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How to grow organic Cilantro at home in containers in USA

Growing cilantro in pots or containers at home is a very good choice instead of buying it from the market. I'll tell you why. Cilantro is easy to grow, a beginner can grow it, and it is a short-time growing plant. It doesn't need too many requirements or arrangements as other garden plants do. But regular irrigation is enough once they get settled. 

Growing cilantro at home in containers

Here, I'm going to give detailed information about cilantro growing at home in containers. Let's start with some basics of cilantro.

Easy growing cilantro at home

Season of growing cilantro 

Cilantro grows best in moderate temperatures and warm climate conditions. The early spring and early fall is the best time to grow cilantro. During this time, the temperature remains moderate and habitable for short time growing cilantro. 

It becomes mature till mid-summer and in late winter(if grows in fall). 

Difference between coriander and cilantro 

Although coriander and cilantro are the same species their determination is different. The green leaves and stem parts of the plant are called cilantro. When this plant becomes mature and produces seeds, we call it coriander. In general, with seeds, it is called coriander, and the rest of the green portion is cilantro. 

General requirements

Containers

For coriander, you don't need small pots as you use for the basic gardening plant. For this, you should have wide containers that have a depth of 6 to 8 inches. Although we can grow them in pots that cover more space in the wide containers, we can grow maximum cilantro in a limited space.

For a home, a 30x25 square meter is enough for growing cilantro for 5 people easily. 

It will be good if you grow them in wooden containers instead of plastic or metal ones. 

Soil type

Slightly acidic soil with rich components should be well drained to grow cilantro. It can't be compacted for sowing seeds or even later growth. 

Temperature and humidity

Cilantro like moderate temperatures and moderate humidity of 30% to grow. During sowing, the temperature should be 60F to 65F. For further growth, it can increase or decrease according to season change. But you need to adjust accordingly in that particular season. 

Tools required

For cilantro to grow in containers, you need the following tools and materials- 

  • Wooden container
  • Garden soil, sand, and vermicompost
  • Small cultivator tool 
  • Small weed removals 
  • Harvesting Knife

Fertilizers

The basic fertilizer is organic compost or vermicompost that we use once when we prepare a soil mixture. Because these are short-time growing plants, we don't need more fertilizers for later growth. If plants are not growing well, then you can use some portion of organic compost or vermicompost.

Irrigation

Cilantro needs moderate irrigation to grow. At the time of sowing, soil moisture is important. Later, you can keep it and continue regularly once in four or five days. 

Method of growing cilantro

Note: Don't get confused if I use here coriander word instead of cilantro. All the time I use coriander here means coriander seeds. 

Step 1- Prepare a soil mixture of the ratio of 3:2:1 of garden soil, compost, and sand respectively. Mix them in a large container according to need. 

Step 2- Crush the coriander seeds that you got from the market. Don't be confused, you don't need to crush them in the machine. Take a cylinder shape solid bottle, take the seeds on a surface, and run this on the seeds. Seeds will break in half after this.  

Step 3- Fill the soil mixture in the container(or if you already mixed it in the same container). Now, sprinkle the half-crushed seeds in the container soil. Don't cover them with a thick layer of soil. 

Step 4- Let the coriander seed sprout and propagate without disturbance. 

Step 5- After a week, cilantro will start appearing on the ground surface. These plants grow faster as they are considered short-period herbs. 

Step 6- Keep the irrigation regular once these plants become 3 inches tall. Do it every 4 to 5 days or whenever the soil gets less moist. 

Step 7- With regular irrigation, cilantro becomes ready for first harvesting after 42 to 49 days. At this time, cilantro becomes 7 to 10 inches tall with bigger leaves.

Step 8- Use a knife or cutting tool that can cut it from the stem above 2 inches from the ground. 

Problems and preventions while growing cilantro

In general, there is no such problem that appears while growing cilantro but simple mistakes can cause some issues with it. Let's discuss this in detail- 

  • Yellowness on leaves and solution

The yellowness on the cilantro leaves is not pigment on them. It is a sign of very less irrigation and poor quality of the soil. If the soil is too acidic then your cilantro leaves may turn yellow soon. 

For that, you should use organic compost(having alkaline components) that can increase the soil pH. 

To avoid yellowness, irrigate regularly even if it is required on daily basis according to your climate.

  • Short height and improvement

The short height of cilantro is a possible cause of less sunlight and shady conditions. Even if you are using proper irrigation then it may happen if you keep away the cilantro plants from direct sunlight. 

The solution is simple, keep it in sunlight for daytime for at least 5 to 7 hours and provide proper irrigation from time to time. 

  • Too many weeds and prevention

It happens many times that small long leaf weeds appear with the cilantro. Sometimes, round-shaped weeds that are invasive can appear in them. I will suggest you not panic even if these weeds are invasive. 

As cilantro is a short-time plant, you don't need weed killers in your cilantro containers. Just remove them one by one. This manual weeding is easy because of the limited size of the container. 

Later growth of cilantro

Cilantro is not the final stage of the plant. When it gets enough leaves, it starts getting mature in further days. In the next 30 days, cilantro becomes a bigger plant and starts flowering. These flowers are white and small in size. 

Here start the coriander seed forming process. After a week of flowering, coriander seeds start appearing on the plants. These seeds remain green till harvesting. After their full growth, when seeds start falling, we harvest them then. 

Separating the coriander seeds from the plants and drying them in sunlight is the actual method of getting dried coriander seeds. These seeds take 4 to 5 days to get dry fully. 

Now, they are ready for kitchen use. 

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