HELP!! with Coriander

[SpiritWolf]

I am having problems growing Coriander, I have had it in pots that I have bought fully established and as a young plant from my local garden nursery.
But for some reason it just gives up the ghost and dies after a few months. IM not sure if it is a seasonal plant/herb, or if it grows all year round here where I live. It is hot and sunny most of the year round here, But we have had our fair share of rain so far this year, and we are only in feb. When it rains too much I bring all my smallish pot plants inside, the other bigger ones in pots I just move to a sheltered place so they dont drown in the rain, I have done both with my pots of coriander and they still die after a few months.
Does anyone know what is going on, especially anyone from Australia who knows the whether here, as it is a lot different to American Whether. ( Sorry anyone in America, I still need your input, its just that our whether is different to yours ) Please dont take offence as I dont mean it that way. Also I have just been given Coriander seeds, when I got them they were in a container in a tiny bit of water, with glad wrap over it, Does anyone know weather this was to soften the seeds to help them grow, or should they be dry, like most seeds before you plant them. I dried them out, and planted some when they were dry, that was 2 weeks ago and they havent sprouted yet, am I being impatient, or have I done something wrong??. What is the correct way to plant and grow coriander, Does anybody know??.
Thanks for any help that you can give me, just remembering, it is mostly hot and sunny where I live, But at the moment we are getting a LOT and I mean a LOT of rain. Any help would be greatly apprieated.
Thanks Spiritwolf.

 

[kitchenelf]

I'll give my 1 1/2 cents about cilantro. Cilantro is not a plant that actually lasts for any length of time and I'm impressed you can get it to last for a few months!!! It goes to seed rather quickly.

I think the seeds were moist to allow them to germinate but again, I'll stop talking and defer to someone who REALLY knows what they are talking about.

It's nothing you are doing though - cilantro is a delicate plant. I gave up on growing it and just buy it now.

 

[BreezyCooking]

Cilantro (aka Coriander) is a short-lived annual. It lives to produce seed & that's that. Because of that it's best to get yourself several packets of seed & sow your own (in the ground or in pots) in succession every couple of weeks if you want a fairly constant supply.

Something else to keep in mind is that Cilantro has a fairly long tap root, so it does need a somewhat deep pot in order to thrive. The root is also edible, & quite a fair number of Indian & Asian recipes call for using it.

When looking for seeds, you also might want to keep an eye open for several new varieties that have specifically been bred not to bolt to seed as quickly as the originals. I don't know what's available to you in Australia, but here in the U.S., Cilantro "Delfino" & Cilantro "Santo" come to mind.

 

[SpiritWolf]

Thanks KitchenElf and BreezyCooking for your help so far, I really thought it might have been me doing something wrong with my plants and seeds, but you have sorted that one out for me. I am hoping that I will have some success in the Coriander plant, but I really didnt realize that it was such a short lived plant. I will try to put some of those seeds in water, to help them germinate.
Thanks again 4 your help.

 

[kitchenelf]

No problem - glad we could help.

 

[sage™]

its also a cool weather plant. Summer is too hot here for it to grow..Houston, which has a climate similar to Oz.

 

[BreezyCooking]

Actually, it will grow just fine - it will just bolt to seed faster. The answer to that, as I said earlier, would be to succession plant &/or seek out the newer varieties bred specifically for heat-resistance.

 

[stassie]

I also find that snipping the heads off keeps it alive longer

 

[Bilby]

The only time I have grown coriander was when I had a packet of coriander seeds for cooking and the bag broke, so I just chucked the excess into the garden by the front door that got morning sun, lots of shade and regular watering. (This was in the days before water restrictions were rife.) They grew everywhere!!! And kept on self-seeding. Became like weeds!!!

Perth is substantially cooler than Townsville but gets less rainfall.

As to the seeds that you soaked and then dried out - wouldn't have thought that was the best way to do it. Aren't you soaking them to get them to germinate? So by drying them out you are stopping the germination process. Isn't what you did for mung beans and the like? Like I said, I just threw mine in the earth and didn't care about them one way or the other. They just got whatever treatment was being dished out to the other plants in the bed.

Personally I prefer Yates seeds over the Mr (can't recall the name but something like Flothergill) but then I have never had a positive experience with Mr X's.

Good luck.

 

[SpiritWolf]

The only time I have grown coriander was when I had a packet of coriander seeds for cooking and the bag broke, so I just chucked the excess into the garden by the front door that got morning sun, lots of shade and regular watering. (This was in the days before water restrictions were rife.) They grew everywhere!!! And kept on self-seeding. Became like weeds!!!

Perth is substantially cooler than Townsville but gets less rainfall.

As to the seeds that you soaked and then dried out - wouldn't have thought that was the best way to do it. Aren't you soaking them to get them to germinate? So by drying them out you are stopping the germination process. Isn't what you did for mung beans and the like? Like I said, I just threw mine in the earth and didn't care about them one way or the other. They just got whatever treatment was being dished out to the other plants in the bed.

Personally I prefer Yates seeds over the Mr (can't recall the name but something like Flothergill) but then I have never had a positive experience with Mr X's.

Good luck.

Thanks Bilby for your help, I am pleased that you can grow coriander so easily, wish it was like that 4 me, I know that they are a cooler climate plant, and I have grown them in our winter, but they only last a couple of months and die, might be our heat and humidity, who knows, but as I said in my post, I was given them soaked and they had gladwrap on them, so I didnt know if they were supposed to be like that or if they just sweated in the sun with gladwrap over them. I dry all my other seeds out before planting and they do well, so I just thought the same with the coriander, that is why I am asking on here as I was un-sure of what to do, or if I was doing something wrong. Nobodys fault, just a lack of knowledge, but I am learning on here, Thanks to everybody for any help possible, If I didnt want to learn, then I wouldnt ask the questions, and I wouldnt be on here. No harm done, It all just takes time to get it right.
But I might try what you did and just throw some in the garden bed out the back ( that gets morning sun and afternoon shade ), and see what happens, I may be pleasently surprised, Thanks once again.

 

[Bilby]

Well, if nothing else you are only out the cost of some seeds!!