Whether you’re a pro in gardening or just starting out, growing cilantro indoors can be a rewarding experience.
Cilantro is known for its ability to grow quickly and easily in most climates, but if you live in a cold area, it can be difficult to find the right conditions for your plant. Luckily, there are ways around this!
This guide will share how to grow cilantro indoors so you can enjoy fresh cilantro year-round!
Before learning how to grow cilantro indoors, let’s learn more about this herb!
Cilantro is a leafy green herb that’s part of the parsley family. It has a pleasant, grassy flavor that gives dishes freshness and brightness.
This herb is often used as an accent in salsas, guacamole, and other Mexican foods. It’s also great for adding to salads or sandwiches.
If you’re unfamiliar with cilantro, try it in a salad dressing! It gives an unexpected but delicious twist to regular salad dressings. But aside from its flavor, this herb is also a powerful natural health booster.
- Cilantro is high in vitamin A, which helps your eyesight and helps your body absorb iron.
- Cilantro is also rich in vitamin K, which helps build strong bones and prevent osteoporosis.
- Cilantro contains antioxidants that help reduce inflammation and protect against cancer.
- Cilantro contains essential oils that help keep your skin young and healthy looking.
Steps on how to grow cilantro indoors
Step 1: Choose a container with drainage holes.
You’ll first want to choose a container with drainage holes to water your plants without getting their roots wet. If you don’t have a pot with holes, drill a few in the bottom of the container before planting your cilantro.
Remember that when it comes to cilantro, you want soil that drains well. This is because cilantro becomes waterlogged and rots if left in standing water.
Step 2: Use the appropriate potting mix.
If your potting mix is too heavy and doesn’t drain well, it could cause problems for your plants. The good rule of thumb is to utilize potting mixes that have some sand or perlite in them. These will help provide aeration and drainage for the roots. You can add gravel or vermiculite to the mix for additional drainage assistance.
Step 3: Sow your cilantro seeds.
Now, sow 3 to 5 cilantro seeds on your potting mix. When it comes to depth, ensure that you bury the seeds about one to three times deeper than the seed’s size.
Step 4: Water it.
Don’t forget to water your cilantro. But do it lightly, ensuring that the potting mix around the seeds will settle.
Step 5: Cover it.
Using plastic wrap, cover the top of your container. The purpose of this covering is to keep the soil evenly moist, which is essential for germination.
Step 6: Put it in a spot where it can receive light.
Be sure to place your pot or container on your window or any spot where it can receive enough sunlight. Cilantro needs at least 5 hours of sunlight per day. If you don’t have any place indoors where there is enough sunlight, then a grow light will do. If you’ll use supplemental light, it needs more than 6 hours of light,
Step 7: Fertilize it.
Add diluted water-soluble fertilizer when growing cilantro indoors. The amount of fertilizer depends on the size of the pot or container in which the plant is growing. For example.
- 3″ pot: 1 teaspoon of fertilizer
- 5″ pot: 2 teaspoons of fertilizer
Note: Too much fertilizer can burn young cilantro, so make sure not to go overboard.
Step 8: Add humidity to the room.
When growing cilantro indoors, it’s important to ensure the air in your home is humid enough for the plant. This is especially true if you live in a dry climate or have naturally dry air. Humidity can be increased with a humidifier or by placing plants near a water source, like a bathroom sink.
Humidity is important for cilantro because it helps the plant grow healthy roots, which is essential for getting the most out of your crop.
Step 9: Pick leaves.
Cilantro is a quick-growing, easy-to-grow herb that can be harvested in as little as 20 days. In fact, most people will harvest it before the plant is even fully grown, but if you wait until the plant has reached its full size, you’ll get more leaves and a higher yield.
You can use a knife or pruning shears to cut off the leaves from the base of the plant. You can also pull up entire plants from their roots if you want a fresh supply.
Tips on how to grow cilantro indoors
Growing cilantro indoors is a great way to get fresh herbs all year round. Here are our tips on how to grow cilantro indoors.
Buy fresh seeds from a reputable nursery or garden supply store and plant them in small pots with a light soil mixture. You can also buy seedlings if you don’t want to wait for the seeds to germinate.
- Find a sunny area in your home where you can put in some light fixtures and grow your cilantro plants underneath those lights. Ensure that there is enough space between the lights and the plants so they don’t get burned by the heat that comes off them.
- Use soil that is rich in nutrients and minerals but not too heavy. You can use regular potting soil or compost, but make sure you add some fertilizer or compost tea to give the plant an extra boost of nutrients as it grows its roots throughout the soil.
- Water your plant regularly but not too often! Overwatering is a common problem for many people who grow their plants indoors. Be sure not to overwater them (or underwater them) by giving them too much or too little water at any given time.
Grow your cilantro indoors today!
So there you have it! Learning how to grow cilantro indoors is pretty simple, and the results are worth it. If you’re feeling a little overwhelmed by the thought of growing your own herbs and veggies, don’t worry, you can do it while following the tips we have discussed!
Just remember to keep your plants well-watered, keep them in a sunny place, and harvest them often!