Long Coriander (Culantro)

An Intro to Long Coriander

MY STATUS: Unsuccessful   

Long Coriander or Mexican Coriander, originated in Central and South America, where it is more commonly known as culantro. It belongs to the same family as cilantro and tastes and smells almost exactly the same, but stronger. There are important differences beyond its radically different appearance; it's a perennial in the tropics, grows from a central rosette instead of a stem, and, most importantly, thrives in the heat and humidity of the tropics where cilantro languishes and goes to seed before you can even get a good harvest out of it. The herb is grown widely throughout the Caribbean, South America, Southeast Asia, and India (and now commercially on Guam). I've tried cilantro on Pohnpei and gotten it to grow okay but not great. A friend on Pohnpei tipped me off to this amazing tropical alternative, so I ordered up some seeds from Puerto Rico.

PROLONGED LIFE

While culantro behaves like an annual in temperate climates (because it doesn't like cold), it will go on growing and producing leaves as long as the weather stays warm.

PARTIAL SHADE

Though not as finicky as cilantro, Long Coriander grows best in partial shade, so keep this one out of the direct equatorial sun.

MOIST, NOT WET

Long Coriander likes its soil continually most, but not waterlogged. You can water it as you do with plain parsley.

VERY DIFFICULT TO START & VERY SLOW-GROWING

This herb has the reputation of being a slow-starter, sometimes taking more than 20 days to germinate (if it germinates at all). Apparently, the seeds don't preserve well. If they get a little humid or aren't kept cool, they die. Ordering seeds then is probably not going to result in much success as they would be unrefridgerated for quite some time in transit.

FEED IT

Long Coriander can handle poor soil, but since it is grown for its leaves, there's nothing wrong with loading it up with plenty of nitrogen. It will keep putting out more and more greenery, and you can harvest individual leaves as needed.

What I Did

DAY 1 - SOWING

I started off with a packet of seeds purchased on Amazon.com from Tropical Island Seeds in Puerto Rico. I sowed the seeds in paper egg carton cups filled with moist potting soil. Since this plant doesn't have deep roots and spreads horizontally, I plan to transplant into a long, shallow rectangular pot.

DAY 23

No luck so far. My seed cups remain empty. Not one seed has germinated. I was warned that culantro is a slow-starter, but I honestly didn't expect it would take this long. I'm wondering if the seeds spent too much time in transit to Pohnpei or in storage once they got here. Our postal service is pretty terrible; frequently things arrive here and then sit in the back of the postal building for weeks before someone decides to sort them out and deliver to the PO boxes. Letting seeds sit at room temperature never helps anything. Maybe there's still hope.

DAY 40 - FAILURE TO LAUNCH

My first attempt to germinate this damn species has ended in failure. Not one seed sprouted.

ATTEMPT #2

DAY 1 - SOWING

I was able to consult a buddy here who has some mature culantro in his container garden. He told me about how notoriously difficult it is to start this plant, and then gave me seeds straight off his plant and instructed me to sprinkle them on damp soil and then keep everything inside a Tupperwear container to prevent the soil from drying out. If the soil becomes dry even once, he said, the seeds are as good as dead. I did exactly as he said. We'll see what happens.

DAY 35 - NOTHIN' DOIN'

Well, it looks like these guys may not work out for me. My second attempt has had similar results as the first. No germination and this time I got mold growth on the soil. I may try again at some point, but for now, on to other things. I sure do miss that cilantro flavor in my cooking, though!