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Alabama Gardening

Does anyone grow stevia?

18 years ago

Hello everyone,

I'm new to this site but love gardening, raising animals, and becoming more self-suffient. To this end I am looking at raising stevia to replace/suppliment my sugar cravings. I have heard conflicting reports on how easy it is to germinate. If anyone can give any firsthand info on growing, propagating, or harvesting I would love to hear from you.

Thanks in advance,

Kenneth

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Comments (4)

spinster
18 years ago
Hi, about 5-6 years ago I bought a stevia plant in Birmingham and it is still alive. I don't cut the stems in fall but mulch it real good. So far it always came back in late spring. Tried once to propagate, that did not work. I do get flowers but no seeds, I imagine that is because the growing season is to short here for that.
Hope this helps some -
ourhighlandhome
18 years ago
Hi Kenneth!

I don't know diddly about stevia, but I do know how to say "Welcome to the forum!" It's always great to have new members.

Nelson
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Has anyone grown Stevia from seed?
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Comments (2)
I started several herb plants about 3 weeks ago and the Stevia was the last one to peek through the soil. I've read some articles about it and I believe it's going to grow best in a abundant sunlight and heat. We'll see...I'm just excited about trying it in my tea one day!
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My seeds came from Park Seeds. I paid 4.95 for 50 seeds, and had 100% germination. They've since been transplanted, and are still doing OK. While Stevia extracts are up to 300 times more sweet than sugar, if you just use the plant leaf as is, it is 30 times sweeter than sugar, so one leaf might do. Using the whole leaf you may notice other tastes. If you soak the leaves (minus any veins) in warm water to extract the sweetness, you will have less of these tastes. I don't mind the other tastes and am too lazy to extract. Plus the dried leaves hold their sweetness, almost indefinitely I've been, so I just dry some down and store it like other spices. If you do extract, remember the seetness is in the leafs, the bitter stuff is in the stems and the veins of the leaves so the more you cut up the plant and separeate out the peices the more you will refine. Here is a pretty good link http://www.sweetess.com/stevia/#q2
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Comments (13)
Rhizo: That all depends on the persons opinion who's talking. =) Spindly plants, IMO are very noticeably unstable. They would require several stakes/ties just to keep the plant from falling over by itself, etc., etc.. (Example: ). It is quite normal for a very healthy tomato plant to be a bit leggy (and even grown that way on purpose for deeper root development). Simply pot it up 4-6 inches when going into its final home (ground or container) and it will have a deep healthy root system and produce just as fine as any other tomato plant. Many many people overreact and take legginess to seriously; as some wickedly harmful disease or something. From what I've heard on the many threads about it from many different people, it's nothing but a matter of opinion (to a certain extent...see picture above). When someone calls my plants leggy now, I simply thank them for their kind compliment. =) Anyway, let's try to stay on the subject of the thread, shall we? My Stevia was sown 4 days ago. I will let y'all know how it goes. - Steve
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Stevia any one growing it?
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Comments (8)
Hi Have grown it for several years but haven't found a good way to extract the sweetness For example ,fresh it requires around two cups of choppeed leaves to bring one pitcher of tea up to what I like.. I find the stems and veins of the leaves rather bitter so i eliminate them . Flowers are good with strawberries. but takes a sack full lol. Since they've marketed a refined form have been buying that . Would have to have a couple of acres for us "sweet tea drinkers." You can increase it by drying Tried boiling to a syrup but took way too many leaves. gary
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thingrizzly
Original Author
18 years ago
Nelson, thanks for the welcome, and Spinster I'm glad to hear stevia will survive the winters in B'ham. Since I live about 50 miles south of you, I probably order a few plants this spring. Also, are the leaves really as sweet as I've heard?

Thanks again,
Kenneth
beesnfruit
18 years ago
Kenneth,
I grew Stevia from seed a few years ago and it did OK. Later I bought some from a local nursery and it was losing a lot of leaves. I asked them about it and the lady said it needed full sun. When I moved the plants to full morning sun, the problem stopped. 1 out 3 of those plants survived the first winter in a pot. When I have tried fresh leaves or steeping dried leaves in hot or cold water, I taste a very noticeable bitter aftertaste.
Allen

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