Probably, someone thinks that it is impossible to grow a natural sweetener without carbohydrates and calories at home. This is because you do not know about the unique plant - stevia. A wonderful natural sweetener, which, very importantly, can be grown in the country house, in the garden and even in the kitchen.
Honey grass (stevia) is actually not such a rare inhabitant of garden plots, balconies and flower beds. The plant can not only decorate your site or house, but also has many useful properties. How to grow stevia at home, we will tell in this article. We hope that the advice of experienced flower growers will be useful to you.
Stevia: plant description
The name of the plant combines a huge genus of perennials belonging to the aster family. He combined more than 250 species of various shrubs and herbs. They come from the plains and mountainous regions of America. The most famous and popular type is honey stevia, which has been cultivated for a long time in many summer cottages.parts of our country.
For the first time, the plant was studied by the botanist Stevus (XVI century), after whom it was named. Antonio Bertoni was the first to find out (and it was during an expedition to Paraguay) that the aborigines use this grass for food. He noted that the Indians made sweet and tasty drinks from the plant, which they called "guarani".
Stevia is a perennial herb. Its leaves contain glucoside (stevioside), which is 300 times sweeter than sucrose. Such a sugar substitute is useful for absolutely everyone, especially people suffering from obesity and diabetes. That is why gardeners from different regions strive to grow it on their plots. However, not everyone knows how to grow stevia from seeds in the country.
Honey grass is a semi-shrub, the height of which reaches 80 cm. It has a developed root system, branches abundantly, the stems are covered with small paired leaves. The plant blooms with small white flowers. Today it is widely used for cooking in Asia and South America.
Growing conditions
Stevia loves sunlight and respects heat, so it should be grown in a well-lit place, protected from drafts and sudden gusts of wind. The ideal air temperature for its cultivation is at least +22 ° C. Stevia should not be planted in lowlands where water accumulates - its excess is detrimental to the plant.
What kind of soil does stevia need?
This aspect must be considered if you are interested in how to grow a plant. Stevia in relation to the compositionsoil is not too picky - it can grow on different soils, as long as they are not too saline. The ideal soil for it will be sandy substrates, to which organic matter is added. To create ideal conditions for seedlings, add compost or humus to the black soil in a ratio of 3: 1.
If the soil is too clay, add some sand. In addition, when growing stevia at home, the use of ready-made soil mixtures is allowed. You can prepare the soil yourself from two parts of sand and part of humus.
How to grow stevia from seeds?
You should know that this is not an easy task. Stevia seeds are very small - they do not exceed 4 mm in length, and only 0.5 mm in width. Most purchased in the store is often unsuitable for cultivation. Therefore, the seeds must be filled with water for an hour. Empty seeds will remain on the surface.
This plant has a seedling period of about two months, so the seeds are sown in April. Prepare containers (small plastic containers with lids are suitable for this) and soil for sowing. Make small indentations on the surface of the soil and place 2-3 seeds in each of them. Sprinkle them with a thin layer of soil (no more than 3 cm). Place the seed containers under the lamp. Do not turn it off even at night in the early days. The air temperature in the room must be at least +25 °C. After 7-10 days you will see the first sprouts. The lids are then removed from the containers. After three weeks, UV lamp illumination is reduced to 15 hours a day.
When seedlings have strong leaves, they should be thinned out by removing weak plants.
Cutting
This is an easier way to grow a plant. Stevia reproduces well vegetatively, but to use this method, you must have a mother plant that is at least two months old. The cutting is part of a he althy, young shoot that has leaves and buds. They are harvested from he althy, well-developed plants. The best time for cutting cuttings is the period from mid-May to early June.
How to grow stevia from cuttings? The shoots are cut in such a way that a stump with two to four leaves remains on the mother plant. In this case, by autumn, 2-4 stems up to 80 cm long grow from the buds, which are located in the axils of the leaves. For rooting, there should be three to five internodes on the cutting, and the upper ones with leaves, and they should be removed from the lower ones.
Root cuttings in enameled or glassware with water or 1% sugar solution (1 teaspoon per 1 liter of water). Close the jar with black material so that the sun's rays do not penetrate into it: the cuttings take root better in the dark. On top of the jar, you should lay a cardboard in which you need to make holes, and insert the cuttings into them.
It is necessary to make sure that the lower internode is in the water, and the leaves do not touch its surface. The cuttings are covered with plastic wrap. Water should be changed every three days. To speed up rooting, spray stevia leaves three times a day.day with water or 1% sugar solution. If the room temperature is maintained in the range of + 18-25 ° C, then in a week the roots will grow. And when they reach 5-8 cm (usually after two weeks), the seedlings are planted in a greenhouse or in pots and the seedlings are kept under plastic wrap for a week.
Keep the soil constantly moist until the cuttings take root. Adult stevia accumulates glycoside in the sun. And young plants and unrooted cuttings die under its rays. Therefore, seedlings should be shaded with gauze.
Seedling care
When your plants are still too small, they must be watered very carefully, paying special attention to soil moisture - the soil should not be too wet. It is ideal to organize bottom watering - containers with seedlings are placed in water for a while. The window sill where the seedlings are located must be protected from drafts. Other house plants should be removed from it - stevia does not like neighbors. When the seedlings grow up to 12 cm, they pinch the tops by 3-4 cm - thanks to this procedure, the plants begin to branch.
If you want to grow stevia in an apartment, then the bushes are transplanted into separate pots with a diameter of about 10 cm.
Ground landing
It's time to figure out how to grow stevia in the country. So, you have fulfilled all the previous requirements and have grown he althy and strong seedlings. It must be understood that transplanting stevia into the ground is one of the most important points. Violation of the rules can nullify all your work. Before the plantsmove outside, they should be tempered.
First, the seedlings dive into separate cups, and then put out every day for several hours outside. During such "walks" the weather should be sunny and warm. Every day the seedlings stay on the street longer and longer. Landing in the ground is carried out after the threat of return frosts has passed, and the air warms up to +18 ° C during the day. For stevia, a well-lit sunny area is suitable.
Previously, the soil on it is flavored with compost. Plant seedlings, deepening them by about 8 cm. The distance between the bushes should be at least 40 cm. Pour the soil with warm water. Approximately 1/3 of the stem, the plant must be spudded. For about a week, the bed is covered with a film. Since the roots of stevia are close to the surface, the soil around the plant should be mulched to keep them from drying out.
Care
Stevia care consists in regular loosening of the soil and fertilizing once every two weeks. In autumn, when the temperature drops below +10 °C, stevia should be removed to the greenhouse or transferred to the house until spring.
- Water. Moisten the soil should be depending on the weather, but not more than four times a week. At the same time, it is important to ensure that the soil is not waterlogged or overdried. When growing indoors, it is advisable to water stevia with boiled water. After rain and each watering, it is necessary to loosen the soil around the bushes.
- Weeding. When talking about how to grow stevia, it is very important to consider this factor. Sweet grass is completely intolerantneighbors. All weeds around plants should be carefully removed.
- Feeding. The plant is responsive to fertilizing with nitrogen-containing fertilizers. It is held twice a month. In autumn, humus or compost is added under the bushes.
- Cropping. If you grow stevia indoors, the plant should be trimmed every six months so that the crown branches well. Bushes grown on the street, pinch only as needed. It is very important to cut off some of the leaves from time to time so that the crown is constantly updated. To achieve greater yields, flowers should be removed.
- Wintering. In the climatic conditions of the middle zone of our country, stevia does not tolerate winter well, more often it dies. Gardeners recommend digging up a plant for the winter and bringing it into the house. In the southern regions, stevia is left outside, covered with a film.
Blank
In Central Russia, honey grass rarely reaches its maximum height - the climate is too harsh for it. Knowing how to grow stevia at home (in pots) and in your summer cottage, you can count on a good harvest as early as four months after sowing the seeds. As a rule, its collection is carried out in early autumn - during this period the plant is actively preparing for wintering and intensively stores stevioside in the leaves.
Cut off the stems of the plant and pluck off all the leaves. They are dried in the fresh air under a canopy or under a UV lamp. It is very important that drying does not take longer than twelve hours. Otherwise, the leaves will not be as sweet. Dried leaves are stored in closed glass jars or paper bags for up to three years.
Useful properties
We have covered in detail how to grow stevia, but have not yet talked about the beneficial properties of this plant. We will try to fill this gap. The unique chemical composition is due to the benefits of the plant. Stevia, more precisely, its leaves, contains more than 50 substances useful for the human body:
- mineral s alts (phosphorus and potassium, calcium and magnesium, iron and zinc, manganese and cob alt);
- vitamins P, A, E, C;
- amino acids;
- beta-carotene;
- pectins;
- essential oils.
The uniqueness of this herb lies in the combination of trace elements and vitamins with low calorie content and high sweetness. Drinks and foods with it are used to control body weight, especially in diabetes.
In Japan, this medicinal plant has long been used as a sweetener. Stevia is known as a dietary supplement in the US and Canada. Scientists have proven that honey grass shows excellent results in the treatment of hypertension and obesity. Stevia is successfully used in dietetics and cosmetology. In addition, it is widely used as a therapeutic and prophylactic agent for diseases of the heart and blood vessels, the gastrointestinal tract and to strengthen the immune system.
With regular intake of tea from stevia leaves, the level of cholesterol in the blood is significantly reduced. It is useful to rinse the oral cavity with gingivitis with a decoction of the leaves of this plant. This natural antiseptic is great for sore throats. Stevia helps heal boils and speeds up wound healing. It is added to salads and confectionery,fragrant teas are prepared.
Popular recipes
There are not too many ways to prepare medicinal compositions based on this plant - stevia appeared in our country relatively recently. We bring to your attention the most popular of them.
Tea
It is with tea that sweet grass is most often consumed. To do this, you need to grind the leaves of the plant and add to the tea leaves in equal proportions. To improve the taste, you can add a little cinnamon or mint.
Vodka Extract
Mix whole or crushed leaves with vodka (1:10). The agent is infused for a day, then filtered through a sieve. This extract, diluted in water, can be used as a gargle.
Stevia syrup
To make syrup, you must first prepare the infusion. Pour 20 g of grass into a pre-prepared gauze bag, place it in a thermos and pour boiling water (0.5 l). After 12 hours, the infusion is drained. Then the leaves are again infused for 8 hours in 250 ml of boiling water. Combine both infusions, bring the mass in a water bath to a thickening.
When a drop of syrup does not spread, the liquid can be removed from the heat. This syrup improves immunity and is a bactericidal agent. It should be consumed with tea or water (4-5 drops per glass).
We told you how to grow stevia. As you can see, this is easy to do. It is important to know only some of its features and small secrets of cultivation. If you follow simple rules, you will get a great alternative to mint orlemon balm and a great sugar substitute.
