How to grow coriander in winter on a windowsill from seeds at home

Fresh herbs are always in demand. Its shortage is especially acute in winter. Summer residents found a way out by growing coriander on the windowsill. How to grow cilantro correctlynovice gardeners wonder which variety to choose for planting. It is necessary to create the right conditions for home growing in order to get a high-quality harvest.

What it is

Many summer residents know this greenery firsthand. But all people are divided into 2 categories: some love cilantro, others cannot even stand its smell. Thinking she smells like bugs.

Coriander has been used for a long time; scientists have found mention of the use of cilantro in Egyptian writings. The plant is useful, distributed on many continents. In some countries it is even considered a weed. It is used in cooking, medicine, cosmetology and other fields.

Coriander, or cilantro, is an annual plant with a strong aroma. It has several names, but this does not reduce the benefits of its use for the human body. Cilantro grows from seeds that are left in the ground over the winter or planted in the spring.

As a seasoning, coriander seeds are crushed and added to food a few minutes before the end of cooking. There are other properties of the plant, which will be described below.

Harm and benefit

Coriander has many beneficial properties, but there are also contraindications. You should familiarize yourself with them before deciding to grow cilantro at home.

Pros:

• Woman and coriander. Cilantro stimulates estrogen synthesis. Helps fight depression. Masks using it improve the condition of the skin, including eliminating peeling.
• Impact on the gastrointestinal tract. Normalization of appetite, removal of bacteria, improvement of the digestion process.
• Enhancing male power. Cilantro increases potency and contains a natural hormone. Helps alleviate the symptoms of prostatitis.
• Strengthening bone tissue.
• Diuretic effect.
• Cleansing the body as a whole.
• Cilantro eases the work of the heart.
• Helps to separate bile.

And much more, the benefits of coriander are hard to overestimate. But besides positive qualities, there are also negative ones. properties of cilantro:

• Cilantro should not be consumed by pregnant women or during lactation.
• Coriander should not be consumed by people with thrombophlebitis or cholecystitis.
• People who have had a heart attack or stroke should use cilantro with extreme caution.
• Avoid for people with diabetes and gastritis with high acidity.

Cilantro has long been famous for its healing properties. But you should use it carefully so as not to harm the body.

Growing from seeds

The easiest way to grow cilantro in an apartment in winter is from seeds. You just need to comply with one requirement: sow the plant directly into the pot in which it will grow. Coriander does not tolerate transplants; the plant takes root, but its growth and development slow down significantly.

Pot and soil

The container for growing cilantro at home should be deep and wide. The coriander root system requires a lot of space because it has long roots. The width of the pot is 45 cm, the height is 30 cm. In such a container, cilantro feels great.

For proper growth and development of coriander, loose soil rich in organic matter is required. If necessary, purchase ready-made soil in the store. As an option, mixing it 50 x 50 with soil from the site.

If you make a nutritional composition for planting cilantro yourself, you should mix:

• 1 part of turf land;
• 1 part humus;
• 0.5 parts sand.

Do not forget about good drainage for coriander; broken expanded clay, brick or crushed stone are suitable; their absence is compensated for by pieces of polystyrene foam.

To disinfect, a few days before planting cilantro, water the pot with boiling water and potassium permanganate or add 1 tbsp. l. wood ash.

Seed preparation

Coriander is purchased only in specialized stores. They sell high-quality seeds that are guaranteed to sprout. They must be fresh, 1 year or maximum 2, later cilantro will not sprout.It is not advisable to buy it in grocery stores, since coriander is subject to heat treatment. By following these requirements, you can grow excellent herbs on the windowsill.

When planting, cilantro should be divided in half. This way it will sprout faster.

Varieties for cultivation

The choice of coriander variety plays an important role. A correctly selected species will yield a harvest and provide greenery for the entire winter period. Cilantro on the windowsill grows subject to simple requirements, which, if fulfilled, produce the declared yield:

1. Stimulus. Cilantro bushes are compact, height 25-30 cm. The color of the leaves is dark green. Ripens in 2 months.
2. King of the market. The peculiarity of the variety is its undemandingness to heat. There is a lot of greenery, it ripens in 35-45 days.
3. Amber. The bushes are semi-spreading. The color of cilantro leaves is dark green. Ripens within 45-50 days.
4. Vanguard. Large yield of greenery. Has high immunity to diseases. The aroma is strong and persistent.
5. Parsley the gardener. The foliage is tender and juicy, light in color. The bushes are ordinary. Ripens in a month.
6. Alekseevsky. Cilantro is resistant to low temperatures. The bushes are erect and compact. Ripens within 35 days.
7. Oriental aroma. Plant height is 60 cm, there are many leaves. The green color is light. The peculiarity of the cilantro variety is its strong spicy aroma. Ready for use within 35-45 days.
8. Santo. The height of coriander bushes is 60 cm, the leaf size is medium. Ripens in 50 days.

Whatever the characteristics of cilantro varieties, the best ones are determined by the gardeners themselves. The productivity of coriander directly depends on the care of the crop.

Sowing

To grow cilantro on a windowsill, you need to plant the seeds correctly. To do this, you must fulfill a number of requirements.

How to plant cilantro in a pot:

1. The bottom of the container must be filled with drainage.
2. Next, fill with nutritious soil, leaving 3 cm from the top.
3. Lay out 10 whole cilantro seeds or 20 separate ones (depending on the width and length of the container, the number of coriander seeds varies). One round seed produces 2 plants.
4. Cover with soil, layer thickness 1-1.5 cm.
5. Moisten the soil; it is recommended to use a spray bottle.
6. The pots are placed in a warm, dark place, covered with polyethylene or glass.
7. Until sprouts appear, cilantro maintains soil moisture.
8. Coriander seeds take 7-10 days to germinate.

If you soak cilantro seeds for 1-2 hours before planting, they will sprout faster. As soon as the shoots appear, the pot is placed on a lighted windowsill and the polyethylene is removed.

Where to place a pot with seedlings

Coriander loves light; if there is a lack of daylight, additional lighting lamps are installed. Windows facing west are suitable; ideally, south windows are used. The more light, the better the green cilantro. The room temperature is not less than +15 ⁰С.

How to care

It is enough to fulfill simple agrotechnical requirements. Care for cilantro is minimal, the plants are unpretentious and undemanding.

Temperature

Coriander is cold-resistant, but does not tolerate heat. Therefore, the optimal temperature for growing greens in room conditions will be +14…+20 ⁰С. In this case, it is necessary to moisten the cilantro, spraying the bush about once a week.

Watering

For proper growth and development of coriander greens, moist soil is required. The first 1-1.5 months require moisturizing with a spray bottle. This is necessary so as not to wash out the roots of the cilantro.

Next, carefully water the soil near the coriander roots. Water should not get on the leaves. Carefully ensure that the plant does not dry out; cilantro does not easily tolerate such stress.

Lighting

Light is necessary for proper development; coriander does not stretch and produces lush greenery only if it has enough light. Cilantro needs it 6-10 hours a day; if it is deficient, window sills are equipped with special lamps.

Thinning

It is recommended to remove excess coriander plants. This is necessary so that the remaining cilantro sprouts feel freer and form more green mass instead of thin leaves.

When removing excess cilantro plants, you should be careful; you do not need to pull out unnecessary sprouts by the roots. They are carefully cut with a knife or scissors. Damage to the root system of the remaining plants will slow down the growth and development of the bush.

Timely thinning of cilantro will give the remaining coriander seedlings the opportunity to develop more green mass.

Removing flower stalks

The harvest on the windowsill is necessary to supply the table with fresh cilantro. But do not forget that any plant strives to reproduce. When flower stalks appear, the growth of the green mass of coriander slows down greatly. The plant devotes all its strength to growing seeds.

For those who do not need them, it is recommended to remove the flower stalks from cilantro. Carefully, so as not to uproot the plant, cut out the emerging flowers using scissors. Then the plant will continue to delight with green foliage.

Fertilizer

Summer residents do not recommend being overzealous with fertilizing. But once a month it doesn’t hurt to feed the cilantro with complex fertilizers. This will make the leaves more luxuriant, the greens juicier and more aromatic.

Pests and diseases

Insects that harm cilantro include:

• bedbugs;
• seed eater;
• fall armyworm;
• umbrella moth;
• wireworm

To combat them, it is recommended to treat coriander with insecticides.

Among the diseases, cilantro is susceptible to powdery mildew and ramularia.Sick plants change leaf color. Observance of planting technique and prevention of waterlogging is required. If cilantro is infected, the diseased plants are removed and all greens are treated with fungicides. Treated coriander leaves should not be eaten until the drug expires. These data are indicated in the instructions.

Harvesting

Unlike collecting cilantro from garden beds, plants from the windowsill are never pruned at the root. It is necessary to leave 1 cm in length of the stems. Then the cilantro leaves will begin to grow again.

Coriander leaves are cut off, the length of which is at least 15-20 cm. Small central leaves are left to continue the growth of greenery.

The peculiarity of cilantro is that it dies very quickly. To avoid being left without coriander, you should plant new seeds every 2-3 weeks. Then you will provide yourself with cilantro for a long period.

Coriander seeds are harvested when they are easily separated by hand. Most often their color changes to light brown. Dry the cilantro thoroughly.

Storage

Store fresh cilantro in the freezer, cut the leaves and freeze them. Then add it to the finished dish. If it is not possible to freeze coriander, you can dry it. Chop the cilantro and place in a dry container with a tight lid.

Ripe seeds are dried and stored whole. This is how cilantro retains most of the substances for which it is valued. Before use, coriander is crushed.

How to grow cilantro on a window in winter in winter

There is such a method of growing coriander greens on windowsills as planting in twists. The process is simple, the cilantro grows excellently. You will need:

• plastic bags for freezing;
• non-woven towel;
• large plastic glass;
• sponge for uniform watering;
• liquid solution of potassium permanganate;
• hydrogen peroxide;
• fertile soil;
• cilantro seeds.

The work surface is prepared, the polyethylene is folded in half, the length is approximately 35-40 cm, a rolled towel is placed on top, its length is shorter than the polyethylene. You need to leave a free edge so that you can wrap the twist around it after finishing the work. Then gently moisten with manganese water. The next stage is laying out the soil. The layer thickness is 1 cm, distributed over the surface of the towel, leaving 1 cm from the top and bottom edges. Moisten generously with a solution of potassium permanganate. On top, retreating approximately 1-1.5 cm from the beginning of the soil layer, spread the coriander. Cilantro seeds are placed often, every 1 cm.

The final stage is folding. A neat tube twists, does not squeeze or shrink too much. Leaves room for roots. When the soil runs out, wrap the remaining polyethylene a little tighter. Tie the resulting twist so that it does not unwind. Attach a paper on which they sign the name of the seeds and the date of planting.

Approximately 0.5 cm of water is poured into the bottom of a plastic glass, and 12-15 drops of hydrogen peroxide are added there. A twist with cilantro is placed in it, covered with polyethylene, and tightened with an elastic band. Carefully monitor the water level; it should not decrease. After the cilantro shoots appear, remove the film and place the glass on a sunny windowsill.

Reviews about growing at home

Advice from experienced gardeners will help a novice vegetable grower grow coriander greens correctly, without making common mistakes.

Nadezhda: “It’s not difficult to grow cilantro. It is enough to follow simple requirements, and greens will be on the table all year round.There is no need to replant the plants; the culture does not like it. It is better to initially plant cilantro in a large container, then break through. The spice is not to everyone’s taste and for health reasons. Therefore, I advise you to think and evaluate all the pros and cons.

Cilantro is a healthy green vitamin that humans need. It is not difficult to grow it on the plot, but those summer residents who really love coriander grow it at home on the windowsill. There is nothing complicated about it, just choose a place, good seeds and fulfill the requirements for caring for cilantro.