Ever grown stevia/sweet leaf?

lisaphoto 3/21/2010, 5:11 pm

Has anyone ever grown stevia (aka sweet leaf), and if you did, were you able to grow from seed? I can find seeds online, but I read an article stating that it is really hard to grow from seed,and I you never know if you are going to get a sweet enough leaf. I would love to grow this and use it as a low-cal way to sweeten drinks. Also, if anyone has any extra seed, I would gladly do an exchange (though I don't have anything very interesting)

momstitch 3/21/2010, 5:41 pm

I have never grown it from seed but I did buy a plant last year and I won't do that again. Of course I bought it just because, I didn't have plans to make a sweetener out of it. Anyway, by the end of the season I had a stevia tree. I'm guessing from my experience it takes a lot of growing space. It practically took over one of my beds (didn't do sfg last year but sure am this year).
Martha

lisaphoto 3/21/2010, 6:18 pm

I was planning on doing most of my herbs in their own patio containers since they like to take things over.

lisaphoto 3/21/2010, 6:19 pm

where did you buy the plant from?

Patty from Yorktown 3/21/2010, 6:57 pm

I have grown Stevia, my plant was not tree size. It would have fit 1 per square. Stevia in it's natural state has a slight black licorice taste. It is becoming more well known, so you might be able to find it in a nursery. My plant is about 5 years old. It dies down during our winter. We our zone 7. I had gone looking for herbs and ask the owner if he had anything unusual. That question always gets an interesting response. Hope this helps.

Patty from Yorktown

Lavender Debs 3/21/2010, 7:25 pm

I've also grown it. Found it at a local nursery when I was looking for pot fillers for the pots I like to keep on my deck. Mine did not get huge either. It was about the size of a small pepper plant. VERY frost tender. I should get another. Nice in an herbal iced tea blend.

momstitch 3/21/2010, 9:14 pm

I bought it from either Pamida or Wal Mart, not sure which.

chocolatepop 3/21/2010, 10:26 pm

lisaphoto wrote:where did you buy the plant from?

Hey Lisa, since you are in the midwest, do you have a Meijer near by? That is where I got my Stevia last year. I tried growing it from seed, no, nothing, nada.

**WardinWake** 3/22/2010, 8:02 am

lisaphoto

Last season Stevia was available at our local Lowe's garden center.

God Bless, Ward.

gettip 3/22/2010, 11:31 am

I purchased it at the local nursery and kept it as a potted plant. I tried using it as a sweetner but could not find a good way to do that. I would take any advice on how to us it and how much per recipies.

Lavender Debs 3/22/2010, 11:59 am

gettip wrote:I purchased it at the local nursery and kept it as a potted plant. I tried using it as a sweetner but could not find a good way to do that. I would take any advice on how to us it and how much per recipies.

I kept mine in a pot also. I do not have recipes but I used to like to go out to my tea garden (just herbs that made good tea), snip off some leaves, flowers and stems of different plants, maybe run back to the berry garden and snag some raspberry leaves for the pot. Then I would add one bruised leaf of stevia.

Back to the kitchen where the kettle was whistling, I added the hot water right away. Let it a steep for 4 minutes before removing the leaves to the compost. It made nicely sweetened hot or iced tea.

Deborah ....who didn't have enough of it to play around too much.

momstitch 3/22/2010, 12:11 pm

Deborah,
Sounds like I could have supplied you with all the stevia you wanted...only I'm in the midwest and you're on the west coast and I didn't even know about this forum last year. Boy, I'm sure glad I know about SFG and this forum now!!
Martha, who had mucho stevia last year lol.

lisaphoto 3/22/2010, 12:23 pm

I have to try looking around for it. None of our stores have very much out right now yet, but maybe once they do I'll be able to find a plant

gridgardener 3/23/2010, 4:02 am

starting stevia from seed is not easy

Lavender Debs 3/23/2010, 8:27 am

I know that Territorial Seed in Oregon sells it. My experience with them is that they are quality in everything they do.

Palmdale Steve 10/24/2011, 8:29 pm

How do I prepare my stevia plant so that I can put the cuttings in my greenhouse this winter so I can transplant them in the spring? Do I just cut off the branches and then put them in water? Do I need to use any thing special to get them to root? When to I transplant over to planting mix for the winter?

pharmerphil 11/3/2011, 5:34 am

Palmdale Steve wrote:How do I prepare my stevia plant so that I can put the cuttings in my greenhouse this winter so I can transplant them in the spring? Do I just cut off the branches and then put them in water? Do I need to use any thing special to get them to root? When to I transplant over to planting mix for the winter?

there's another discussion of that going on at the moment Palmdale, I will include the link to that thread, but first...

we typically dig up a stevia plant every winter, then take cuttings, we have had repeated success...

I cut back the plant leaving a few nodes, about 8 inches tall after it's grooming...
then it's inside..about January the new growth is lush and in need of help...we take cuttings, using those little jiffy 7's
we do use a commercially available rooting compound purchased at Wally worls...takes about two weeks...
we have had no failures, they root easily

Here is a link to the above mentioned thread: Stevia

AvaDGardner 2/17/2012, 6:35 pm

I know of stevia as a powdered sweetener from the herb.

What do you do with it?

giant_trainer 6/1/2014, 4:40 pm

Have any of you tried growing Stevia? Any hints?

R&R 1011 6/1/2014, 5:53 pm

Im trying it this year. I had some that sprouted indoors that I accidentally killed. I started more outside and Im waiting to see if it pops up.

CapeCoddess 6/1/2014, 6:06 pm

I've had the same stevia plants for going on 5 years now. I grow them inside in the window. Every fall after they flower I cut them all the way back to about half an inch from the soil line and in the spring they sprout up again.

This spring as they started to grow they got aphids. So I took them outside, cut them way back, removed them from the pot, blasted them with water, repotted in fresh compost, sprinkled with saved seed, and now they're outside growing like crazy. If there is no sign of aphids I'll bring them back inside in the fall. Otherwise I'll start fresh from seed in the spring.

CC

**camprn** 6/1/2014, 6:38 pm

I have not grown this. There are a few previous threads about this topic that you can find using the search feature.

**AtlantaMarie** 6/1/2014, 8:00 pm

I grew it last year from a Bonnie's start I got at HD. I ended up drying close to a gallon from one bush.

1 per square!! It gets quite large. And about 3 feet high.

quiltbea 6/1/2014, 9:36 pm

I bought some seeds and started some this year and have transplanted them out in a large pot last week. I hope they make it. Some I tried the same way 3 years ago never grew beyond stunted growth. One can only hope they 'take' this year.

NHGardener 11/14/2014, 12:21 pm

Ain't seaweed BEAUTIFUL!? Smile

That article mentions no need to wash it first, and that's what I've heard too from local orgy-s. (that's organic people. I was going to spell it orgies, but thought I better change it) There's an orgy guy in Maine who, from what I HEARD anyway, tried an experiment to see how much seawater plants could take, and when they finally only prospered in it, he gave up and decided seawater was healthy for plants. (That may be a very loose translation, but something like that) No kidding.

Why don't more people use stevia, when it's a natural alternative? I guess sugar cane is natural too, but stevia is locally grown and I think it's better for you than sugar cane, no?

When I put seaweed on my beds, the whole place smells like the beach. LOL.

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