Sweet Taste of Aquaponics - Stevia Rebaudiana
A good Article on Stevia : Here
Stevia rebaudiana is a plant that is very sweet, interesting to be tried on Aquaponics. It looks like many other soft stem plant and almost like the "Sambung Nyawa" so it can't be that difficult to try.
With some difficulties I manage to get hold few of these plant. Its in one of the nursery at Selangor Green Lane, Delima Tani is the plot name.
Its Lot 49 the first lot after Kota Damansara junction heading to Shah Alam, on the Shah Alam - Sg Buluh Road better known as Selangor Green Lane.
Google coordinate of Delima Tani : 3° 9'54.73"N 101°34'4.03"E
They have many plants and Stevia is one of those that is rare and can be found here.
I bought 3, these will the base stock for my trial in doing this plant in Aquaponics.
Healthy looking plants, and about RM9.00 each, these are grown organically.
I will not transplant these to my Aquaponics bed, but I would do cuttings and try to propagate it this way.
Cutting taken about 4 inches and dip in rooting hormone to promote root growth
I only tried 2 cuttings, and will see whether it will grow.
The sun is on the extreme this next few months, so I made a temporary shade for these plant. A better shade need to be made real soon.
Stock plant, I place in Asparagus bed this to ensure it don't die off if maintain in those tiny pots.
Continue : Here
LOL, I just think of checking the Jalan Sungai Buloh stretch hunting for stevia, well this is handy.
ReplyDeleteThe bad news, so far, stevia in Malaysia are long day light breed. It will flower pretty soon and create some bitters taste to the leaf when flowering. Bathing the stevia with light after sunset should delay the flowering process and improve the leaf growth. Since Ikea recently just cut one of its RM69 solar LED light to RM39, it worth the price for the experiment. However, I am not sure whether the item still available, since it is not show in Ikea web catalogue but still available on the shelf last few week.
Thanks Moot for the tip, will see what happen.
ReplyDeleteI've tried Stevia in AP and it struggled. The bottom leaves kept dying off as the top ones came in. Trying to grow indoors with poor light.
ReplyDeleteIt did take me 2 years to kill the plant and it's cuttings. So I may have just been a little off in what it was needing.
@Mike, I don't know what to expect too. Maybe this what make it interesting.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this info encik afnan...been looking for this plant for a loooong time. Hope there's some still left. I need to get them for my mother, heard it's a potent herbal medicine to treat diabetes...btw the leaves, is it really sweeter than sugar? And what's that you use? "Serbuk Akar Serbajadi"?
ReplyDeleteIts sweet, but not taste like sugar, it has that artificial sweetener kinda taste, yes that serbuk akar serbajadi for rooting.
DeleteSalam En. Affnan...plzz contact me Ramlee Rahmat [STEVIANAS Corp] a.s.a.p - 0132552598
ReplyDeletethanks for the info
ReplyDelete