Greenhouse Saffron Cultivation Training
Greenhouse saffron cultivation can be a magic opportunity for some farmers that are searching for a new investment challenge. We can have a top type of saffron in this method and as you know, saffron is the most expensive spice in the world.
There are multiple greenhouse saffron cultivation methods that are done in some of the countries and each of customized with specific environmental conditions of the same country. Hydroponics and Aeroponics saffron cultivation are the 2 main methods that are common and our method is Aeroponics.
So if you want to know more about greenhouse saffron cultivation you can be with us and enjoy learning new things. Also, if you want to have more details about this method you can call us for a free consultation.
Benefits of Growing Greenhouse Saffron
These are some greenhouse saffron benefits compared to the soil saffron planting method.
- Facilitate the saffron harvesting process
- Reduce some of the costs
- Reduce water consumption
- control of environmental conditions
- Increasing the amount of saffron crocin
Each of these benefits can be a good trigger for changing saffron production methods, but our first priority must existing conditions. If your country has enough resources to grow saffron in the soil, it’s better to try it first and then If necessary do the greenhouse method.
We use the greenhouse saffron cultivation method to prevent bad weather effects on saffron. In other words, in this method, we displace saffron bulbs in the flowering time to save them from heavy rain and snow.
Greenhouse Saffron Cultivation Income
Let’s account for greenhouse saffron production income in a 100 square meters greenhouse. On this scale, we should use 3–4 tons of Crocus Sativus bulbs and for this amount of bulbs can harvest On average, 5 kg of saffron per year.
Also, we will have another income stream and that is saffron bulbs propagation. If we plant 5tons bulbs in the start year, we will have more than 20tons bulbs in the fifth year. This business is a beautiful example of a scalable business.
Required Tools List
If you want to have a saffron greenhouse you should prepare these tools or their function. You should regulate hall temperature and it’s not important what type of tools you will use, just regulate it.
- Cultivation hall
- Agricultural land
- Humidifier
- Heater
- Air conditioner
- Shelf and trays
Our recommended for trays material is wood, wood trays are resistant, economically and useful in the control of humidity. Also, you can use any accessible material for building shelves. For example, some of the farmers use plastic trays that are cheap.
Greenhouse Saffron Cultivation Steps
1. Saffron Bulbs Preparation
Saffron bulbs are the main and most important part of your investment in greenhouse saffron cultivation. If you want to have a 100 square meters greenhouse, you will need 5–6 tons of saffron bulbs and a 5000-meter agricultural farm.
You should buy saffron bulbs that are more than 15g and are completely disinfected. This step of greenhouse saffron cultivation is done in the middle of summer. In this time humidity of bulbs reduce and you can buy bulbs better economically.
2. Cultivation Hall Preparation
Preparation of cultivation hall is our next step. Our hall should have this condition;
- Free from any infection and contamination
- Hall should have indirect light and a big window
Also, we need some tools for controlling hall temperature and humidity;
- Hygrometer and thermometer
- Humidifier
- Heater
- Air conditioner
- Shelf and trays
In this step, we should install tools and preparation the shelf for transferring saffron bubs. If you want to have a 100 square meter greenhouse you can use wood or metal for creating shelves. You and create 4–5 floors with 40–50 cm height.
Your wooden trays can be 100*100 cm and the distance of the shelf should be 80–100 cm as a corridor.
3. Disinfection Bulbs and Hall
Disinfecting bulbs and greenhouse hall must do exactly before transferring bulbs to the hall. You can use the common disinfecting agent for this work such as ethyl alcohol. Also, you can use natural and organic fungicides and mites that are ready in your local market.
Please don’t use carbendazim and Propargite. This disinfecting material is banned for using food production, but sometimes we see farmers using them out of ignorance.
4. Transferring Bulbs to the Cultivation Hall
We usually do this step in the last month of summer and after disinfecting the hall and bulbs. Putting up the bulb on trays and locating them on the shelf. Early bods of bulbs should be up and be careful about the density of trays.
In this step, we should regulate humidity at 80%, this action and reducing air temperature can awake bulbs and start growth season. After passing this time and complete starting for all of the bulbs, we should get up the temperature to 17C.
5. Harvesting Saffron
So we arrive at the best step of greenhouse saffron cultivation. Saffron flowers come up in the middle of fall and for 10days. At this time we have daily flowers and we must harvest them on at same day. Of course, you can wait for a little and you have not forced to harvest flowers as soon as they arise, and this is the benefit of this method.
Each of the corms that have at least 15g can produce 10–15 saffron flowers and if we have larger bulbs then we will have more saffron flowers and more saffron.
6. Transferring bulbs to the ground
In this step and after finishing the harvesting process, we should transfer bulbs to the ground. This process is usually done in early winter and is one of our big challenges in greenhouse saffron cultivation. We should do this process fast and don’t waste time.
So if we will have rainy winter, probably we will miss the time and in this condition, corms may spoil.
Potential Risks
greenhouse saffron cultivation may have some risks and most of them are location-based risks. One of the most important risks is a disorder in the saffron bulbs transferring step. We should transfer saffron bulbs to the saffron fields and if we have a long delay in this work, our bulbs get spoiled and our investment gets destroyed step by step.
This may occur in rainy winters. when we have heavy rain and snow we can’t transfer bulbs to the land and our bulbs will be under severe stress.
Our Services
These steps were an outline of greenhouse saffron cultivation and if you want to have more details and information you can contact us. Also, some of our services in the saffron planting field are as follows:
- Greenhouse saffron cultivation complete training
- Professional Consultation
- Guaranteed purchase of your produced saffron
- Water and fertilization program
Originally published on Kohan Rishe.