"Cat(h)" wrote in message
Farm1 wrote:

As someone else said, repot it. But if you are in the northern
hemisphere then expect it to die rapidly as you are trying to grow
it
out of season. Coriander is one of the most difficult plants to
grow
even in the right season and even when it's growing strongly it
promptly runs to seed and that's the end of it. It needs to be
succession sown and in the right season. Now Laksa plant is a
very
different matter - it copes well with frost and cold once
established.

I am interested! Having struggled to grow corriander, always with
very
limited success.

:-)) It's a total pig of a plant to grow. I have now resorted to
buying it and have found that if I buy the coriander that is packed in
a plastic sleeve which still has its roots attached then it will keep
extremely well in the fridge (more than 10 days) if I store it there
in a glass of water with the plastic wrap still around the sides but
not over the top and with the roots similarly exposed in the water.

Does Laksa taste similar ?

I wouldn't say so but then it is called "Vietnamese coriander" in the
US so perhaps Americans think so. It is an essential ingredient in
much Asian cooking, especially Vietnamese, Thai food and Malaysian
Laksa (in Singapore it's called Laksa and it is tough. I planted a
minute plant here just before we received an extremely savage frost
here in October. I can't ever recall such a savage frost - it took
out all the leaves on many deciduous trees and totally wiped out the
grape crop in a huge area (not unusual) but it knocked out many plants
that normally wouldn't turn a hair to a bad frost. Anyway, I found
the newly planted Laksa plant (less that 9" high) totally black and
looking dead as a dodo. It had few roots to speak of when I planted
it but with some TLC, it's now coming back - still small and weedy but
with green all over it.

However, it is a tough plant and well worth the space. It has many ot
her names which include Rau Ram, hot mint, "Vietnamese mint" and
apparently is a close relative of knotweed. The way to keep it is not
to cosset it. Plant it outside at the beginning of spring - getting
it grwoing strongly and then dont' cut off the old stems whent he
frost comes - it'll have protection over winter from the old stems in
the UK, I'd also suggest a covering of hay over the roots area. Treat
it a bit like mint - moist soil but well draining.