Cilantra Seedling ?

[Venomous_1]

My cilantra seedlings are now 2"-3" tall and are beginning to lean over. I have them in small 3oz. seed starting cups (Dixie cups). When should I move them to larger cups/pots?

[applestar]

Cilantro is one of my no fuss self-sowing herbs for me, also in zone 6/7 border. They're one of the first things to come up in the spring and in the fall, all on their own. You might want to try scattering some seeds right now where you want them to grow outdoors. Mine are growing in a foundation bed on the southeast side of the house.

[Venomous_1]

Well I'd like to sow then outside, but our weather here in TN during the spring is...to say the least...alittle unpredictable. Last week 60's, this morning we wake up to 6" on snow, by end of next week weatherman says low 70's.

It is for this reason that I started them indoors. I'm going to play it safe and wait another week or two before I put anything outside here.

Mainly, just wanting to know if it is safe to transplant cilantra into bigger pots and plant them a little deeper so as to encourage growth? Or will that smother and kill them?

Thanks...Richard in SNOWY Tennessee!!!

[hendi_alex]

I would be hesitant to plant them much deeper, as the crowns need to be near the surface. Cilantro does replant well, and I generally plant two or three plants to the cluster. Most years I start cilantro in a few three inch pots and then trasplant three clusters of plants to each large planter. This year the seeds were directly seeded into the planter in which they will live. The seedlings are a bit tall and thin. Don't know why, as they have been grown in direct sunlight since germinating. Some were lost to dampening off. I'll start a second group of cilantro in about a week, and then will do a series of succession of plantings about six weeks apart, throughout the summer and fall.

Here are a couple of photos of the first batch of seedlings.

[img]https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3602/3318838595_eab8f21c7a.jpg[/img]

[img]https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3622/3318839057_4626d28941.jpg[/img]

[Venomous_1]

Great advice Alex. Thanks again. I plan on doing succession planting as well. Probably shouldn't have started some stuff as early as I did, but dang it, I can't wait to have some FRESH stuff from the garden to eat. I got Spring Fever and it's bad!!!