Guess what magical miracle food I found!!

[NatGreenMeds]

Please keep me posted about this. I was thinking about ordering some myself...and i'm thinking now that i'm looking at the same site as you.

The place I ordered from was Herbal Advantage dot com. Here's the story.

On their page, they say "Four Stevia plants in 2 1/2" pots."

On the invoice, it will say "DESCRIPTION-Stevia Plants 2, SHIPPED QTY- 1.00"

I received four plants that were sent to my billing address, even though I specified on their order page that I wanted it shipped to a different Shipping address.

When I called, I had to talk to a women who spoke English as a recently learned language. Of course, I don't speak her language at all, so she's one language up on me.

Then the UPS people dropped the package over my 8 foot gate so that when I came home, the gate opened and crushed the package all the way to it's full-open path.

I opened the package very carefully, managed to pry the four smashed plants out of the crumpled paper, trimmed off the crushed parts of the plants, and put them under a 125 watt fluorescent light. They've been there now for about 12 hours and have perked up a bit.

I think all four will survive. I'm going to leave them inside until I have new healthy growth from all four. Then I'll acclimate them to the Florida sunshine and move them outside.

 

[NatGreenMeds]

Thanks Nat. I'll keep that in mind. Also, how big do these babies get? My wife and I plan on keeping a few of them year round. I guess they can double as a house plant later too.

Having not grown them before, I can't verify what I've read, but the information I've found says that they grow to 24 inches tall. The photos I've found show a natural growth of 3 or 4 branches at that height.

I've also read that the plant responds favorably to topping and will produce a stockier plant with more branching.

I've read that the plant will NOT survive winter outside. You MUST take cuttings and root them inside and grow the clones inside during the winter. It's said that the clones can be kept in 3 inch pots for the winter and then planted outside in spring as soon as temperatures get consistently above 60 degrees.

Cut back rooted stumps are sold for mass production, so perhaps you can cut back the full year plants to stumps and replant them into 12 inch pots for winter. When this is done with other plants, the stump will grow new growth as long as the root-ball is kept moist and intact with the short stump branching not cracked or bent. This would be a destict advantage in providing a year old plant for spring growth. It could be carefull trimmed during winter to provide a nice bush in the spring. Of course, all of them would need to be acclimated if done this way (providing it works at all). I'll know next spring.

Evidently, the Stevia plant does not like cool weather.

Good luck to you!

 

[rabbit]

Having not grown them before, I can't verify what I've read, but the information I've found says that they grow to 24 inches tall. The photos I've found show a natural growth of 3 or 4 branches at that height.

I've also read that the plant responds favorably to topping and will produce a stockier plant with more branching.

I've read that the plant will NOT survive winter outside. You MUST take cuttings and root them inside and grow the clones inside during the winter. It's said that the clones can be kept in 3 inch pots for the winter and then planted outside in spring as soon as temperatures get consistently above 60 degrees.

Cut back rooted stumps are sold for mass production, so perhaps you can cut back the full year plants to stumps and replant them into 12 inch pots for winter. When this is done with other plants, the stump will grow new growth as long as the root-ball is kept moist and intact with the short stump branching not cracked or bent. This would be a destict advantage in providing a year old plant for spring growth. It could be carefull trimmed during winter to provide a nice bush in the spring. Of course, all of them would need to be acclimated if done this way (providing it works at all). I'll know next spring.

Evidently, the Stevia plant does not like cool weather.

Good luck to you!

Do you think it's possible to just have them in pots and transfer them from outside to inside in the winter? I'll have a south facing window and grow lights. I really like the cloning idea though. I can make more plants!! I live in an apartment and don't do any planting directly into the ground. I'd love to later on, but it's not happening right now.

 

[NatGreenMeds]

Do you think it's possible to just have them in pots and transfer them from outside to inside in the winter? I'll have a south facing window and grow lights. I really like the cloning idea though. I can make more plants!! I live in an apartment and don't do any planting directly into the ground. I'd love to later on, but it's not happening right now.

I can't see any reason they wouldn't grow if put into a proper sized pot. For a plant of that size, I would think that a 12" pot would work if nutrients were used to avoid the plant having to use the soil nutrients alone. I've grown some pretty large plants using that technique. You may want to supliment the lighting for the plants to provide a 16-18 hour day. Without that, the plant will perhaps have leaf drop and hibernate during winter. If that's not a bother, then you wouldn't need the extra light I would think.

My experience with other plants is what I'm basing this on. I've had a green thumb for my entire life and have grown anything I could try for most of my 56 years (except the illegal ones...).

Please don't take what I've said about Stevia plants as written on stone. I've not grown them yet and I'm relying on what I've discovered while researching them.

I sure don't want another version of the snake post problem. Too much stress in that kind of nonsense.

 

[rabbit]

I can't see any reason they wouldn't grow if put into a proper sized pot. For a plant of that size, I would think that a 12" pot would work if nutrients were used to avoid the plant having to use the soil nutrients alone. I've grown some pretty large plants using that technique. You may want to supliment the lighting for the plants to provide a 16-18 hour day. Without that, the plant will perhaps have leaf drop and hibernate during winter. If that's not a bother, then you wouldn't need the extra light I would think.

My experience with other plants is what I'm basing this on. I've had a green thumb for my entire life and have grown anything I could try for most of my 56 years (except the illegal ones...).

Please don't take what I've said about Stevia plants as written on stone. I've not grown them yet and I'm relying on what I've discovered while researching them.

I sure don't want another version of the snake post problem. Too much stress in that kind of nonsense.

Nah, don't sweat it Nat. All is good over here. I was just curious. I think I have a pretty good green thumb being new(Not like my wife who kills all of her plants), but I'm still a noob and I ask alot of questions. I'm actually investing in an HPS lighting set-up late this summer because I want to grow a bunch of peppers in doors. However, the stevia plant says partial shade (Sounds like my lighting setup may be to much for those.)and I won't have much room at all where I'm growing them for the Stevia plants. However, I do have a couple flourescent grow lights that I can use in addition with a well lit window for the Stevias. Right now the potting soil I'm using has a slow time release formula for up to 6 months and I'll be having to add some type of food to those later on. I'm sure that I'll do the same with the other potted plants. I actually want to use some organic options as well. I'll have to research it. Anyways, thanks for all of the info and help. I honestly really appreciate it.

 

[NatGreenMeds]

I have a 150 watt HPS, a dual 125 watt Fluorescent fixture and two 430 watt HPS. I don't know yet what light requirements are needed for the Stevia, but I'll try at various light levels until I see what works best for them. You may want to top your plants to keep them short and bushy for growth under your lights.

My friends tell me that if I stuck a broom handle in the ground it would grow. I love plants. I love to tinker with them. The hot peppers are a new venture for me. So far, I have: Bhut Jolokia, Thai Super Hot and White Bullet seedlings growing, and my Red Savina, Chocolate Hab and Jamaican Scotch Bonnet are spouted, but not above the rockwool cubes yet. Fun, fun, fun!

 

[rabbit]

I have a 150 watt HPS, a dual 125 watt Fluorescent fixture and two 430 watt HPS. I don't know yet what light requirements are needed for the Stevia, but I'll try at various light levels until I see what works best for them. You may want to top your plants to keep them short and bushy for growth under your lights.

My friends tell me that if I stuck a broom handle in the ground it would grow. I love plants. I love to tinker with them. The hot peppers are a new venture for me. So far, I have: Bhut Jolokia, Thai Super Hot and White Bullet seedlings growing, and my Red Savina, Chocolate Hab and Jamaican Scotch Bonnet are spouted, but not above the rockwool cubes yet. Fun, fun, fun!

Yeah, I'll agree it's pretty fun!! However, I'm sure I'm far from getting a broomstick to grow as of yet. I've tinkered around with peppers before, but they were bought as already grown plants.(This is my first year starting from seed with those.) I've had vegetable gardens before as well,which were started from seed, but that was quite a while ago when I used my old mans yard. I haven't lived with him in YEARS! I've got quite a few peppers that I'm growing this year. When I have far more space I want to grow alot more, and veggies, but that will be a while. Here's my peppers for this year. (Thanks to bowhunter he hooked me up with ALOT of them) Orange hab, Chocolate hab, Peach hab, Gold Hab, White hab, Trinidad Scorpion, 7 pot trinidad, Trinidad Scorpion, Cayenne, Naga Morich, Hanoi Red, Puriana, Bhut Jalokia, Fatalli,............and yeah.....I want to grow some Trinidad Perfumes too. I'm sure I won't have the room though. I really want to get into creating my own salsas, hotsauces, wingsauces, ect. It's pretty fun. I actually just brainstormed one I'm going to try completely out of my head when I get some peppers in. Oh, thanks for the tip on trimming the plants as well. I'll keep that in mind down the road.