How to Prevent Bolting With Cilantro

Cilantro is the leafy form of the herb coriander. Known botanically as Coriandrum sativum, this fragrant and tasty plant is also sometimes called Chinese parsley. It is often used in Mexican and other South of the Border dishes such as salsa. If you want cilantro to produce seeds, it forms them quickly in hot weather. If you want cilantro for its leaves, plant seeds in fall or winter so they will grow in cooler weather, which will prolong the plant's life before it begins to form flowers and eventually seeds.

Slow bolting cilantro seeds
Potting soil
Container
Partly shady area

Instructions

- 1
  Purchase a slow bolting variety of cilantro seeds from a specialty catalog. Plant seeds in a container with at least one drainage hole and that is at least 12 inches in diameter. Use any standard potting soil and plant seeds the correct depth and distance apart, according to the seed packet instructions.
- 2
  Place your seeded container in a sunny location to induce good germination. Water the soil thoroughly until water runs out the drainage hole(s). Keep the soil moist by watering once every day or two.
- 3
  Move your seedlings to a cooler, partly shady area when they are about 1 inch tall. Also thin the smaller, weaker seedlings, leaving about six plants in your 12 inch container.
- 4
  Harvest leaves when plants reach about 4 inches tall by pinching them from the lower part of each plant.
- 5
  Pinch off flowering tops when they begin to form. This practice will prolong the leafy stage of the plants and prevent seeds from forming.

How to Grow Cilantro Hydroponically

What Kinds of Insects Does Lavender Attract?

Growing Herbs