🌿 The 5 BEST Tricks For Growing Cilantro and Delaying Bolting

We get it; your homemade salsa will never be the same without cilantro! So, is there anything you can do to boost your harvest? Well, you can get the timing right (we’ll tell you how), you can grow indoors, and you can grow as many crops of cilantro microgreens as your heart desires!

Here's our Top 5 tips for getting the most out of your cilantro. 

Plant Early: Get the planting timing right for your zip code

Let’s face it, gardening is really zip-code local when it comes to growing conditions. Consider cilantro a cool-season annual – it even tolerates light frosts – in cooler or mild climates direct seed or plant it outdoors as early as possible once the hard frosts have passed (late-winter/early spring), or in late-summer/early-fall if you live in a hot climate.

If you plan to start seeds indoors even earlier for transplants  (about 4-5 weeks before planting outdoors), just make sure temperatures indoors are cool and your grow lights don’t run longer than 12-hours.

Grow Cilantro Indoors

Cilantro can also do well indoors if your home stays on the cool side (consistently averages below 75F), and it’s not light for more than 12-hours a day. This makes cilantro a good growing candidate for your windowsill in late-fall and winter months. If you’re growing in a dark room or in grow tents, keep the photoperiod (daylength) to 10-12 hours with grow lights that don’t get too hot.

Grow Cilantro Microgreens Year-round

Year-round?? Yes, you can also grow as many crops of cilantro microgreens indoors as you like year-round! Cilantro microgreens pack powerful flavor, so they are a fast and easy way to get your cilantro fix. 

Keep Planting More Cilantro

Depending on the length of your local growing season, you can also keep planting more crops of cilantro using the succession planting method, which is planting the same crop several times throughout the growing season to maintain a good harvest. If you have a long cool growing season, seed new plants every 2-3 weeks. If you have a short growing season, you might seed new crops weekly. Now every day is Taco Tuesday!

Plant Slow-bolting Cilantro Cultivars

And lastly, one tactic you can use is to choose slow bolting varieties of cilantro such as ‘Calypso’ (our fave) or ‘Slo Bolt.’ Slow bolting cultivars can be a little less sensitive to heat and can produce good-tasting foliage a bit longer into the growing season. Check the seed pack and look for cultivars described as “heat-tolerant,” “long-standing,” or “bolt-resistant” (mind you “bolt-resistant” does not mean plants will never bolt!) Ultimately, you’ll need to try a few different cilantro cultivars to see which one grows best for you in your climate.

Ready to get started growing cilantro?

If you're ready to get started growing cilantro at home then we recommend:

1. Starting with some high quality cilantro seeds. Look for 'slow bolt' varieties. 
2. Check out our comprehensive guides on how to grow cilantro either indoors or outdoors.
3. If you're interested in learning more about cilantro and other plants that can be grow indoors, grab a free copy of our eBook titled 'How To Grow An Indoor Edible Garden' below.