What are the precautions for growing stevia? A detailed explanation of the latest key points

Stevia is a high-quality sweetener raw material, and it has been cultivated in our country for more than 30 years. Nowadays it is widely used for extraction as an additive. Traces of it can be found in many sweet foods or medicines. So what should be noted when growing stevia?

1. Growing environment

The growing environment will limit the growth of plants to a great extent, so when growing stevia, you should choose a growing environment suitable for it. Stevia is native to Paraguay. By nature it likes a warm and humid environment and is not cold-tolerant. At present, it is grown more in the southern regions of our country. Although it does not have high requirements for soil, it still prefers soil with relatively high air permeability, and it has certain requirements for soil fertility. Generally, fertile fine soil is best, and the terrain needs to be relatively flat.

2. Temperature

For stevia, which likes warmth, temperature has a very important influence on it. Its temperature requirements during the seedling stage differ somewhat from those during the growing season, so growers should choose the timing well. The temperature in the seedling shed should be controlled above 20°C, with the optimal temperature at around 25°C-28°C. When transplanting, the temperature on that day only needs to be around 15°C, but the following week or so must have clear weather so that the seedlings can quickly adapt to the growing environment. If there are cloudy days, it may cause abnormal development of the seedlings.

3. Water

The reason stevia likes a humid environment is that its roots are very shallow and are basically distributed in the surface soil, unable to absorb water from deeper soil layers, so water is especially important for stevia, and growers should pay attention to this point. Generally, sprinkler irrigation is enough for watering. Watering at the roots will cause most of the water to be unable to be absorbed by stevia, while sprinkler irrigation allows the soil to receive water relatively evenly, and it decreases more slowly, which is more conducive to stevia fully absorbing water.

4. Fertilizer

Fertilizing is a place where mistakes are relatively easy to make. Because stevia grows quickly, in order to meet its nutritional needs, the initial base fertilizer generally uses compound fertilizer, preferably compound fertilizer with a high phosphorus and potassium content. Later, when topdressing, in order to help it grow better, switch to fertilizer with a high nitrogen content. Also, when topdressing, it should be evenly scattered around the root system and not concentrated together, otherwise seedling burn is likely to occur.

The above are some of the issues to note when growing stevia. At present, our country's stevia cultivation technology is relatively complete, so its yield is also much higher than in the early period. Friends who are interested can learn about it. At present, stevia still has a good market.