Stevia (photo) - growing properties and benefits
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Stevia plant - home growing and benefits
The amazing properties of this plant (one "title" of the best natural sugar substitute that is worth it!) Literally drive the mind of many summer residents. Moreover, it can be grown on your own beds. How? Read, learn a lot.
Cultivation of stevia in buckets and greenhouses
I heard about stevia six years ago and immediately decided to put it in my house. I bought a bag of seeds. After reading the information printed on it, he sowed the seeds in a small jar with a transparent lid. The earth took the shop. Seeds laid on the surface and slightly sprinkled. Approximately half went up. Seedlings were tiny, and in a few days I had only eight plants. When they got a little stronger, I put each in a separate glass. I gave three things to my acquaintance, and took the rest to the dacha.
We then just bought a site that still needed to be developed, and therefore I decided to plant stevia in buckets (where I poured fertile land mixed with humus) and put them in the sun in a corner closed from the wind. After all, the plant is heat-loving, and although it can tolerate short-term frosts, it ceases to grow at a long temperature below 12 °. And I also learned that stevia does not tolerate high doses of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, its roots rot because of this. And so I did not feed the plants with anything - I decided not to risk it. The only thing - often watered.
Reference by topic: Stevia - benefits and properties, planting and care
And stevia took root, in the summer it gained a lot of weight. But Semey did not have time to ripen - it’s clear that our climate is still not quite suitable for her. Since stevia is a perennial plant, the question arose in the fall of how to preserve it and then propagate it. I read that the best way is to dig out the roots, put in a sub-pop, where a constant temperature of about 2-4 ° is held, and sprinkle them with earth. And in the spring again transfer them to the garden
But I have no underground.
What to do?
And I decided to take the roots back to the city. I wrapped them together in paper, put them in a cellophane bag and held it until the spring in the refrigerator in the vegetable compartment. But then I made a mistake: I had to put each root separately, and not together, and often take them out and check. In general, by spring, I have only two left alive. I planted them in pots with the ground. They quickly gave green shoots, but I made a mistake again, cutting off the shoots too early, and they rotted away. I had to wait for new ones to grow.
This matter was troublesome, and I began to master the reproduction of cuttings. For this, shoots with a thickness slightly less than a match are suitable. They were harvested by length 6-7 cm with two or three internodes, cutting directly under the leaves (they also removed so they did not rot). When planting, I buried the cuttings in the ground so. so that at the top there is only one internode. When they grew to 10-15 cm, the tops plucked. To create stevia the most comfortable conditions, I planted cuttings in the greenhouse from the very beginning.
In photo 1, uterine bushes and already nipped young bushes are clearly visible. And in photo 2 - these same plants already at the end of the growing season.
I cut the stevia at a distance of 5-10 cm from the ground, not below. I put the harvested plants in bouquets and dry land in the shade in a draft, and then I break off the leaves from the stems. I store them in 3-liter glass jars, afterhand having wiped hands.
Remember: properly dried raw stevia should be a dark green color.
Last year, I decided to grow more stevia, but there was no extra place in the greenhouse. So I planted seedlings 8 open ground. May was hot, and in early June, the plants were already growing well. I nipped them and already hoped to get a lot of leaves. But the weather suddenly turned bad, and for three weeks the thermometer did not rise above 15 °. Stevia froze. And then the heat and three weeks without rain. The plants had to tight. Although I watered them morning and evening, they grew slowly. Therefore, the harvest was not ah. I came to the conclusion that pursuing quantity is more expensive for myself. Now Stevia again lives only in the greenhouse.
And the same autumn I dug one bush with a big clod of earth and planted it in a three-liter plastic bucket. I put it on the window that faces south-west. And the stevia went on growth, turned green, and burst out and suddenly blossomed in the middle of November (photo 3).
She began to water it often, feed it with a weak fertilizer for flowers, and it does not grow, but it does not discard leaves. I tried to pollinate flowers with the help of a brush. When the inflorescences withered, I cut them off, and seeds fell from them. I collected everything, but I will honestly say that they still did not check for germination.
Reference by topic: How to grow stevia seeds and cuttings
Stevia: Properties Recipes and Benefits
And now I will tell you how I use the leaves of stevia. Fill a liter thermos with dry leaves on 1 / 3, pour boiling water.
I insist for a day, then filter and pour into jars that I keep in the refrigerator. This infusion husband adds to tea, coffee and other drinks. The taste of stevia is very specific, a sweet aftertaste remains in the mouth for a long time, so not everyone likes it, but for diabetics, stevia is preferable to any chemical substitutes - it is harmless and does not give side effects.
And I want to share a recipe for jam with stevia. For this, dry leaves are even more thoroughly ground into powder. Then I take 3 kg of berries, add 1,5 a glass of water, boil for 3 min., Add b st. l. (with a small slide) stevia, I bring it back to a boil, put it into a sterilized jar in a boiling form and roll it up. Who loves messenger, you can put and 7 art. l. stevia, but then the water should be taken already 2 glass. This jam is good for me at room temperature.
© Author: Natalia Alexandrovna GADALOVA Nizhny Novgorod
STEVIA - REVIEWS, LANDING AND CARE
STEVIA - SWEET HERB
About ten years ago I went to visit a good friend of mine, and she began to show me her farm. We looked into the greenhouse, where strange, never seen before plants attracted my attention.
"And what is it that you, Galina Andreevna, is growing so interesting?" - I ask. “And this herb is so magical,” he replies, “it is called honey, and if scientifically, it is called stevia. I dry it and drink tea with it instead of sugar. Taste it. " I tore off the leaf and began to chew. I cannot express in words how disgusting this magical herb seemed to me! And it smelled like anise or something else. I spat out a leaf and rather asked for water to drink (and the unpleasant aftertaste tormented me for half a day).
But Galina Andreevna laughed and began to tell me about the healing properties of stevia, finally handing over a small cutting. I planted him at home, did not take particular care of him. I don’t suffer from diabetes, nor do my relatives - in general, I didn’t need this herb. And two years later, for the sake of curiosity, I decided to drink tea with stevia. And I'll tell you - a thing!
Stevia cannot be distinguished from sugar in drinks, and there is no unpleasant aftertaste. It goes especially well with chicory. Indeed, its leaves contain stevioside in abundance - a substance that is about 300 times sweeter than sugar.
And this is not a carbohydrate like sucrose, glucose or fructose, so stevia can really be consumed by diabetics and children suffering from diathesis. But what is there - stevia is absolutely harmless and useful to everyone! It also has antiseptic properties, so it can be used in blanks. You just need to properly procure raw materials. So I'll tell you how I do it.
I dry fresh leaves and shoots, fill with water and boil for 40 minutes. Then I filter and continue to evaporate over low heat until the drops of the resulting syrup stop spreading on the saucer. After that, I pour the syrup into a glass jar and add it to tea and other drinks. And I prepare raw materials for use in winter preparations as follows: I grind dried leaves in a mortar and pass them twice through a coffee grinder, bringing them to a powdery state.
And I add this powder when canning instead of sugar to hot water at the rate of 0,5 tsp. on a three-liter can. I harvest the leaves throughout the summer, as the bush grows.
One thing is bad: even though stevia is a perennial plant (or rather, a herbaceous shrub), it does not tolerate wintering in our area. Therefore, I transplant it into a pot and keep it on the windowsill until spring. And Galina Andreevna (by the way, a big fan of "Dacha") was able to overcome diabetes. She is 76 years old, but thanks to stevia, she keeps sugar within the normal range. He does not drink a single pill from the pharmacy, which he wishes to everyone. Be healthy!
© Author: Marina A. POPOVA
STEVIA - SEEDING AND GROWING: VIDEO
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Stevia winters at home
I grow stevia in a pot so as not to mess with the autumn dig. Indeed, in our climate, it does not winter. And in the garden, pests would eat sweet leaves. But you can’t spray the bush with “chemistry”: how then to add its leaves to tea? In addition, the plant does not like transplanting too much. So potted content is more profitable.
Whitefly control
Before frost I bring stevia into the house, put it on the lightest window sill. Be sure to in a room where there are no other colors. The fact is that a whitefly often hides in a bush. Getting rid of her is very simple. As soon as the flower buds swell, I put the bag on the shoots and cut them off, leaving 2-3 cm stumps. I tie the bag, move it to the bathroom and fill it with cold water. After about ten minutes I unfold and wash the greens in a basin. I tear off the leaves from the stem, lay them out on a tray and dry them on the upper kitchen cabinet.
Care of the queen cell
I put the pot with rhizome on the windowsill. Not close to the glass, but away from the battery. I regularly moisturize the earth; it should not dry out. Young twigs grow from hemp over the winter. They are so stretched that in the spring they have to be completely removed. In May, I begin to gradually put the capacity on the street. When new strong shoots come out of the ground, I pinch them to get a lush bush.
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Recently, not only beautiful, but also useful crops have been grown in homes. One of them is sweet lippia. This is a perennial plant with serrated leaves and white inflorescences. Lippia is also called Aztec sugar, as its leaves have a very sweet taste, which is many times greater than the sweetness of granulated sugar.
Lippia prefers light soil. I have it growing in soil mixtures from leaf land, humus, sand and turf (1: 0,5: 1: 1). Lippia loves diffused light. If you decide in the summer to put the plant in the garden, the perfect place will be penumbra. But if there is not enough light, the lippia will start to dump the leaves and lose the sweetness. The plant tolerates drought better than waterlogging. And under good conditions, it quickly develops and can grow shoots up to 1 m. After that, you can prune and use the cut parts of the plant for reproduction. I for this purpose take well-ripened shoots with 5-6 pairs of leaves and put in water. A week later the first roots appear.
Only young leaves and shoots are collected from the lippia, since the old ones are bitter. Dry raw materials better naturally. Lippie can be added to tea or sticks instead of sugar.