Helpful Tips For Growing Cilantro Without Soil

If you love cooking with cilantro (Coriandrum sativum) or want to add it to your garden of fresh herbs, you're in luck. You can grow this popular culinary herb without even bothering with soil. Maybe you bought this tasty plant at the grocery store and you want to regrow cilantro from cuttings but don't have room for another pot on your window sill or you just want to give hydroponics a try. Whatever the case may be, cilantro is not only an herb you can propagate from cuttings, but is also one you can grow from coriander seeds with nothing but water. Starting from seed, your cilantro should mature in a couple of months.

Now, you might be asking yourself: What exactly is a hydroponic garden? Simply put, it is a system of growing your plants with water instead of soil — that's it. That said, your cilantro will still need other elements to thrive, like nutrients, light, and oxygen. You can buy a hydroponics system, like AeroGarden Sprout from Amazon, or you can easily DIY your own hydroponic garden with items you already own or can pick up from your local hardware store.

If you're growing from seed and don't have a full-blown hydroponics system yet, you can still grow cilantro without soil. Once you have your chosen coriander seeds, gather a mesh basket and a bowl it will fit into. The actual cilantro seeds are hiding inside the coriander shell, so you need to gently crush that outer portion to get to the seeds within. Then, put the seeds in the mesh basket and place the basket in the bowl that you filled with filtered water to begin the germination process. By going a step further and using filtered reverse osmosis (RO) water, you can offer your cilantro nutrients while greatly reducing the contaminants you're giving the plant to nearly zero. Keep the seeds covered in water until they germinate in about a week or 10 days. When your new little plants reach about 2 inches in height, you can then move them to your hydroponics system where they can continue to grow. Or leave them where they are, give them proper lighting and nutrients, and let them thrive.

To grow cilantro in water with cuttings, use a clean knife to cut off a healthy stem  at least 4 inches long and place it in a glass of water. In a few weeks, you'll notice roots appearing on the end of the stem. Be sure to refresh your water regularly during the growth process. Once you see roots, it's safe to either use it from its current location or transplant the cilantro to your hydroponics system, into your garden, or in a pot. Viola! A new cilantro plant.