The results of Stevia pinching

After I've topped, i.e. pinched my Stevia plants for the second time, I waited a while for them to heal. Now, they are growing again and I hope that I'll be able to take some cuttings very soon. I've never tried to propagate Stevia Rebaudiana, so it will be a first time for me. Wish me luck!
Here are a few photographs of my Stevia plants that will show you the pinching method and its results, i.e. new growth which will be used for cuttings.

Here's the place where I made the first cut, the top shoot of the plant!



Here's the place where I made the second cut, thus creating four new plant shoots!




Stay Sweet!

Opinion on Stevia Rebaudiana

I was just searching Google for some information regarding this beautiful herb and came upon this interesting publication.
It's titled as an Opinion on Stevia Rebaudiana Bertoni Plants and Leaves and its' main purpose is to as they say assess the safety from the consumer health point of view of the leaves of Stevia Rebaudiana Bertoni as Novel Food. This opinion is brought by European Commission, i.e. its Scientific Committee on Food.
Interestingly enough, I thought to myself, there's somebody who cares about what we eat, NOT!
If this care should be genuine in any sense, it for sure wouldn't allow a bunch of products you can find in your stores today. We are all overdosed on sugar and salt, bunch of additives and chemicals, yet we find so much supposedly unanswered questions and controversy surrounding one plant. As expected, it is concluded that information submitted on Stevia products was insufficient with regard to specification and standardization of the commercial product and contains no safety studies. There are no satisfactory data to support the safe use of these products as ingredients of food or as sucrose substitute for diabetics and obese individuals.
We shouldn't forget that there are cultures(people) around the world that have used Stevia leaf for generations.
It seems to me that there certainly is a way to gather sufficient information regarding the safety of Stevia usage, but is there will!?

After the second topping

Here are a few photographs of my Stevia plants, after the second time I've topped them. I hope you'll get better understanding of what I was writing about in my previous post. The plants are still in process of healing, but I hope you'll be able to see what are the results of this pruning method I practice.

Stevia Plant





Stay sweet!

Topping again

After I have pinched(topped) my Stevia for the first time, I had to wait for the plant to heal and produce two new branches, instead of one main stem. That's easily seen from my previous post. Then I waited for a week or two and again cut off the tops of two new branches, just above the second set of new leaves. My main goal is to promote branching, so I can take some cuttings. I have never done that with Stevia and I can only hope I'll have enough cuttings to experiment with!

Wish me luck and stay sweet!

Topping my Stevia plant

There are a few methods you can use to promote branching and one of those is topping your plant. After you pinch the top of your plant, you´ll have to wait for the plant to heal and soon you´ll see the results. Maybe topping is not the best method for this cause, but it´s quite simple and effective. You just have to wait while they heal and soon you´ll have a little bush. I have just done some topping a few days ago, so take a look at this sweet little example.

Stay Sweet!

Seed Germination

How to germinate Stevia seeds: Stevia seeds are so tiny, you have to be extra careful when handling them. What seed germination method to use, was the first dilemma I encountered. After some researching I decided to go with the paper towel method.

Paper towel method: place seeds you want to germinate in to a moist paper towel. It is a must to keep them in a warm and dark place. To retain moisture, simply put your wet paper towel within a plastic bag and that will do it. At germination, the outside shell of the seed splits and a tiny, white sprout called taproot pops out. When you see those little taproots coming out of the seeds, gently place them(root down) in to the soil and try to keep your soil equally moist for the next few weeks. Over watering presents a big problem in this stage, so be very careful!!!

Stay Sweet!

Stevia Plants

I live in a flat, but still I can find the space and time to grow some beautiful plants. Stevia Rebaudiana has a special place in my garden and as you can see, the plants are pretty small but they are looking great. They are grown totally organic so there will be no problem with possible chemical residues. Soon I´ll be making some 100% home made tea with my own sweet leaf!!!

Here are a few photos of my Stevia plants!

Stevia Seeds

A few years ago I watched a TV documentary about this beautiful plant called Stevia Rebaudiana. That was the first time ever I heard anything about this plant. An old man, a nutritionist by vocation explained the basic properties of this herb and its medicinal importance. That´s when I became highly interested in this amazing herb and started my research.
For a passionate herb grower the logic step was to get some seeds and try growing this plant, and that´s exactly what I did. In my country that seemed impossible. It seemed that almost nobody heard of Stevia and those who have, failed to cultivate it. I decided to continue my search via internet and after a few months, BINGO! It looks like the website I got my seeds from is no longer active, but I have to thank them one more time! They sent me the seeds for the first time, but something went wrong, I guess. I contacted them and informed them about the whole no seeds situation, so they kindly sent another package and now I grow my own Stevia! And by the way, the seeds I got were for free!!!

Good people, thanks again!