I haven't ever tried Culantro, I do know what it is, though. I just grow regular cilantro.

Malabar spinach is a heat lover -- soil temps should be in the low 70's for good germination. I'd use a heat mat if possible.

Don't put it outside until nights are reasonably warm (over 60 if possible) and no danger of frost (probably not applicable to you in California, but a big issue here).

Thanks for your advice!

One of the Malabar seeds finally sprouted today. You're right on temperature. My environment was probably too low (70F) so it took so long.

Frost is definitely an issue here this year (and last night). Good warning. I will pot it indoor and wait for a month before moving out.

No sign for Culantro. I'll wait.

This morning when I checked the box, all culantro seeds in the towel germinated overnight. So far 100% of culantro seeds from evergreenseeds germinated. One malabar seed germinated out of 20 so there's still hope.

I guess maybe both culantro and malabar prefer a little higher temperature than 70F so they took longer to sprout.

I've only sprouted malabar spinach seeds once. The malabar spinach seed took 4 days to 5 weeks to sprout. They were in barely damp potting seed mix in pots in a house 75F to 78F. Think they really do like the heat to germinate. All but one of the seeds came up before a week's time. That last one took five weeks in the 70F to 89F outside, and I had given it up. :-)

Yes you're right. Malabar really needs it warm. Even after they're sprouted, they're not taking off because our weather has been 50-70s. I'm wondering why our local farmers' market farms have beautiful Malabar, and how were they able to grow them given the farming area are only 1-2 hours away.

Hi,
I'm a new member and I live in Oxfordshire, England. I have been growing Malabar Spinach (Basella Alba)the green stemmed version for about 20 years.
In early April, I soak seeds overnight in lukewarm water, then sow them in a seed compost and put it into a heated propagator (70F). They'll take from 3 weeks to sometime in Summer! I prick out those that have germinated, but still keep the pot of seeds in the propagator until mid-May, more might germinate. I then pot them on into a 4' long by 10" tall tub and grow them on in an unheated greenhouse until mid-June. After that the tub goes on the patio through the summer.
When the day length gets shorter, I pot a plant up and bring it into the house (mid Sep?) and I collect seeds from that plant in Spring the next year and so on..

Hi tubby51, Thanks for the details. It's taking forever here in California for me to germinate Malabar seeds too. I'm wondering for your potted Malabar, did it die off over winter? Or will they survive indoors so you can replant next spring (it's much faster that way)?

Here in Los Angeles we are having a milder than normal summer, with the highs only in the 80s. I just planted mine this morning, without knowing how difficult they can be. There were 20 year old seeds and went into the ground directly. I'll post the progress, if there is any.

Did you really mean 20year old seeds?

Bluebirdie, how is your malabar spinach?

Sapota,yes, I'm lucky that 20 year old seeds sown on Aug 6 had almost 90% germination rate..

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I think I'll cut them tomorrow to encourage side shoots. Any suggestions?