Where did I go wrong, or is it Meh's fault?
5So some of you may recall I asked for Meh’s help in watering my plant I got for Valentine’s Day from the hubby. It is doing well (on the right). But that same week I decided to get a cilantro plant too. I have done cilantro plants before, at my last house, with relative success (most would last 2 or 3 months before they turned brown on me).
As you can see, the cilantro plant is falling out - not turning brown but withering away.
The plants are in afternoon sun. I water both about 1-2 times a week, and the soil never feels dry, and also never too wet (both are in containers on a plate). The sun room they are in is about 60 F.
What did I do wrong? Or even though I asked Meh for help with the plant only, is the cilantro disaster Meh’s fault too?
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I have never been able to grow useful indoors cilantro. It comes up limp, and just when I think it may stand up and grow it bolts.
That may be too cool a room for it, also.
Your other plants look great, and they are ones that like a rather moist soil and shade or semi-shade. Cilantro, on the other hand, needs about 4-6 hours of direct sunlight/ day and hates to have damp feet. It grows best in a clay pot with air holes. It should be watered thoroughly (until the water runs out the holes) then left alone until the soil feels completely dry. A bit of liquid fertilizer in the water helps. 60 degree temp is actually okay for cilantro.
@rockblossom THANKS!
Blame @Seeds. He hasn’t removed you to water your plants since the end of February.
@PlacidPenguin I was trying to help- if cilantro’s soil never dries out it’s overwatered.
@Seeds sounds like you and Rockblossom agree I overwatered it. Let’s see if it recovers… I am very good at ignoring plants, per this whole thread I have on my ability to kill plants.
@mollama Easy way to tell if it needs to be watered is to pick up the pot- if it’s very light, it’s time to water. Feel it dry and freshly watered and you’ll notice the difference easily.
Ugh.
Shoulda corrected that to ‘reminded’.
Oh well.
As others have noted, cilantro likes dry soils and lots of direct sun. It is not a typical indoor windowsill or counterparts herb, but that doesn’t stop sellers from bundling it in planters as if it was. And as you’ve noticed, the results are underwhelming.
The good news is that it isn’t your fault.
It’s @KittySprinkles fault.
/giphy goat love
@mike808
I have a sunporch, and I’m good at keeping things alive–oh, most are a decade or so old. I never say this to myself, nevermind others, but, yep, I’m pretty good at it!
I was jonesing for some fresh parsley for linguini and clams and so I decided to grow some herbs this winter. I got all set up, then found out these herbs like a good six inches depth to grow, so I had to forget my cute pot idea and scrounge around for deeper pots. Anyway, they’re growing, but not thriving. They get a lot of full sun there, but I just think they’re struggling with the winter sun. I’m going to get an led growlight to help them along until they get enough leaves to get by on their own.
Back to you–they look too old to have gotten damping off disease-a common malady. But I’m thinking of what the previous poster said about maybe they got hit by a cold breeze or coldness from touching the window. It could be just simply too much or too little water. I got a few of these $5 water meters from walmart when they were on clearance, and they have been the greatest thing. Moisture Meter it’s called and it has a probe to put in the soil and the meter at the other end that goes from dry to wet. I’m telling ya, that thing is largely responsible for my success. It thinks for me. When I check on my plants I jab it in and follow the reading.
Lastly, this probably isn’t it, but did you look really really closely at the plant? There’s a few small nefarious critters that love dining in, in the winter, and their reproduction rate is crazy!
Good luck!