Newbie to gardening! Please don’t laugh 🙃 I was so proud of the “great growth” my cilantro made but I recently learned that it is actually bolting and the plant is wasting energy making thin, small leaves.
I need a bushy plant that I can harvest to feed my small pets. Is there hope for me? Should I just cut off the main stalk a few inches above the ground or pull it out?
by OkGuest7901
5 Comments
You should plant more cilantro. After it bolts, it tastes bitter. Plant every 7-10 days for continual harvests.
Soo once they start bolting like that it’s pretty much game over. You can harvest the lower leaves and use them but it’s going to seed. Going to seed isn’t the end of the world though because you now have coriander .. or more seed to plant.
The best success I’ve had with cilantro is to just plant a bunch of it pretty thickly (say 1″ maybe 2″ apart) in batches every three to four weeks. When the patch gets to maybe 4-6″ tall shave it back to 2″ and repeat as they grow up. Eventually they’ll decide they’re done with you and bolt at which point I thin them to every 6-12″ and then collect the seeds as they start drying off.
Cilantro doesn’t like heat and bolts when it gets warm.
I’d personally remove the gravel, leave it to grow and self seed the area.
You know that old saying lemonade out of lemons… well you can Harvest the coriander instead (the seeds). Let it go completely to seed and find a new place to plant a new cilantro plant for the leaves. As soon as you see the leaves come up about 6-8 inches, cut them back. They will keep growing back a few cuts until the weather makes them sad lol. Then off to the coriander factory they go!