All You Need To Know About Growing Stevia

You want to grow stevia at home and have some questions that need to be answered in this regard?

Great! Stick with me since I will answer all kinds of questions about growing stevia at home in the following FAQ section.

Table of Contents

Time & Duration

When to grow stevia from seed?

The best time to grow stevia is in spring when it is still cool outside but you don’t expect frost anymore.

Alternatively, you could also grow stevia in fall as long as you make sure that you start early enough to harvest it before winter frost hits.

Does stevia grow year-round?

While stevia grows year-round, the best time to grow it is still in spring.

However, if you want to get multiple batches of yields per year, you can also sow stevia seeds multiple times in spring, summer or fall.

You will soon learn what works best for the climatic conditions you live in and can adjust future growing conditions according to that.

Does stevia grow fast?

Stevia grows relatively fast and you will be able to harvest stevia within two months.

This is faster than with most other garden veggies and growing stevia is therefore great for rather impatient people who want to see results quickly.

How long does it take to grow stevia?

It will take you 45 days to grow stevia from seed to harvest on average. However, there are many factors contributing to the overall growing time.

Not only will the climatic conditions you grow stevia in matter quite a lot, but also your skill level will determine how fast you can grow stevia from seed.

Does stevia grow back every year?

Once you harvest stevia plants and remove the roots from the ground, stevia will not grow back.

Hence, if you want to get stevia yields for many years to come, you would have to plant seeds every year again.

How long do stevia plants live?

Stevia plants usually live for a few months until you harvest them.

However, if you don’t want to harvest stevia plants and rather want to let them grow in a completely natural manner, stevia can be grown as a perennial and will therefore live for many years.

This can be great if you want to grow one big stevia plant and produce many cuttings from it.

How long does it take until stevia flowers?

Stevia plants will only flower if you don’t harvest your plants in time, around two months after you sow the seed.

In fact, you should harvest the plant material right before bolding since at this point in time, the plant material will have the best quality and you should only let your plants flower if you want to save seeds from them.

Can you grow stevia in fall?

Growing stevia in fall is perfectly fine. Just make sure that you wait until hot summer months are over but also make sure that you start growing stevia soon enough so that it matures before winter frost arrives since stevia is quite sensitive to frost.

Can you grow stevia in winter?

Growing stevia in winter is not the best idea since you would not be able to do it outdoors but rather would have to grow stevia inside your home.

However, you would just not be able to provide natural growing conditions indoors and your plants would not provide you with decent yields.

Location & Climate

Will stevia grow in shade?

Stevia doesn’t grow well in shade. In fact, stevia needs plenty of sun to grow well and this means that you should choose one of the sunniest spots in your garden or on your balcony to assure fast growth and decent stevia yields.

Will stevia grow in partial shade?

While growing stevia in partial shade is better than growing it in complete shade, stevia plants will often still get too few hours of sunlight.

Consequently, instead of growing stevia in partial shade, you should rather search for a sunny spot around your home.

Do stevia plants grow best in full sun?

Stevia grows best in full sun. In fact, the more sun you provide for stevia plants, the faster and stronger they will grow.

Thus, if you really want to optimize stevia yields, you should choose a site where your plants get full sun all day long.

Will stevia tolerate frost?

Stevia plants are quite sensitive to frost and you should therefore make sure that you don’t start growing stevia until cold winter months are over and you don’t expect frost anymore so that your plants are safe and will not be exposed to excessively cold weather, especially during nighttime.

Do you have to protect stevia from the sun?

Since stevia plants love the sun, you don’t have to protect them from the sun.

In fact, the more sun stevia plants get, the faster they will grow and the faster your plants grow, the higher your yields will be at the end of the growing season.

How much space do you need to grow stevia?

While stevia plants can get quite big in the vertical, they will stay relatively compact in the horizontal.

Consequently, it will be enough to plan around 2 square feet of space for each plant so that they don’t have to compete for nutrients and sunlight with each other.

Will stevia grow indoors?

While you could grow stevia indoors, you will still get much better results outdoors since your plants would just get much more natural sunlight.

Moreover, growing stevia indoors is also not a good idea since your plants would take away lots of precious space from you.

Can you grow stevia without a garden or balcony?

If you don’t have a balcony or a garden, you can still grow stevia indoors as long as you make sure that you choose a bright spot inside your home.

However, you will still not get the same yields as outdoors and your plants would also grow much slower.

Can you grow stevia in small flats?

Growing stevia in small flats is not a good idea since your plants would just take away too much space from you and I therefore recommend you wait with growing stevia until you move to a bigger place where you are not that space-constrained anymore.

Can you grow stevia in an aquarium?

You could also try growing stevia in an aquarium. However, since aquariums are not built for growing plants, water will often not be able to run off properly and waterlogging may let the roots of your plants rot.

Hence, instead of growing stevia in aquariums, you should rather use flower pots.

Can you grow stevia in a terrarium?

Terrariums are also not a great place to grow stevia since waterlogging may become an issue and you would also be quite inflexible to move those terrariums since they get quite heavy once you fill them with potting soil.

Can you grow stevia in buckets?

Growing stevia in buckets works great as long as you make sure to choose big buckets so that your plants get sufficient nutrients and also make sure that those buckets have holes so that excess water can run off properly and waterlogging will not become an issue.

Can you grow stevia in bags?

Growing stevia in bags is also fine as long as you choose stable fabric bags instead of plastic bags since they will just be more durable and water will also be able to run off better.

Moreover, also make sure to use big bags so that stevia plants get sufficient nutrients to grow well.

Can you grow stevia in hanging baskets?

Stevia is a great plant to grow in hanging baskets since it will not produce heavy crops and also the plant itself will not become too heavy.

Consequently, you will not have to fear that hanging baskets will fall down to the ground due to the weight of your plants.

Can you grow stevia in rainy climatic zones?

Growing stevia in rainy climatic zones is not a good idea since your plants would just grow much slower compared to sunny climatic conditions.

Hence, if you want to grow really big stevia, you should do it in regions where you can provide sun for your plants all day long.

Can you grow stevia in tropical climatic zones?

While stevia plants like the heat, many stevia varieties are still not used to high levels of humidity in the air.

Consequently, if you want to grow stevia in the tropics, make sure to choose a variety that has been designed for those extremely humid conditions to get the best results.

Can you grow stevia in regions with permafrost?

Stevia also doesn’t grow well in regions with permafrost at all since stevia is quite sensitive to frost and you would therefore have to grow it indoors or in a heated greenhouse instead of outdoors in your garden.

Does stevia grow on vines?

Stevia doesn’t grow on vines but rather grows on plants that can get quite big in the vertical.

Stevia plants also don’t produce crops but you will rather harvest the plant material that you can use as an alternative to traditional sugar to sweeten your dishes.

Does stevia grow underground?

Stevia doesn’t grow underground. Apart from the roots of your plants, the whole plant will grow above the soil surface and this makes it pretty easy for you to determine the optimal harvesting time since you will see how the leaves you want to harvest look every day.

What is the best orientation for growing stevia?

Since stevia needs lots of direct sunlight to grow well, you should grow stevia in south orientation to get the best results.

West and east orientation are ok but you should never grow stevia in north orientation since your plants would just not get sufficient levels of sunlight.

Can you grow stevia with indirect sunlight?

While you could also grow stevia with indirect sunlight in greenhouses, stevia plants would still grow better with lots of direct sunlight outdoors.

Hence, as long as you have the option to grow stevia in a sunny garden, do it to get the best results!

Where does stevia grow best?

Stevia grows best in a fully sunny environment where your plants also have enough space so that they don’t have to compete for sunlight and nutrients.

Thus, the best site to grow stevia is a sunny spot in your garden where your plants are still protected from heavy winds.

Where to grow stevia in pots?

If you want to grow stevia in pots, you should not grow them indoors but rather move those pots outdoors to your porch where stevia plants get much more sunlight and can therefore grow in a much better manner compared to indoors.

Where to grow stevia indoors?

If your only option is to grow stevia indoors, at least make sure to choose a bright room inside your home so that your plants get decent levels of indirect sunlight.

However, you should still not expect the same results as outdoors since your plants would just not able to utilize sunlight that well.

Can you grow stevia in water?

You should not try to grow stevia in pure water since your plants would just not get sufficient nutrients.

Instead, make sure to use a high-quality soil mix so that stevia plants get all they need to grow strong quickly and also become resistant to pests soon.

Can you grow stevia with LED lights?

Relying on LEDs or other forms of artificial lighting to grow stevia is not a great idea.

Even though it may work to a certain extent, artificial lighting will never replace natural sunlight to a full extent and you would also have to spend lots of energy and money on it.

Consequently, instead of growing stevia with artificial lighting indoors, you should rather grow it outdoors in your garden since it is a cheaper and also more efficient way to grow stevia.

Can you grow stevia in dark rooms?

Growing stevia in dark rooms is not a great idea since your plants would just not get sufficient levels of sunlight and would not grow well.

Hence, instead of growing stevia plants in dark rooms, make sure to grow them in bright rooms or even better, grow stevia outdoors.

Soil Requirements

Can you reuse soil for growing stevia the next year?

You can reuse soil for growing stevia multiple times.

Just make sure to loosen the soil after each growing season so that the roots of your plants can grow well and also make sure to add some fertilizer to the soil to make it rich in nutrients again.

Do stevia plants grow well in waterlogged soil?

While stevia is a plant that tolerates a certain level of waterlogging, it will still not love waterlogged soil and you should therefore make sure that excess water can run off properly so that the roots of your plants will not start to rot in the long run.

Does stevia grow best in acidic, neutral or alkaline soil?

Stevia grows best in rather neutral soil with an optimal soil pH of 6.7 – 7.1.

However, you should not worry about these technicalities that much as long as you get a decent soil mix from the garden center.

Will stevia grow in sandy soil?

Sandy soil is not a great environment to grow stevia since it just doesn’t provide that many nutrients to your plants.

In turn, stevia plants will grow relatively slow and you should rather use a more balanced soil mix that is richer in nutrients instead of sandy soil.

Will stevia grow well in clay soil?

While stevia will grow decently in clay soil, you will still get better results if you grow stevia in soil that is looser since the roots of your plants would be better able to grow and also excess water would be able to run off better in looser soil compared to compact clay soil.

Will stevia grow in compost?

Compost can be great to grow stevia as long as you mix it with potting soil from the store.

Only then will you get the right acidity level in the soil and can also make sure that the soil will have the right texture so that stevia and other garden vegetables can grow as well as possible.

Plant Care

Do stevia plants need a lot of water?

Stevia plants don’t need lots of water while they are still young.

However, once they get bigger, their water demand will grow exponentially and this means that watering your plants may become a real struggle if you don’t have a proper watering setup in place.

Do you have to water stevia on a regular basis?

How much you have to water your plants greatly depends on the climatic conditions you grow stevia and also on the growing setup.

For instance, if you grow stevia in your garden, you will not have to water your plants that often since your plants can get rainwater from the soil.

However, if you grow stevia in pots, you will have to water your plants much more often since the soil will dry up rather quickly.

Should you use filtered or unfiltered water to water stevia?

You should not make any efforts filtering tap water for watering stevia plants since you will barely see any difference in the overall results.

Instead, make sure to use your time more wisely on things that can have a real positive effect on the yields of your plants.

Should you use rainwater to water stevia?

Rainwater is great for watering stevia plants since it is the most natural form of water and stevia plants have grown with rainwater for many thousands of years.

Just make sure to install a rainwater barrel in your garden to collect rainwater during rainy periods of the year which you can then use for hot and dry periods to assure water supply for your plants.

When to stake stevia plants?

While there is no real need to stake stevia plants, you can still stabilize them to make them more resistant to winds.

However, you should wait with staking stevia plants until your plants are at least 4 inches in height.

What to stake stevia with?

The simplest but still most effective way to stake and stabilize stevia plants is to anchor sticks next to each plant and tie stevia plants with cord to those sticks.

By doing so, your plants will become more resistant to heavy winds and other adverse conditions outdoors.

What to do when stevia leaves turn yellow?

If the leaves of stevia plants turn yellow, this is usually a sign that you should alter your watering behavior.

Moreover, you should also add some fertilizer to the soil and check your plants for pest infestation and plant diseases and take measures to get rid of them.

How to protect stevia against wind?

You just need to tie stevia plants with cord to sticks and you will be able to protect stevia from winds or even heavy storms.

The more ties you make and the bigger the sticks you tie your plants to, the higher the chances that your plants will survive those adverse conditions

How to protect stevia against heavy rain?

While you don’t have to actively protect stevia plants against rain, you may want to grow stevia seedlings indoors and only transplant them outdoors once they are resistant enough to deal with heavy rain on their own.

This will be the case when your plants reach around 2 inches in height.

How to protect stevia against hail?

If you expect hail in your region, you should move stevia plants to a safe spot around your home if you grow them in pots.

If you grow stevia directly in your garden and don’t have the option of moving your pots, you may want to use foil cover from the garden center to protect your plants as best as possible.

Should you pinch out stevia?

Pinching stevia is not a great idea since you would often do more harm than good and since you will also harvest the plant material instead of actual crops at the end of the growing season, you would also reduce your yields.

Consequently, never pinch out stevia plants but rather let them grow in a completely natural manner to get the best results.

Where to pinch stevia?

If you want to pinch stevia for your own reasons, you should pinch your plants outdoors in your garden or on your balcony instead of indoors to avoid a mess inside your home and also to keep out garden pests as best as possible.

Can you grow stevia without fertilizer?

If you use high-quality soil and also provide your plants with sufficient space, you may be able to grow stevia without having to add additional fertilizer.

However, if you really want to maximize your yields, you should still add some fertilizer to get the most out of your gardening project.

Should you cover stevia plants to protect them against frost?

Covering stevia plants is not a good idea since you would alter lighting conditions which in turn may confuse your plants.

Instead of covering stevia plants to protect them from frost, you should rather wait with growing stevia outdoors until you don’t expect frost anymore.

How to get rid of moss when growing stevia?

If you see moss on the soil surface next to stevia plants, you should definitely slow down your watering schedule since moss is an indicator of excessive levels of moisture in the soil and you will get rid of it by just letting the soil dry up a little bit.

Pests & Diseases

Can you grow stevia without using pesticides?

The better the conditions you provide to stevia plants, the higher the chances that your plants will become resistant to pests and plant diseases and the lower the risk that you have to use pesticides during your growth project.

Should you use natural or chemical pesticides for stevia?

In case pest infestation is quite serious, you may want to use pesticides to get relief for your plants.

However, still make sure to use natural pesticides instead of chemical alternatives to make your gardening project as organic as possible and also to protect the soil and the local flora and fauna.

What are the most common stevia pests?

Cutworms, slugs and bugs are common pests you may have to deal with when growing stevia in your garden.

Fortunately, there are easy but yet efficient ways to get rid of those hungry intruders.

How to protect stevia against pests?

To learn more about pest removal, make sure to check out how to get rid of stevia pests and diseases and also my pest prevention articles on how to get rid of plant diseases and garden pests in a simple manner.

Growing Difficulty

Should you grow stevia with children?

While stevia grows quickly, it is still not a great plant to grow with kids since it will just not produce any crops.

Consequently, your kids may be disappointed by the results and you may therefore want to grow carrots, tomatoes or other plants that produce more exciting crops instead.

Is stevia a good plant for a school project?

Stevia can also be a quite interesting plant for a school garden since it grows relatively fast and is also not yet well-known to the general public.

Consequently, also school kids may be quite interested in what you grow in the school garden and may also actively help to protect your plants.

Is growing stevia difficult?

Growing stevia at home is not difficult at all. In fact, you can get decent results even if you are still new to gardening as long as you follow all the advice in this article.

Harvest

What color do ripe stevia plants have?

Stevia plants have a deep green color once they are ready to harvest. However, leaves can also turn yellow if your plants don’t get sufficient nutrients.

Just harvest stevia plants when they are big enough to provide decent yields and you will be good to go.

Can you save seeds from stevia plants?

If you want to harvest stevia seeds, you should not harvest stevia plants in time but rather let them grow for longer until you see flowers forming on your plants.

However, by doing so, you would also lower the quality of the stevia leaves and you will therefore have a tradeoff between harvesting great plant material on the one hand and saving seeds on the other hand.

Can stevia get overripe?

Since stevia will not produce any crops, stevia will also not get overripe.

However, if you don’t harvest stevia leaves in time, you may still lose some nutrients and also flavor and you should therefore not wait too long harvesting your plants once they are ready.

What parts of a stevia plant can you eat?

Not only can you use stevia leaves, but you can also use the stems.

Consequently, the whole stevia plant will be edible and you should also use all of the plant material to make your gardening project as economical and eco-friendly as possible.

Additional Questions

Is growing stevia expensive?

Growing stevia at home is not expensive at all. In fact, you can grow stevia at virtually no cost if you have a garden since the only thing you urgently need to get are some seeds.

Consequently, almost everyone will be able to grow stevia at home from a financial perspective.

Is growing stevia fun?

Growing stevia at home can be quite a lot of fun.

Not only can you enjoy the progress your plants make every day, but you can also make many nice things out of your stevia yields and can also invent your own recipes.

Does stevia grow on trees?

Stevia doesn’t grow on trees but rather grows on solid plants that can get quite big in the vertical but stay rather small in the horizontal.

Stevia plants also grow above the soil surface and will also not produce any crops.

Does stevia grow from flowers?

Stevia doesn’t grow from flowers. In fact, stevia plants will not produce any crop yields and you will rather harvest the plant material.

Consequently, you will not have to worry about the flowering behavior of stevia plants at all as long as you don’t want to save seeds from your plants.

How many stevia plants should you grow per pot?

Since stevia plants can grow quite big, you should not grow more than one plant per pot.

Also make sure that the pots you grow stevia in have a decent size so that your plants get sufficient nutrients and can grow as well as possible.

Which animals feed on stevia?

Mice, rabbits and other rodents will often try to feed on stevia plants.

Consequently, it is crucial that you install a fence or other protective measures to keep away those hungry intruders as best as possible.

Will pets eat stevia plants?

If you keep rabbits or other rodents as pets, chances are that those pets will try to feed on stevia plants sooner or later.

Therefore, make sure to separate your pets from your plants as best as possible to avoid any issues in this regard.

Is stevia toxic for pets?

While stevia is not toxic for most pets, it can still lead to digestion problems and I therefore suggest you keep away your pets from stevia plants as best as possible, not only to protect your pets but also to protect your plants.

Why stevia grows small?

Stevia grows small if you don’t provide optimal conditions to your plants.

Hence, to get better results in future years, make sure to grow stevia in a sunny spot in your garden and also make sure that you provide your plants with high-quality soil and also with enough space.

What to grow with stevia?

To get more information on what to grow with stevia, make sure to have a look at the best stevia companion plants.

Can you grow stevia from stevia?

You can also grow stevia from stevia. However, instead of just putting stevia stems into the soil, you first need to make cuttings and put those cuttings into water so that they develop roots before you can finally transplant them into potting soil.

Can you grow stevia without seeds?

Instead of growing stevia from seed, you could also grow it from seedlings from the garden center.

Not only would this make your gardening project easier, but you would also be able to grow stevia at home faster.

Do you have to pollinate stevia by hand?

Since stevia plants don’t produce crops and you will just harvest the plant material, you will also not have to worry about pollination issues at all unless you want to save seeds from your plants and you will therefore also not have to pollinate stevia by hand.

How to grow big stevia?

The bigger your stevia yields should be, the better the conditions you have to offer to your plants.

Consequently, if you want to really maximize stevia yields, you should provide lots of high-quality soil to your plants and also make sure to choose the sunniest spot possible in your garden.

Also make sure to add some fertilizer and keep away pests as best as possible so that your plants can use all of their energy to grow fast.

Can you grow stevia commercially?

Succeeding in growing stevia commercially is pretty tough since you will face lots of competition and you would also have to invest lots of money in equipment and land.

Thus, instead of growing stevia commercially, I suggest you rather grow stevia for fun.

Can you grow stevia from fresh seeds?

Growing stevia from seed will be almost impossible since you will just not be able to buy fresh stevia seeds most of the time.

Hence, unless you produce your own stevia seeds, you would rather have to rely on packaged seeds from the garden center instead.

Can you grow stevia from dried seeds?

Growing stevia from dried seeds is the standard in the gardening world since you will get decent germination rates while you will also be quite flexible regarding when you want to start growing stevia and you will also be able to store those dried seeds for quite a long time.

Can you grow stevia from cuttings?

You could also grow stevia from cuttings.

However, it is still much more difficult compared to just growing stevia from seed and if you are still new to gardening and have no experience with producing cuttings yet, you may want to grow stevia from seeds to avoid any issues in this regard.

Should you use a stevia growing kit for growing stevia?

Relying on stevia growing kits is not a great idea in my opinion since those growing kits are often of pretty bad quality.

Hence, instead of investing money in these growing kits, you should rather buy equipment that is more durable and also suitable to grow many other plants at home.

Does stevia grow in the wild?

While stevia grows in the wild, you will barely see it in nature since it will often be displaced by other more intrusive species and stevia plants will therefore not survive in the wild for an extensive period of time.

Should you talk to stevia plants?

While you could talk to stevia plants, you should not expect any positive effect on the growth of your plants.

Instead of talking to stevia, I suggest you use your time on things that can make a real difference in your overall yields.

Should you plant stevia at half moon or full moon?

You should not care about the moon phase you start growing stevia in at all. Instead, do what’s best for your schedule and also from a climatic point of view and you will get decent results at the end of the growing season without having to worry about moon phases at all.

Now that you hopefully found the answers you were looking for, you may also want to have a look at my stevia grower’s guide on how to grow stevia from seed to harvest step-by-step.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevia

Own research and experience.

About the Author

My name is Andreas and I’m really passionate about our environment and also about growing plants. In fact, I have grown several different plants over many years. I love to see my plants grow and also always try new things to improve my overall conditions at home.

In my blog posts, I want to share my experiences with you so that you can become successful in growing various different plants and improving your home as well, even though you might still be a beginner right now.

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