"Growing saffron indoor without traditional soil"

Important Points to Know About Indoor Soilless Vertical Saffron Production
Preparing the indoor Area for Vertical Saffron Production
For indoor vertical saffron production, a closed area is required. Factors affecting the closed area are determined by the size of the planting you will. For easy labor, a 4-layer bunk bed height should not be exceeded. However, a maximum of 6-layer bunk beds can be made to save space. Greenhouses are not suitable for saffron production because controlling humidity and temperature is both expensive and impractical.

Preparing the indoor Area for Saffron Cultivation
Before starting to grow saffron, the growing chamber must be ready. Bunk beds should be made suitable for the number of saffron you will grow. Due to high humidity, stainless, galvanized, or painted iron bunk beds should be preferred. Lighting should be selected according to the number of saffron bulbs per square meter. You do not need special grow lights for saffron cultivation. The most important part is the ventilation system! Ventilation is crucial for efficient cultivation. An air conditioning system with exhaust dampers, which can provide both internal air circulation and external (fresh air) supply, is required.
A watering tank should be selected according to the number of bulbs you will grow due to the need for irrigation during the bulb growing stage. It is important for the floor and side walls to be concrete to maintain and preserve humidity in the room! Now, you are ready to place your saffron in your room.

Placing Saffron on Your Shelves and Harvesting
You can place your saffron bulbs in trays or directly on the shelf's floor at the designated quantities per square meter. During saffron harvesting, bulbs should absolutely not come into contact with water. Water contact leads to root development, i.e., the multiplication phase, resulting in a significant reduction in yield.
After placing the saffron bulbs on the shelves, we observe the bulb growth for about 1 month. From a bulb weighing 15-22 grams, we get 3 sprouts. Each sprout gives an average of 3 flowers, and each flower provides an average of 3 stigmas. In other words, we obtain 9 flowers and 27 stigmas from one bulb, which will later be dried.
We should observe the sprouts growing up to about 15 cm. During this period, the desired temperature and humidity values in the room should be maintained. Sprouts will grow using only the nutrients from the bulb, moisture from the air, and energy from your lights. No feeding will be done until the end of harvest stage.
At the end of 1st month, your sprouts will reach about 15 cm in height. Yes, it’s almost time to see the flowers... Within 3-4 days, your shelves will be full of purple flowers. When you see the tips of the purple flowers, you should understand that harvesting is the next day. For the most efficient harvest and healthy stigmas, it is important to collect the flowers before they bloom. During the harvest, it is important for your room temperature to be at the desired level to collect the stigmas without the male organs sporulating.
If you collect your purple flowers by pulling them up with their long stems while holding the bulb, you will also create an easy path for the next flower to bloom.
Note: It is important to collect the harvested flowers' stigmas within an hour, without warming them up. To label the collected stigmas as the highest quality “super negin” saffron, it is essential to harvest only the red part, without the white and yellow parts. I will share images related to this in the future.
The harvest will last about 3 weeks; during this period, your room should continue to meet the desired conditions so that the remaining flowers continue to bloom.
Drying the Collected Stigmas
You can dry the collected stigmas on paper, fabric, etc., in a closed area without direct sunlight, at room temperature, for about 12 hours. Do not use industrial drying ovens. Losing the required moisture makes your stigmas brittle, which we do not want. You can store the dried stigmas in a closed glass jar for up to 2 years. Keeping them in cupboards without direct sunlight is healthier.
Preparing Your Bulbs for the Next Year and Multiplication Phase
After the harvest, it’s time to place your bulbs in soil-like mixtures for multiplication. The prepared mixture is very important for the multiplication of the bulbs. By providing the necessary nutrients at the necessary time, we can complete the most important part of saffron production, which is bulb multiplication. The bulbs should be planted to a depth of 15 cm in the mixture. Before planting, it is important to provide the necessary macro elements to the soil for the plant to receive nutrients correctly. I cannot provide these details on the blog because sharing all the intricacies of my work is not commercially appropriate. I ask for your understanding. If we find a suitable environment where commercial concerns are set aside, I would gladly share everything, but now is not that time. If you need support, you can contact me directly through our website.
So, let’s continue from where we left off.
Now your bulbs are in the soil and will grow and multiply with a proper nutrition program. You need to observe the emergence of green grass-like leaves, which indicate you are on the right way. It will take about 20 days for the leaves to reach 20 cm in length. During this period, we will provide nutritions twice. Nourishment will be done through watering. In each watering, you should assume giving approximately 3-4 liters of water per square meter. Of course, these values may vary depending on the humidity and temperature values of your room. For the Northern Hemisphere, your leaves will reach their maximum size (about 30 cm) by the end of February. Yes, you are still on the right way; your leaves have grown and are still green. At this stage, seeing yellow leaves means there is a problem. It indicates overwatering or insufficient watering. An urgent solution is needed. We do not want yellow leaves until the end of March!
Once the leaves start to turn yellow, it no longer makes sense to provide nutrients, and you can turn off your lights because photosynthesis has ended. and of course it should be at the end of March.

That’s all for today. If you have questions, you can reach me. I will continue to provide information about saffron on the blog.
Stay healthy...