A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Another question, Cilantro

What do think of Cilantro in a planter outside? It seems to be doing great. I water them every day, so there is a think layer of water and they drink it up. There are 50+ little Cilantro plants. They are about 2 inches tall and only about 3 weeks old, they started from seeds. The clintaro leaves are starting to appear too. Is it easy to over water them?
Thanks again! This is a cool board.

Don't overwater. They like to dry out between waterings. So before you water make sure the first 1/2 inch of soil is dry then water.

Cilantro should be planted in two week increments for use while it is fresh. But maybe you are planning on doing a bunch of drying of the herbs?

Does that mean they can't be used as fresh herbs? I guess I don't understand what you mean. Do you have uproot the plant?

You can definitely use them fresh. I just didn't believe you would need the harvest from 50 plants all at one time. That would make a lot of stuff. I had maybe 4 plants last year and had more than i needed of the cilantro and the coriander so I didn't plant it this year. I will next year but it would have been wasteful to do it this year. I also used it as a trade seed and gave bunches and bunches of it away.

Oh! LOL I guess I didn't understand. We use a lot of herbs and will probably dry some too. I might give some away. I didn't think THAT many seeds would actually make it!

Yep their germination rate is pretty high. Next year you may want to plant some every other week that way you will have it fresh through out the growing season.

Welcome RPD and good luck with your cilantro. TK, a question do you have any luck with getting the cilantro to grow stronger stalks? They just always seem so frowsy....

Mine were fine and didn't need any additional support. What kind of fertilizer do you use?

Since I can't compost or drop a load of manure here (rented property) the only option is store bought.... it's MiracleGro or something along those lines usually. Most places around here don't stock anything more natural. The soil here could use some help...

What is the soil like that your growing the cilantro in? I've never fertilized my cilantro and I've never had that problem.
When you say "frowsy", do you mean it's unedible? Is it still green? Does it still produce a lot of leaves? Or is it discoloured and dried out looking? Remember to pick it as it grows - this will make it produce more and keep it from going to seed.

The soil stays fairly moist.... I let it dry out a little between waterings, though when the heavens decide to dump 5 inches on us at a time there's not much I can do. It's not inedible, just not very strong, pretty droopy to be honest. It's green, not too dry, but it slumps in the pot and over the side. It never gets tall enough to produce a lot of leaves... maybe 6-9 inches and then it just kinda putters out.

unless you want seeds rather than leaves make sure you don't do what I did with mine this spring and let it flower.
As soon as the flower stalks appear (they look different/thicker than the leafy stems) cut them down because once my cilantro started producing flowers on them the leaf production stopped almost overnight.