When I first started learning about stevia I didn’t realize that it was such a difficult plant to grow from seed. Luckily it doesn’t need to be intimidating if you follow some simple tips below.

Plant Facts:

Stevia is a plant native to South America grown as a sugar substitute. Similar to tomatoes, stevia is a perennial plant in its native environment but is grown as an annual in colder places. Stevia can be hundreds of times sweeter than sugar so it is best used in small amounts. Usually drying and crushing the leaves to a powder or soaking the leaves to remove the flavor is the best way to mix it into foods.

How to start stevia from seed:

The first step to successful seed starting is to begin with clean and sterile seed starting mix. I’m not too particular about this and usually just microwave my damp potting soil for several minutes until it is very steamy. To be extra safe, some growers will bake or pressure cook their seed starting mix to ensure that no mold or fungus is present. So long as the temperature reaches 160 degrees Fahrenheit your mix should be sterilized.

The next step I take for starting stevia seeds is to fill a shallow container with sterilized mix about 1/4 of an inch deep. I learned this step in the seed starting department of a commercial greenhouse. I use a candy mould that has 1/4 inch by 1/4 inch squares because it helps to keep the seeds separate. If you don’t have something like this, any shallow dish should work. Just make sure your dish is clean so you don’t introduce any mold or diseases to your seeds! I have found that the shallow mix is easier to keep at a consistent temperature and moisture level versus retail seed starting pots that can be several inches wide and deep. We will transplant our seedlings to those larger pots once they have gotten some true leaves.

Place your seeds 1/4 inch apart on the soil in your tray, then sprinkle a small amount of soil over the top of the seeds. Mist them heavily with a spray bottle.

Finally, keep your seeds warm and moist. Stevia is native to tropical coasts so it requires a similar environment to grow. I always use a heat mat to start my seedlings and cover them with a humidity dome until they sprout their true leaves.

After a few days you should start to see small plants popping up. The plants above showed up after only 3 days! But be patient! Stevia can take up to three weeks to sprout. Once it grows it is easy to propagate from cuttings instead of from seed. Coming soon we will have a blog post, Cuttings, to see how you can take cuttings of plants to grow them without seeds.