Stevia rebaudiana
Stevia
Common names: Sweet herb, Honey herb
At a glance
- Light
- Full sun
- Spacing
- 30 cm, rows 35 cm
- Lifespan
- Perennial
- Sowing
- Mar–Apr
- Harvest
- Jul–Oct
- Hardiness
- Cold damage below 5 °C
- Water need
- Medium
- For children
- Well suited
Photo: Ethel Aardvark · CC BY 3.0 · Source
This description was machine-translated.
Description
Stevia is a sweet herb from South America; a single leaf tastes many times sweeter than sugar. In our region it is not winter hardy and is best moved into the house as a potted plant in autumn.
Care instructions
Start growing Stevia from March in a warm place and only set it outside after the last frost or grow it year-round in a pot. Place it in full sun and warmth and water evenly, avoiding waterlogging. Harvest individual leaves continuously from July; overwinter the plant in a bright place at around ten degrees Celsius.
The care notes were machine-translated from German.
Garden year
SowingMar–Apr
HarvestJul–Oct
Germination
- Soil temperature
- from 18 °C, ideally 24 °C
- Days to sprout
- 10 to 21 days
- Light
- Needs light to sprout
- Sowing depth
- Press in, don't cover
- How to start
- Start indoors, then plant out
Soil & site
Soil pH
Soil type
sandy, loamy, humus-rich, well-drained
Stevia likes loose, well-drained soil, ideally sandy loam with some humus, because waterlogging quickly leads to root rot. Loosen soil that is too heavy or compacted with mature compost when planting.
Feeding
Medium feeder
Months
May–Jul
When planting in spring, work mature compost flat into the planting area. During the main growing season, you can give it a moderate boost with an organic plant feed (for example nettle) if needed. Deliberately hold back on nitrogen. Too much nitrogen does push the foliage, but reduces the sweetness of the leaves.
Overwintering
Stevia is not hardy and dies in frost. Bring it indoors as a container plant before the first frosts, cut it back close to the ground and keep it bright and cool (about 10 to 15 °C); water only sparingly so the root ball does not dry out. After the Ice Saints it may go back outside; in the bed, treat it as an annual and raise it afresh each year.
Propagation
Methods
- Cuttings
- From seed
The most reliable method is cuttings: in spring or early summer, cut shoot tips about 10 to 15 cm long just below a leaf node and remove the lower leaves. You can either stand the cuttings in a glass of water (change the water daily, bright spot without direct sun) or insert them directly into free-draining, nutrient-poor seed compost and keep them moist under a plastic cover. Roots form in about two to three weeks. Cuttings give you plants true to type, with the same sweetness as the parent plant.
For sowing, sow on a windowsill from March to April. Stevia is a light-germinating seed, so only press the seeds in lightly and do not cover them. The germination temperature should be at least 22 °C, and expect a germination rate of often only about 10 to 20 %; sow considerably more seed than you need plants. Germination takes about two weeks. After the Ice Saints (mid-May), you can plant the young plants out 30 cm apart in a sunny, wind-sheltered spot. Stevia is not hardy in Central Europe. Overwinter favourite plants indoors, frost-free, and use them in spring as cutting mother plants.
Companion planting
Companion planting is partly traditional gardening lore. Where the reason is known, it is given.
Some of these explanations were machine-translated.
For your garden
Grow Stevia yourself
Gartenkern tells you when frost is coming, when to sow and when to harvest, for your location.
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