The popularity of cilantro in Russian latitudes is growing every year. If earlier only amateurs were engaged in its cultivation, today today more and more farmers cultivate the culture, sowing large areas. Planting and growing cilantro not only in the open field, but also at home allows you to get fresh herbs even in winter or early spring. The main thing is to create the necessary conditions for plants and provide appropriate care.
Cilantro and coriander: what is the difference
Many mistakenly believe that cilantro and coriander are different plants. In fact, it is one and the same culture, parts of which smell differently. Coriander is the seed, and cilantro is the green part of one plant. Seeds (coriander) are used in cooking as a spice, which allows you to keep meat dishes fresh for a long time, and cilantro is added to salads or sauces.
Cilantro and coriander are parts of the same plant.
Dates and methods of planting cilantro
Given the fact that cilantro is a cold-resistant crop (a plant is able to withstand temperature drops of -5 ° C), it can be sown in soil from April, as soon as the snow has melted, the soil will thaw and warm up to + 6-8 ° C. In this case, the first greens can be cut at the beginning of summer.
If you want to get it earlier, you can resort to growing seedlings. For this:
- Seeds are planted in a planting capacity in February.
- Then carry out the cultivation at home on the windowsill.
- With the advent of spring, cilantro seedlings are transplanted into a greenhouse or open ground, depending on the climatic characteristics of the region.
Video: how to grow cilantro
Winter sowing of crops is possible, as a result of which greens can be obtained already in March-April, depending on the region.
With greenhouse cultivation of coriander, sowing should be done in late February or early March, and the appearance of the first seedlings should be expected after 40 days.
If you consider that the crop is cut to greens 35-55 days after emergence, then for the season you can collect several crops. Sowing seeds in unprotected soil can be done almost until mid-summer.
Sowing seeds in open ground
To plant cilantro in the open ground and care for it successfully, bringing a decent harvest, it is necessary to prepare the site, properly perform the sowing and provide the plants with appropriate care.
Site selection, soil preparation and beds
For growing cilantro, well-lit areas with loamy and loamy soils are most preferred. You can plant on slightly shaded beds, but not in the deep shade of trees. Otherwise, the plants will grow quite weak and quickly discard peduncles to the detriment of greenery. If the soil on the site is not suitable for this crop, then the bed should be prepared in the fall, for which sand is added or humus of 0.5 buckets per 1 m² is added - this will make the soil easier. In addition to organics, you can make mineral fertilizers such as potassium and superphosphate - 30 g per 1 m². Immediately before sowing, 1 tablespoon of urea is applied to the soil in the same area and shed with a weak solution of potassium permanganate.
When preparing the beds for cilantro, potash, phosphorus or complex fertilizers are applied
A bed with cilantro should be located on a hill to avoid soaking plants in the lowland.
Seed preparation
When sowing cilantro in early spring, when there is enough moisture in the soil, seed preparation is reduced to soaking at room temperature in water for several hours, although this procedure is optional. For faster germination, you can use a growth stimulator (for example, Energen according to the instructions). Some gardeners use aloe juice in the ratio 1: 1 with water instead of purchased products.
Natural biostimulator of growth Energen accelerates seed germination
The order and methods of landing
After preparing the site and seeds, you can start sowing. Perform it as follows:
- The beds are leveled and grooves are made with a depth of 1.5-2 cm.
For sowing cilantro, the beds are leveled and grooves are made with a depth of 1.5-2 cm
- Furrows are shed with warm water from a watering can.
Before sowing seeds, the furrows are shed with warm water from a watering can.
- Sow seeds with an interval of 15-20 cm.
Cilantro seeds are sown at a certain distance so that the seedlings do not interfere with each other's development.
- Sprinkle dry land on top of the landing.
Sowing cilantro can be done in different ways:
- in rows - to facilitate the maintenance of plantings, a distance of at least 15 cm must be observed between the rows;
- in the holes - the pits are located at a distance of 10-15 cm from each other and 2-3 seeds are placed in each;
- randomly spread - sowing seeds in a random order, but strong thickening should be avoided.
Video: sowing cilantro in the open ground
In order to shoot several cilantro crops during the season, it is necessary to prepare at least a couple of beds. As soon as it is noticed that the previously planted greens began to turn yellow, proceed to sowing new seeds.
Care
Caring for spicy culture, although it does not cause much concern, but, nevertheless, should be correct and regular. The procedure is reduced to loosening the soil, removing weeds and timely watering. If you plant the cilantro early, you can build a small greenhouse, or at least plant it under a film. Under favorable conditions, seedlings from the ground are shown 2-3 weeks after sowing. During this period, attention should be focused on irrigation. Watering is done 2 times a week, spending 4-5 liters of water per 1 m². Such a norm is necessary during the growing season when building green mass. If the plant is grown in order to obtain seeds, then during the ripening period of the seed material, watering is reduced to 2 liters per 1 m².
Cilantro shoots must be watered, weeded and loosened in a timely manner
When the cilantro seedlings reach a height of 2-3 cm, thinning is carried out. When removing extra sprouts, only the strongest ones should be left on the bed, while the minimum interval between plants should be 6 cm.
Thinning is necessary in order to grow lush greens and get a plentiful harvest, since with dense plantations it will be weak and with a small number of leaves.
An important procedure is thinning cilantro seedlings, in which weak plants are removed and strong
As for top dressing, on pre-fertilized soils in this procedure is not necessary. If the plants are pale, it means that there is not enough nitrogen in the ground. In this case, 10-20 g of urea or ammonium nitrate is diluted in 10 l of water and irrigated. In the summer, feeding is done in conjunction with the irrigation procedure.
Harvesting
Cilantro is cut off as the green mass grows, and do this before the flowering begins, since during the active growth of peduncles the aerial part becomes coarser. After harvesting, the leaves are dried in the shade, if necessary, crushed, placed in containers of glass and hermetically closed.
Seeds are harvested when they become brown-brown: this time falls on August. Then they are dried in the sun and threshed. For storage of grains use paper bags.
Cilantro is cut off as the green mass grows, and do this before flowering
Planting cilantro at home
There is an opinion that it is not so easy to grow cilantro at home, although in reality with the right approach there are no special difficulties. First of all, you need to take care of the preparation of containers, soil substrate and the location of seedlings. Let us consider in more detail the planting and care of cilantro in an apartment environment or in a private house.
Capacity selection
To make plants feel as comfortable as possible, you need to choose the right landing tanks. It’s good if the container is oblong in shape, 40-45 cm deep and 25-30 cm wide. These container sizes are explained by the fact that the culture does not like transplants, and its root system is quite large. Regardless of the tank you choose, there should be drainage holes in the bottom because cilantro does not tolerate too wet soil. Therefore, if there are no holes in the pot, they must be made.
For sowing cilantro seeds, large volumes are chosen, because the culture does not like transplants
Soil preparation
As with outdoor cultivation, cilantro requires a nutritious and loose soil with a neutral reaction (pH 6.5-7). Culture does not tolerate acidic soils.
To determine the reaction of the soil, special indicator strips or a device for determining acidity are used.
The substrate can be bought or prepared independently. In the second case, the following components are used:
- garden land - 2 parts,
- humus - 1 part,
- ash - 2 tablespoons per 1 kg of soil mixture.
You can buy or make your own soil for cilantro
Where to install landing capacity
To create optimal conditions, the container with landings should be located in a place where the temperature will not fall below +15˚FROM. At lower readings, the plant stops growing and developing. In addition, the seedlings should be illuminated for 12-14 hours. Therefore, with early planting (for example, in March), additional lighting with luminescent or special phytolamps will be required. The best place to place the container with cilantro is the windowsill from the south or southwest.
Seed preparation and sowing
For sowing crops, seeds need to be bought in gardening stores, and not in the spice department of the supermarket, since the likelihood of germination of such seeds is very low. This is explained by the fact that coriander, intended for cooking, is preliminarily dehydrated for better storage.
The fresher the seeds, the more cilantro shoots will be friendlier and stronger.
For sowing, you need to take fresh seeds and only in gardening stores
When the containers for planting are prepared, it is necessary to soak the seeds in water for 2 hours to improve germination. After this, you can start sowing. Perform the following actions:
- The containers are filled with a substrate and make grooves of 1.5 cm deep at a distance of 5-7 cm from each other.
- Sowing is carried out sparsely so that the seedlings do not interfere with each other. Top seeds sprinkled with earth and slightly compacted.
- The soil is sprayed from the spray gun.
- The container with crops is covered with a plastic bag and transferred to a warm place.
Video: sowing cilantro at home
Seedling care
Cilantro seedlings at home should be expected in 1.5-2 weeks. When the sprouts appear, the container is transferred to the windowsill and the package is removed. Caring for a crop is similar to an open field procedure. Plants provide watering in a timely manner, thin out and fertilize. Humidification of the soil should be plentiful, especially in the stage of building up the aerial parts. However, after irrigation, when the water drains, it is drained from the pan. To avoid drying out the leaves, the plants are periodically sprayed.
Cilantro watering needs to be given special attention in the stage of building green mass
Thicken plantings should not be allowed, since the plants in this case grow weak, which prevents the build-up of a large amount of green mass. Thinning is carried out in the stage of 1-2 real leaflets, removing weaker sprouts and leaving only strong ones. Between the seedlings should be a gap of about 10 cm. If flower stalks appear, then they need to be pinched, which will contribute to the formation of more leaves. Cilantro is fed with complex mineral fertilizers once a month according to the instructions, combining the procedure with watering.
Harvest
Leaves are recommended to be cut immediately before use. They do this when 5-6 leaves are formed on plants. To save cilantro for a longer time, it can be frozen or dried. For freezing, greens are washed, dried and placed in a plastic bag, then placed in a freezer.
After harvesting, the leaves of cilantro can be dried or frozen.
What can and cannot be planted with cilantro nearby
In order for cilantro to feel comfortable in the open ground, attention should be paid to both previous crops and plants growing in the neighborhood. The good predecessors of coriander include:
- corn;
- potatoes;
- legumes;
- cereals.
However, there are cultures, after which it is better not to plant cilantro:
- carrot;
- late cabbage;
- parsley;
- celery;
- parsnip;
- cilantro.
To get a good crop of cilantro and other greens, you need to know the rules of crop rotation
Good neighbors for coriander are:
- cucumber;
- onion;
- kohlrabi;
- broccoli;
- salad;
- White cabbage;
- carrot;
- parsnip.
Before planting cilantro on a site, you need to consider which plants were grown on it before and which are planned to be cultivated nearby
Crops whose neighborhoods are best avoided:
- watercress;
- fennel;
- parsley.
To grow cilantro on your site or at home is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance. To get this spicy culture, it is enough to adhere to simple rules of planting and care, and literally in a few weeks, lush greens will decorate your table.
