MaLiorzh
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Culantro - Eryngium foetidum

I picked up some culantro from my local Asian supermarket, ate most, but stuck two shoots into a glass of water as they still seemed to have roots at the base. More roots sprouted and so I potted them on and left them on the kitchen table in full sun. Now they're out side on the terrace and seem quite healthy. Some leaves browned a little but I've put this down to the sun and wind we've had recently as well as the fact that we're right beside the sea (salt in the air). I make some Caribbean curries and I've found that culantro is far better for these than coriander. Is there anything else I should bear in mind when growing this herb? I imagine it'll have to come into the house in late autumn.

pepperhead212
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I cloned culantro, and it rooted easily, but, unfortunately, it would not grow. I guess it was like rooting a stalk of parsley or cilantro - it doesn't have that central growth area, and it just sits there.

I tried it from seeds ; again, no luck this year. Took over a month to germinate, and still has not grown much in 3 months. I would love to be able to grow it, as cilantro bolts immediately for me, but this just won't grow for me.

MaLiorzh
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Yeah, I've tried to grow culantro from seed before and had no luck whatsoever.

imafan26
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I have grown culantro from seeds . They do take a long time and they are very small. It takes about 4 months for a compot to be transplantable. I have not tried them from leaf cuttings. I do dig up seedlings, but I have not tried divisions. Culantro only likes the sun when it is not hot. Where it grows in the tropics, it is kept under shade. I have to grow mine in the shade of a tree with dappled light. In full sun it will bolt to seeds and the seed heads are prickly. The leaves will be longer in the shade as well. They like to be wet and can survive wet soils that other plants don't do well in. Keep the plants moist, they do not have to be drowning but they don't like to dry out. The leaves will burn in too much sun.

pepperhead212
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I tried mine in hydroponics, thinking that it would do better in than, given the native wetlands it grows in, but still never got large. After this year, I'm giving up on it, since I never got a harvestable amount.

MaLiorzh
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I'm assuming culantro is a perennial like other members of the same family. I have a plant of sea holly - Eryngium maritimum - growing in a pot of sand that I started from a root cutting. It dies back each year and then sprouts again in the spring. Is culantro similar?

imafan26
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Culantro does not die back, but when it is in full sun and the soil is not kept very moist it will shrink in size. The leaves will be small.

In wet soil and under shade the leaves are much longer. I try to grow the culantro near larger plants and trees that can cast some shade. I also do not cut the seed heads off since the seed heads spread out and shade the leaves. Culantro will bolt to seed in the heat but it does not die after it blooms.

Some places grow culantro in moist conditions and under shadecloth. It likes wet soil but I have not seen anyone try to grow it hydroponically successfully.

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applestar
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It sounds like it should do well in a SIP and would overwinter in the warmer part of the house since it is shade-tolerant/prefers shade.

- How big does it get? Would 1 gallon pot be enough?
- Can it be root pruned and reduced (like 1/2 gallon) and kept smaller/restricted during the winter like peppers if it is allowed to grow out during the summer?
- Are they susceptible to mite infestation? scale? aphids? (they need to be able to tolerate/survive them and not go down quickly)

Where did you get yours, pepperhead212?

pepperhead212
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Apple, I haven't gotten these to grow over 2", but the leaves I get at the Asian market are 4-5". Those are the ones that I rooted in my cloner, and I got roots on them quickly, but they just sat there in the soil, as they had no central growth point from which to radiate from.

I put some of the seedlings from my hydroponics (started in mid March, but still very small in early May) outside in my jr Earthbox, but they are still only 1 - years 2". They simply don't want to grow here, indoors or out!

I got these seeds from evervreenseeds.com, but I've gotten them elsewhere before. The seeds are tiny, and have to be pressed into the surface, the reason I figured that they would be good in the hydroponics. Still, took a month or more to germinate.

imafan26
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They grow very slowly. It takes over 9 months to get from seeds to full size. They are very aromatic so very few pests bother them except slugs and snails and even the mollusks will go after lettuce and other more tender leaves instead.

They don't have a very long root system. They are more like palm roots. they grow thickly but relatively short. I put them in 6 inch pots or gallon cans. I have more gallon cans than 6 inch pots. The plastic ones get brittle too fast. They probably will do well in a SIP. They like a composty environment that is evenly moist. They will do better if they get more space. Mine are like a solid mass since the seeds drop and new ones come out. I have to transplant them and give each one at least a 6 inch space to get bigger leaves. They don't like to be transplanted. The leaves turn yellow and they stunt for a long time before they start to grow again. Unless you damage a lot of the roots they usually don't die, they just go into a prolonged shock stage. The only time I really lose seedlings is when they get too much sun, then the leaves burn to a crisp. My soil is very alkaline and the garden gets compost, vermicast and sulfate of ammonia. The last soil test = pH 7.8 phos 1600 calcium high, magnesium high normal. Potassium 400. I will not have to add anything except nitrogen and sulfur for years. The plants are healthy but short because of the low nitrogen. Nitrogen is not tested on a standard test because it is so volatile but when a 6 ft sunflower tops out at 4 ft, and most of the plants in the garden are shorter than normal, it is a pretty safe bet that the nitrogen is the limiting factor of growth. I cannot grow anything acidic in this soil and I do have areas with nematodes and phythoptora, so most of the garden plants are annuals. It can stay flooded for weeks in heavy rain. The ngo gai (culantro) tolerates the flooding and nematodes don't seem to bother it so it is usually planted in the flood prone areas. I have ginger in the other flood prone areas on a mound.

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Gary350
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applestar wrote:
- How big does it get? Would 1 gallon pot be enough?
- Can it be root pruned and reduced (like 1/2 gallon) and kept smaller/restricted during the winter like peppers if it is allowed to grow out during the summer?
- Are they susceptible to mite infestation? scale? aphids? (they need to be able to tolerate/survive them and not go down quickly)
I bought 1 cilantro plant at Walmart grocery store $1.99 to plant in the garden to get a fast start. I planted seeds in the garden too. 5 plants grew about 30" tall each. I have started seeds in the house in 1 gallon pots but once plants started coming up I always move my pots outside to get full sun they grow much faster. Seeds are slow to germinate about 2 weeks. Seeds do not all germinate plant 50 seeds maybe 20 seeds germinate from seeds I bought. When plants are 8" tall you can harvest them but small plants die. Cilantro grows fast in the garden we can never eat it fast enough it always blossoms and makes seeds at 90 degrees. You might have better luck growing cilantro in the house in the AC where temperature is cooler in the 70s.

If you want to get a quick start buy a $1.99 plant in Walmart produce section. Plant it in a 1 gallon pot & plant several seeds in the pot too so more plants come up in a few weeks. Keep planting more seeds every week so new plants keep coming up while you harvest older plants. If you let plants grow larger cutting them off does not kill them.

I have never seen any type bugs on cilantro.

pepperhead212
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Gary, Culantro and Cilantro are different plants, though they do have a similar flavor, which is why I (and I assume others) have been trying to grow it, cince cilantro always bolts early, when I try to grow it. It doesn't seem like either likes my climate, as many times as I have tried both of them!

imafan26
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cilantro likes cool weather but can be hard to germinate unless you soak the seeds overnight first. It is not a true parsley and is a short lived annual. In cool weather it can live six months but bolts in 6 weeks in hot weather. Some people are able to keep it going by growing it in the shade and if they live at a higher elevation.

Culantro is perennial. It looks like a weed and has daisy like leaves and a thorny seed head. It is planted in the Carribbean, Mexico, Hawaii and SE Asia. In Mexico it is an ingredient in recaito. Which uses both Chinese parsley and culantro. Culantro may also be one of the herbs served with Pho.

Culantro like moist shade but lots of humidity. Bonnie plants says that the plants dies after flowering and that has not happened to me. The leaves do get tougher and it yellows but rarely does the plant die. I may not notice much because I have so many seedlings popping up. I don't miss a lot of plants when they expire. Isabell Shipard has the same experience as mine. The plants don't necessarily die after going to seed.

https://herbsarespecial.com.au/plant-in ... coriander/

MaLiorzh
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Thanks all for the info about shade. I used cuttings (clones) but when I bought mine they weren't just leaves but rather a rosette of leaves around a centre. Anyway, the plants have now been placed in a shady part of the garden out of direct sunlight. Any idea as to what the flowers are like? Sea holly and other species of Eryngium have lovely powdery blue coloured flowers.

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Gary350
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pepperhead212 wrote:Gary, Culantro and Cilantro are different plants, though they do have a similar flavor, which is why I (and I assume others) have been trying to grow it, cince cilantro always bolts early, when I try to grow it. It doesn't seem like either likes my climate, as many times as I have tried both of them!
Someone said, culantro tastes better than coriander, I assumed your all talking about cilantro and spelling it wrong. LOL. Your right cilantro bolts early when temperature hits 90 degrees F. Young plants will not bolt that is why I let my first plants bolt to make 1000s of seeds so I can plant a small crop of my seeds every week all summer. I can never get seeds to germinate in 90 degree weather outside seeds must know it is too hot but seeds in pots inside the house will germinate. I even water my seeds with ice cubes I think the cold helps them germinate. We have a small kitchen I wish we had a plant bay window in the kitchen. This year I want to try something new, buy a cilantro plant then put it in the center of a 10" diameter pot & also plant 20 seeds on 1 side then mark seed location with 1 tooth pick.. Every week rotate the pot 1/6 of a turn plant 20 more seed maek them with 2 tooth picks. Next week rotate pot another 1/6th turn mark the location of seeds with 3 tooth picks and 4 tooth picks, and 5 and 6 tooth picks. My plans it to harvest cilantro from the center plant that I bought for as long as possible then start harvesting from the others as seeds grow. If center plant dies replace with seeds & if other plants die replace them with seeds. Cilantro is so cheap at the store 89¢ it seems silly to grow it but the convenience of having it at home is better than driving to the store. Maybe you can grow Culantro in the house the same way? Our kitchen is too small I think I will plant seeds in a 4" pot every week inside the house then move pots outside after seeds germinate soon as they are large enough transplant them but I expect they will bolt within 30 days I have never had small plants bolt no matter how hot it is I think plants need to be a certain age before they bolt. Growing cilantro in shade delays bolting about 2 weeks when it is 96 degrees here. I have noticed plants in direct sunlight are actually about 20 to 30 degrees hotter than the air temperature.

imafan26
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The flowers look like little pokey thistles. They are green.

https://bonnieplants.com/growing/growing-culantro/
I just found this blog about growing culantro indoors.
https://www.just4growers.com/stream/trou ... antro.aspx

MaLiorzh
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I've read different things now concerning its life cycle I.e a perennial, biannual or annual. Perhaps in a colder climate it's annual as killed by cold and frost, but if I bring it into the house will it be perennial or will it still die off after flowering?

imafan26
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In your climate I would think it would be more short lived.

MaLiorzh
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Yes, with the cold it'd probably not last the winter outside - but then again you never know what will survive in the right spot. I have some Rau Ram - Persicaria odorata - outdoors that always gets hammered by the frost but it always springs up again from the base. If I overwinter the Culantro in my house perhaps I'll have more luck too.
BTW it's flowering now as was predicted after having been left in direct sunshine.

imafan26
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At this time of the year it is always flowering. Rau ram is easier to grow, it rambles like mint, but if the culantro is kept in a warmer spot in winter with enough humidity, it may do well. It should make a decent houseplant since it grows well under shade cloth.
It depends on how warm you keep your house. For me, 68 degrees is too cold and people often keep their homes colder than that even in winter. When it gets down to 49-51 degrees F. here, I am waiting for it to start snowing and I am wearing my sweat suit to bed.

MaLiorzh
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A more positive result with the culantro. Again, I've got it on a table - alongside the pandanus, curry tree and gotu kola - in front of the south facing kitchen window. It flowered profusely and the blooms seemed to last forever. They took too much space and I got a little impatient being pricked by them every time I opened the fridge, so they got cut off. Since then more green leaves have started to grow and even some entirely new shoots have sprouted from the soil.



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