How to Cut Back Cilantro
First, grab a pair of clean, sharp scissors. Dull blades will crush the stems, and nobody likes a bruised herb. You don’t need fancy gardening shears—kitchen scissors work perfectly.
Look at your plant. See those long outer stems that are reaching for the sky? Those are your targets. Never cut from the center, where the baby leaves are hiding. That’s like cutting a flower before it’s even bloomed.
Snip the stem about one to two inches above the soil. Leave the inner rosette of small leaves untouched. They’re your future harvest.
The magic rule: one-third, not one-half
Here’s where people mess up. They get scissor-happy and chop off half the plant. Don’t do that. Never remove more than one-third of the plant at once. Cilantro needs some leaves to photosynthesize and recover.
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Think of it like getting a haircut. You want it shorter, but you don’t want to look like a bald, crying potato afterward. Your cilantro feels the same way.