibrous-rooted shallow-rooted plant, so applying sufficient base fertilizer is very important. Apply 4000-5000 kg of decomposed farmyard manure per mu. When fertilizing, note that the fertilizer should be spread evenly on the ground.
3. Making beds
Combine plowing with mixing the base fertilizer into the soil, then break it up finely and rake it level. Dig furrow beds in a north-south direction, with a bed width of 1 m, a height of 20 cm, and a bed spacing of 30-40 cm. The advantage of bed cultivation is that it increases soil aeration, makes root rot less likely, and in cold weather it also helps with covering plastic film, improving the warming and moisture-preserving effects of plastic mulching. Open furrows on the bed surface, with a furrow depth of about 8 cm. The furrow spacing is about 20 cm, and then the corms can be planted.
4. Planting corms
Saffron is propagated by corms. Many main buds and lateral buds grow on the corms. The main buds bloom, while the lateral buds do not bloom. Each bud can form a small corm, and the mother corm can produce 6-15 small corms. If the buds are not removed, there will be more and more small corms, and flower yield will become lower and lower. Before planting, according to the principle of keeping the large and removing the small, and keeping the strong and removing the weak, excess lateral buds should be removed. Planting saffron requires a relatively large amount of corms, about 500 kg per mu. The row spacing is 15-20 cm, the plant spacing is 10 cm, and the depth is 3-6 cm. Place the corms with the main bud facing upward, cover with soil, and press firmly. Reasonable depth is also an effective measure to increase filament yield, because it not only satisfies the growth of the corms but can also inhibit the sprouting of new lateral buds. After planting is completed, water once thoroughly to provide the corms with enough water for growth. After 5-7 days, apply human and livestock manure together with water once more, 3000-4000 kg per mu, to promote early rooting of the corms.
5. Film covering
In late November, if the weather is below 5 degrees, film covering is needed. Cover with plastic film and press it firmly with clods of soil. This serves to prevent freezing and increase soil temperature, and can also reduce weed growth and promote corm growth.
6. Film removal
From late February to early March, as the temperature rises and the corms enter the greening stage, the film can be removed. The removed film should be cleaned up thoroughly to avoid polluting the environment.
7. Intertillage
After removing the film, loosen the soil and hoe weeds in time. The depth of intertillage is 2-3 cm. When intertilling, be careful not to damage the roots of the plants.
8. Topdressing
The greening stage of the corms is also the period when the daughter corms rapidly enlarge and gain weight. After removing the film, topdress in time, applying 3000-4000 kg of human and livestock manure per mu together with watering, and topdress once again half a month later. In March-April, generally spray 0.2% potassium dihydrogen phosphate on the leaves once every 10-15 days, for 2-3 consecutive sprays, to promote rapid corm growth.
9. Removing lateral buds
In April, saffron enters the late stage of field growth. If lateral buds are found growing, remove them in time so as not to affect the growth of the large corms.
10. Pest and disease control
After saffron turns green, the main disease is rot disease, and the pest is the Robin bulb mite. The control method is to spray a 500-fold dilution of 25% carbendazim on the roots of the plants after removing the film. If aphids appear on the leaves, dimethoate can be used for control.
11. Harvest
In mid-to-late May, when the aboveground branches and leaves of saffron turn yellow, the corms can be harvested. When harvesting, use a hoe to dig up the corm roots. After digging them out, remove the branches, leaves, and residual roots, dry them in the field for two days, and then store them indoors. Store them in a ventilated, cool place.
The above is saffron cultivation technology. We hope it is helpful to you. If you want to learn more agricultural technical knowledge, please follow Huinong Classroom!
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