Growing Cilantro in Mid Georgia, USA
Answered by: Inge Poot
Question from: Bill Blair
Posted on: July 21, 2009

Having various species of cilantro & coriander this year I am finding all of these pants are responding very similarly. That is mostly stem and no edible leaves. They were planted as seeds inside, in mid April and hardened at 3-4" height outdoors under shade cover. They were set out in pots about 2 weeks ago. I used either 8" round clay pots or a 6x6x14" plastic tray, to control the plants’ habit of acting like oregano. The pots are set about 1/2 of height in the ground. Any suggestions will be welcome. A side note the last 3 months have had rain fall at or above normal, just the opposite of the last 3 years when this area was under drought conditions.

All varieties of cilantro and coriander grow best and bushiest under cool conditions, that is at temperatures around 15 degrees Celsius (60F). Hot temperatures make it bolt to seed which will result in lots of stem growth but only tiny leaves. You can of course chop these up and still get the flavour, but the presentation is compromised!

In your hot climate I would suggest a fall crop or early spring crop, since the summers will only produce the seed- which can be ground up to make coriander. So produce coriander in summer and cilantro in spring and fall. If you must have a crop of leaves for a special occasion, grow it indoors close to the air conditioner on a sunny windowsill.

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