These stems of cilantro are straight from the supermarket and I encased them in supplies from the AG's Master Gardener Kit to see if they will take root.
We use a lot of cilantro, and would like to be able to eat if fresh, but there are two factors that have kept me from trying to grow it from seed:
1) We will only be here for a few more weeks and thus do not have time to wait for it to germinate, and
2) We do not like a lot of air conditioning in our home, and young cilantro plants are apparently not known to be heat-tolerant.
My reasoning was that if just one plant lived, it will have been a good experiment.
Speaking of roots, check this one out:
Having temporarily run out of the little baskets that come in AeroGrow's Master Gardener Kit, I used the silicon accessory that comes with a baby bottle, cutting off the tip, and making slits up the sides to allow for the growing medium to expand. Does the Okra plant care? Apparently not, as it is as happy as a clam.
The weight at the bottom keeps the silicon plug from popping out and a "washer" cut from a leftover piece of flexible cutting mat keeps it from popping in. The weight is a "Bio-Mech" filter stone left over from our fish-breeding days. In addition to helping anchor the plug, it could, in theory, neutralize nitrogenous waste. Hmmmm...
For an explanation of that plastic tubing you see above the AG label, go HERE.
UPDATE on the Cilantro:
Unfortunately this experiment coincided with a little heat wave hereabouts and since this variety of cilantro needs cool temperatures whereas I am a heat freak, although the cuttings haven't croaked yet, I think I will yank them out and use the grow holes for something more likely to succeed. However, this did inspire me to do some research on different varieties of cilantro, as some are easier to grow and more heat tolerant. I have described three heat-tolerant plants that are sometimes substituted for cilantro here:
