We love growing coriander for its many benefits and its flavor, but in our climate it just bolts so quickly, it’s a blink-and-you’ll miss it affair. Fortunately the fabulous Meg McGowan showed up at last weekend’s Aquaponics Workshop with a simple, doable solution to breeding slow to bolt coriander for any climate…
How to breed slow-to-bolt Coriander:
1. Clear out existing Coriander
2. Buy seed from Diggers or organic seed supplier. NOT Yates which is quick to bolt.
3. Plant seed in good soil. Part shade is best. Follow this cycle:
Usually takes 2 years to develop and seed will be specifically suited to your climate and soil conditions.
* You can use this idea to improve any plants you want to grow. Just select for the qualities you want.
Thanks, Meg! We’re looking forward to developing the Milkwood strain of this delicious herb.
As said, this technique works for many plants, but isn’t it always the way that once you have a specific goal in mind, you learn all sorts of widely useful techniques? Bring on the adapted coriander for months of delicious flavors…
SHARING..Thank You . definitely
trying this…I’ll call this the “Milkwood Strain”
I like this!
I have found that for balcony gardens, making sure the pot is very deep makes a difference. The long root gave me that idea, and it seems to be a good guess.
I agree Cecilia … I grow in pots and garden beds and allowing the extra depth has always resulted in slow-to-bolt plants. I also add thin layer of mulch, water well and give it regular haircuts to maximise the harvest!
It seems incredible, but after years of following this cycle it’s not uncommon for my coriander to last over four months! Even when it starts to bolt it doesn’t set seed for a really long time, so we just keep side cropping it until it does. Sometimes I wonder if I’m ever going to get seed for the next cycle!
Thanks for passing this information on. I consider it a small form of activism against corporate seed companies that act in the interest of profits rather than people.
PS: The course was amazing and I highly recommend it.
A good tip is to sow the coriander seeds directly into the aquaponics system over the gravel or clay media directly and walk away. Forget them. The seeds will fall into the dark crevices and spaces and grow with ease. We have coriander growing fine in Queensland without bolting over winter and in cooler months of the year. Transferring them from punnets to aquaponics tends to shock them and they go straight to seed. Especially if you’ve bought your seedlings from a large department store where they are stressed already from erratic watering. Hot full summer sun can also cause… Read more »
Question : when there are shoots of the plant that are starting to bolt, do I just snip off the bolt or do I have to remove the entire plant?
Great post… I will give this a try.
Great tip, thanks! Coriander bolts annoyingly quickly in our climate also (Christchurch, NZ) but we love cooking with it so I’ll definitely do this.
Reblogged this on tameesh and commented:
my favourite kitchen herb
Also planting in the shade will stop coriander bolting so quickly in summer in Melbourne .