Anyone growing Stevia?

[applestar]

With the last harvestable crop in, I have what I would consider to be a lot of stevia, so I've been experimenting with some direct use:

(1) Ground coffee - I ground up the coffee beans with whole dried stevia stems (leaves and stems) and lemongrass
(2) Pasta sauce and curry sauce -- generous amount of whole fresh stevia leaves and stems stewed in the sauce

Both turned out great.

This morning, I wanted a "warming" cup -- it was COLD! So for my single-serving French Press pot with 2 level Tbs of the coffee mix above, I added a good sprinkling of cinnamon and heavy grind of black peppers. Believe it or not, it was delicious!

[applestar]

I thought I hadn't posted about grinding the Stevia sticks with coffee bur I see I have ! It's been working out really well. (in fact, I've also started experimenting with mint and lavender stems' etc. in ground coffee )

I'm mixing the smaller dried leaf petioles, etc. that I can crunch/crumble with my fingers in the herbal tea blends along with whole dried leaves.

The other day, I happened to use ground coffee that didn't have Stevia in it, and just put a 1/8 tsp or so pure green-dried ground Stevia leaves in with the coffee to brew. Ugh! I almost spit out the first mouthful -- the flavor was so awful! I see from reviewing this thread that Lorax said boiling water will exaggerate the metallic aftertaste so that might be what happened, but all in all, I think I'll stick with stems in the coffee.

[GardenRN]

I'm starting to think maybe I wasted my time/money buying this Stevia plant before I researched it more. I thought you could just use the leaves as-is or maybe use them dried. I didn't think I was going to have to do a bunch of processing to use it was a sweetener. It seems like those of you that have used it dried or fresh aren't getting many grand results.

Heads-up for those starting from seeds. I read that the germination rate was only about 4%. Unless you (and I don't know how big they are) pick out the dark seeds. A university research report said that if you separate the dark seeds out and plant those ones the germination rate jumps to over 85%. Only a read, not experience but I thought it may be useful. Good luck!

[applestar]

Oh don't get me wrong, I've blended dried Stevia leaves in herbal tea mixes and they taste great. My mix is primarily peppermint, pineapple sage, lemon grass, lavender + few other ingredients. I don't have a formula -- just crumble up the dried leaves and add to the canister as it is depleted. My most recent addition was some dried lemon flowers.

Glad you reminded me. I should try tasting that vodka extract -- I put it in the fridge after straining and bottling and forgot about it!

[GardenRN]

yeah let me know how that vodka extract tastes when you do! I watched a youtube video on how to do it and I was wondering about it. How do you know when you've burned off all the alcohol when you warm it? Just by taste? I suppose I have all summer to ponder which method I'll use since I only got a 3" pot and I only got one of them. When it gets a bit bigger I think I'll try to root some cuttings.

Anyone tried rooting cuttings? I'm curious if it's real easy like basil or if I'l have to get some of the root hormone stuff. I have use seeds and cuttings only for so long it felt weird to go into a nursery and buy an actual plant!

I did however score about 50 free 3" and 4" pots from the recycling bin there, and a few 2gal pots as well! So I felt like I got my money's worth lol.

[applestar]

Propagating from cuttings wasn't too difficult. I described my experience somewhere before. I can't at this moment remember exact survival rate -- not as easy as basil or pineapple sage, not as tricky as Rosemary maybe. I had something like 4 rooted cuttings last spring. Warmth and good light were the key I think. I didn't use rooting hormone.

[ozark_rocks]

Anyone tried rooting cuttings? I'm curious if it's real easy like basil or if I'll have to get some of the root hormone stuff. I have use seeds and cuttings only for so long it felt weird to go into a nursery and buy an actual plant!

.

Two weeks ago I took my Stevia and turned it out of its pot, shook the dirt off, and cut the three biggest stems apart leaving some roots on each. Then I re potted each in new soil. Now I have three healthy plants , with new growth.This worked so well I think I will do It again.

[applestar]

Since they each had roots, this would be called "dividing", but that's a good idea! I'll have to take a look at my roots when I repot in the spring and see if division is a possibility.

[ozark_rocks]

Since they each had roots, this would be called "dividing", but that's a good idea! I'll have to take a look at my roots when I repot in the spring and see if division is a possibility.

Dividing, your right. I was confussed because it was so tough, that I cut it with scissors. The plant I started with was root bound, light starved and sick looking. After dividing it and repotting, it started growing and looks healthy. Maybe I should say they all look healthy and are growing?

How many stevia plants do grow? With all of your experiments, I'm guessing alot?

[applestar]

Most likely, what happens is that because the seeds are so tiny, multiple seedlings are allowed to grow in a clump when grow from seed. Then they get all tangled up together looking like a single plant.

As for how many stevia plants -- if you're asking me -- I had 6 plants. Two I gave away, and 2 I allowed to get killed by frost when they were overlooked during my rush to bring in as many hot/sweet pepper plants as possible to overwinter last fall.

I may actually be down to one plant because I'm letting the other one overwinter in dormant state in the unheated garage, along with a couple of large pineapple sage, a heliotrope, a Japanese Maple seedling, and a parsley.
Oh! That reminds me. I should bring inside the potted tulip bulbs I left there to force. This is probably a good time.

[ozark_rocks]

Most likely, what happens is that because the seeds are so tiny, multiple seedlings are allowed to grow in a clump when grow from seed. Then they get all tangled up together looking like a single plant.

That would explain the unhealthy part, they were too crowded. It would also explain why they took off so quick when given thier own space.

This gives me the idea for an experiment. I'm going to look for a multi-stemmed Stevia at the nursery, to divide, and I'm, going to take one of my new plants and try to seprat the new shoots from the base of the plant. I want to see which grows faster, the older plants or the little new ones.

[thanrose]

My stevia, frosted back to the soil surface, has been growing again since mid January. Trying to set blooms already, rather insistent about it. I've cut those stems for the third time today. Just the nascent buds. Hope I clipped them early enough so they don't get bitter.