- Caring for coriander: Water and fertilize properly
- Cut coriander
- Caring for the coriander in the pot
- Wintering: Is coriander hardy?
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Coriander, an ancient medicinal and spice herb, rewards with good care with many aromatic leaves and seeds. But when and how should you prune coriander and is coriander hardy?
Coriander (Coriandrum sativum) is an easy-care herb with a peppery, aromatic taste. We show what you should pay attention to when fertilizing and caring for the coriander.
Caring for coriander: Water and fertilize properly
Coriander is quite easy to care for. As a young plant, you should water the coriander regularly, but avoid waterlogging and drought. If the plants are too dry, they shoot through and form a premature, stress-induced emergency bloom. Unfortunately, this can significantly shorten the time window for harvesting the delicious coriander greens. With coriander plants in pots, you should ensure good drainage so that the roots do not rot. As soon as the coriander seeds have ripened, there is hardly any need for watering, as the water requirement drops sharply towards the end of summer.
Tip: A mulch layer of lawn clippings or leaves prevents weed growth and reduces evaporation in summer. In addition, the plant material serves as food for soil organisms, but can bind nitrogen, so that compensatory fertilization is necessary.
If the coriander is cultivated outdoors, in most cases no additional fertilization is necessary. The existing garden soil usually contains all the necessary nutrients that the herb needs over the course of the season. A little compost to enrich organic matter when planting out or seeding is often sufficient.
Cut coriander
Coriander leaves can be harvested all year round. The best time to harvest is before the cilantro blooms in June. To do this, only the individual leaves should be cut off together with the stalk, so that the growth center of the plant is preserved. As a result, new leaves are formed again and again. As soon as the coriander starts to flower, there are hardly any young leaves, because the plantputs all her energy into seed formation. If you cut out the young flower stalks early, fresh coriander leaves can be harvested a little longer. Alternatively, you can plant a late-blooming leaf coriander variety such as 'Confetti' or 'Marino'.
Of course, coriander seeds can also be used as a spice. First let the seeds ripen until they have turned brown. This is usually the case from the end of August to September. In the early morning, cut off the still dewy umbels and seeds from the coriander and let them dry indoors for a few weeks.
Caring for the coriander in the pot
Coriander in a pot has slightly different requirements than outdoors. If you bought a herb pot in the supermarket, you should repot the coriander. The existing pot is usually too small and already completely rooted. For this you need a nutrient-rich potting soil in connection with a larger pot and a good water drainage.
After planting the coriander, you should pay close attention to the water and nutrient balance. Watering is an important measure here, because on hot summer days, plants in pots on the terrace and balcony dry out much faster than in beds. In addition, the supply of nutrients in the soil is limited in pot culture and deficiency symptoms such as yellowing of the leaves can occur. After planting out until the seeds begin to ripen, the plant absorbs nutrients from the soil. You should therefore fertilize your coriander regularly during this time. Our Plantura organic flower & balcony fertilizer is ideal for fertilizing coriander due to its composition. It is applied together with the irrigation water and thus reaches the roots of the herb directly.
Tip: If acute deficiency symptoms occur outdoors, the liquid fertilizer can also provide a quick remedy there.
Wintering: Is coriander hardy?
The real coriander is not hardy, but an annual plant that dies in autumn after the seeds have ripened.
A good alternative is the unrelated, perennial Vietnamese coriander (Persicaria odorata ), which has a very similar aroma. The plant from the knotweed family (Polygonaceae) is not frost hardy and should be overwintered indoors in a light and rather warm place at 15 to 20 °C.
Coriander is an integral part of Asian cuisine. But did you know that many typical Asian types of vegetables also grow here? We present eight species in the profile and give tips on the right location and use.