Cilantro "Pokey Joe"

2023-12-17: Day 4
Sprouts up in four pods, hoping the other two show soon. 

2023-12-21: Day 8
First true leaves developing.

Let's hope! I think my first try was just too much nutrient. MaxiGro is strong stuff! 

I'd been watching the Aerogarden Experiments guy on YouTube, and he is always putting a whole teaspoon of MaxiGro in after his sprouts come up, including his cilantro video. But that's EC of like 2.2! Beyond what cilantro supposedly likes! I have no idea how he gets away with that!

So I went cautiously on the first try and used a 1/2 TSP. And still got nutrient burn! The EC was something like 1.1, which should be fine for established cilantro plants, but apparently was too much for seedlings.

These guys have barely any nutrition at all, LOL! EC of 0.6.

And gosh, that reminds me, I need to get my parsley seeds for the other Harvest Slim into paper towel and ziploc baggie. Hopefully the extra long soak didn't hurt them, forgot all about it this AM.

That's why I like crack/soak/damp paper towel in Ziploc baggie method over the crack/soak/plant direct in AG. That way, when you plant a pod, you know you are putting a seed in that has, at least, germinated. So far, I've not failed to get a sprout as long as a cilantro seed was showing germination when I planted it in a pod. And I'm impatient, so I often do it when only the tiniest bit of root is showing.

Yes, I've gathered the YMMV part of the AG Experiments guy. I love listening to him though! He's always growing some interesting green or other, and fun fruiting veggies as well. I think he'd have fewer algae problems if he used some 3% hydrogen peroxide, but each to his own, I suppose.

I'm hoping to get enough cilantro to put small bunches in juice and maybe occasionally on salads or to make cilantro lime rice. But it's been years since I've grown it and never an entire Aerogarden full, so I have no idea what the yield will be like and my memory isn't telling me diddly. I'm even now wondering if I should have tried doing TWO plants per pod instead of one.

That's some tasty-looking parsley!

The edge-browning (can't really see it in the photo) may not show up on the later leaves. Seedlings are more sensitive to drafts than mature plants.

I'm hoping that once these plants get a little more mature, the leaf edge browning will stop. It's hard to believe an EC of 0.8 is causing nutrient burn. I'm wondering if it's something else.

They are growing, and drinking a bit, so I'm hoping this resolves. Here's a closeup of what they look like:

The fan is not running! It's just still sitting there from my first two failed gardens in that spot and has not been turned on since. I didn't see a reason to take it away, since if the cilantro/parsley gets thick (crossed fingers) it might be needed.

So I think we can rule that out as a suspect in the crime, LOL!

The house is kept around 40-50% humidity because I have severe dry eye syndrome and my eyes can't take much less than that for very long, unless I want to be putting in eyedrops nearly non-stop. It's been a relatively warm winter, with most days around or above freezing. It's dreary as all get out, but nothing extreme, so the humidifier is keeping up nicely.

The Acurite hygrometer in the kitchen is currently reading 51%, so it shouldn't be too dry for plants.

I keep thinking there's something about the nutrition it isn't quite happy with. EC of 0.6 it was relatively happy, no browning, but the leaves were on the pale side. Maybe the plants just need to stay at the lower EC until they get a bit bigger. Maybe I don't have the cal/mag balance right. The plants are growing, but I can see tiny brown tips on some, but not necessarily all of the new growth. 

I'm going to let it ride for now. Don't really know what else to do. I don't have a place to move the gardens to, so if cilantro doesn't grow well in this spot, I'll just have to grow something else in the Harvests. But I know I grew it in the past in the kitchen as that's where I've always grown herbs.

2024-02-05: Day 54
I haven't been updating, because frankly, the cilantro garden has been depressing to look at.


Rinse & refill a day early. I’m trying out a location change. The cilantro has been drinking, growing, and the roots look OK. But the leaves come up green, then go brown and crispy shortly thereafter and I don’t get any usable cilantro. I've trimmed all the brown stuff off.



I shouldn’t think they’d be getting nutrient burnt as 54-day-old plants, and if they were, they'd probably stop growing, right?

They’ve been moved to a table in my office. I used to grow herbs successfully on the kitchen counter where these were, but that was back before the air purifier. Could be there’s too much draft from that. Unfortunately, though there is another outlet further down the living room wall, it’s in a very inconvenient spot to get at the air purifier for the monthly cleanout, so it needs to stay where it is. Note: The fan pictured in the background is not and has not been on! 

I did goof and accidentally hit “Start a new garden” somehow, ugh. Oh well, can’t be any worse than this garden already is!

Nutrients (per gallon):
1.0ml GH CALiMAGic
3.0g GH MaxiGro (approximately a half teaspoon)
5.0ml 3% hydrogen peroxide

Nutrient mix pH: 6.0
Nutrient mix EC: 1.1