How To Cut Fresh Cilantro From Plant

Do you wish to learn how to cut fresh cilantro from your plant? Then we’ve got you covered here. Cilantro is a wonderful herb to add to your vegetable garden and they are pretty easy to grow.

Harvesting cilantro is as well easy. All you need do is to do your harvesting the right way so you can enjoy continuous fresh cilantro to add to your various dishes. Both cilantro leaves and seeds are edible recipes for adding flavor to your dishes.

So, in this article, we will be discussing how you can cut fresh cilantro from your plant and keep enjoying a great harvest.

Planting Cilantro For Fresh Harvest

The herb cilantro is a cool weathered crop. It thrives well in temperatures of about 50 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit. A temperature that exceeds 85 degrees Fahrenheit will cause the plant to enter bolting and eventually flower. Bolting causes bitter-tasting cilantro herbs.

For regions where you have cool weather and moderate summer, plant cilantro immediately after the last frost. For instance, in the north of the United State, it is advisable to sow seeds in the early spring around the middle to late April.

In warmer regions that experience very hot summer and moderate winter, cilantro should be planted in late summer. This is usually when the weather begins to cool off. The Southern United States for instance implies that September should be the ideal growing period for cilantro herbs.

So once you have the appropriate weather to plant cilantro, the first thing is to select your plant bed and prepare the soil. Use well-draining soil rich in organic matter.

Cilantro seeds should be planted one to two inches apart in rows spaced twelve inches apart. Then ensure you always provide a moist bed but not too wet. Once the seedlings start to germinate, they will require more watering to grow well. You should water one inch deep every week.

When the seedlings have started germinating, trim them to six inches apart.

Cutting Cilantro From Plant

How you can enjoy fresh cilantro from your plant is by proper trimming. Adequate cutting or pruning will help prevent cilantro from entering the bolting stage. Hence delay flowering. This will in turn prolong the harvest of cilantro.

However, if your goal is to harvest cilantro seeds which are known as coriander, you should allow the plant bolt. Bolting will cause the cilantro plant to flower thereby producing seeds.

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Maturity Period To Harvest Cilantro

To harvest cilantro leaves at the appropriate time, allow the plant to attain good size for harvesting. It will usually take 60 to 75 days to attain good maturity for harvesting leaves.

How To Trim Cilantro

Herbs generally love to be cut back and constant harvesting makes these herbs grow stronger and bulkier. Hence, cilantro is no exception to this. Cilantro will as well benefit from regular trimming or harvesting.

Cilantro plants grown during fall, winter, and spring will result in more leaves and will be slow to flowering. But when the season becomes warm or during summer, cilantro plants tend to enter bolting hence they will flower and give rise to seeds.

Both cilantro leaves and seeds are edible and great choices to add flavor to various dishes. Follow these tips to learn how to cut fresh cilantro plants:

• Once the plant leaves attain the length of 6 inches, you can start to trim the outer leaves.
• Avoid cutting the inner leaves. This way, the cilantro plant will carry on producing and growing until it’s time to flower.
• With the continuous trimming, cilantro will grow and you can always go back and cut more cilantro leaves every 5 to 7 days.

Harvesting Cilantro Seeds

Cilantro seeds are known as coriander seeds. Continuous cutting of cilantro leaves will definitely delay bolting and flowering. However, the cilantro plant can’t continue to yield leaves forever. It will eventually enter the bolting stage and flower to produce seeds.

But if your goal is to harvest cilantro seeds rather than the leaves, you should avoid trimming the leaves and allow the plant to enter the flowering stage to produce coriander seeds.

Cilantro plants will take about 100 days from germination to give rise to seeds so far you avoid cutting back the leaves. Once the flower dies off, trim off the flower stalk then you will see small seed clusters that have turned brown. You can then shake the seeds off the stalk.

Dry the seeds in a properly ventilated place for about a week. Then you can proceed to store them in a well-sealed airtight container.

How Often To Harvest Cilantro

Cilantro herbs can be harvested about once a week. However, if you have abundant growth of cilantro, you can harvest more often. Nevertheless, it is necessary to harvest cilantro at least once a week to prevent it from entering the bolting stage.

If you harvest too many or excess cilantro or you aren’t able to use them immediately, you can simply freeze them until you’re able to cook with them.

read more about How to Trim Basil to Promote Growth

More Tips On How To Enjoy Continuous Cilantro Harvest

One great way of enjoying frequent cilantro harvest is to indulge in succession planting. Succession planting will keep cilantro plants fresh and available for you. Once you’ve trimmed the first original cilantro, more seeds should be sown every 3 weeks.

Once the next or second plant has attained the height for cutting, you can pull the first or original plant. Continue doing this by sowing new seeds and removing the old plants before they enter the flowering stage. Doing this will allow you to enjoy a constant supply of fresh cilantro herbs.

FAQ’s

How To Cut Fresh Cilantro From Plant: Conclusion

How to cut fresh cilantro from your plant is pretty easy and you can always enjoy constant cilantro herbs by doing it right.

Follow our tips on how to cut fresh cilantro appropriately to continue enjoying them and to add great taste to your various meals.