If they stay out too long in direct sunlight, they wilt, which probably means they have poorly developed, shallow roots. They aren't growing any thicker or taller, though they do seem to be putting out leaves. Unfortunately, heat and sun go together near the equator.Īll plants have hit a plateau. Cilantro needs lots of sun, but doesn't like heat. I was worried that the sun here was too intense. The egg cup cilantro is increasingly thin and tall and continues to topple over ( above). The pricked out cilantro continues to look healthy, but growth has slowed to a crawl. The seedlings that were planted while still in their egg cups, are much taller, but those planted singly are stronger and have much greater leaf development, some already with fully open leaves. The first true leaves are opening on most of the plants by the end of the second week.
I put the cilantro in two pots-one about 2 gallons and the other about a 1/2 gallon.It means they aren't getting enough sun and are stretching to reach the light, making them spindly and weak. The assumption was that this would stress the plants less and the roots would simply push through the damp paper when they were ready. If you do this, plant the seedlings deep with the cotyledons immediately above the soil.įor Batch 2, I cut out the bottoms of each paper seed cup and planted them right in the soil ( left) without disturbing the roots of the seedlings. They were planted a couple of inches apart in a large pot. Since I'd screwed up, I experimented with two batches of seedlings.įor Batch 1, I pricked out the individual seedlings as I would have with any other plant. I didn't know all this until after I seeded. If you try to transplant, most won't survive. Cilantro has fragile roots and the seedlings are delicate. Some seedlings were a half-inch tall by evening ( below).ĭAY 9 - TRANSPLANTATION If you do things right, you won't have this step in your process. My cilantro seeds began to sprout up early in the morning one week after I put them in soil. What I should have done is directly seeded the pots where I planned to grow my cilantro plants. Not realizing cilantro hates transplantation, I planted my seeds in several paper egg cups filled with garden soil. If not, the stems will be tall and weak and the plants will likely fall over if you don't do something drastic. If you have good, consistent light without the heat, then your stem might come out stocky and strong. This means that the weight of all the branches and leaves will be born by the single stem. Branches will start forming just above the cotyledons as the true leaf stems lengthen. It's useful to understand how the plant develops. Removing any flowering spikes that develop will prevent bolting and encourage leaf growth.
You can start harvesting leaves when the plants are a few inches tall.
0 kommentar(er)
