🌿 When to Plant Stevia
Natural sweetener; leaves 200x sweeter than sugar; perennial in zones 9+
📅 Planting Calendar by USDA Zone
Stevia is a warm-season crop — plant it after your last spring frost, once the soil has warmed, and start seeds indoors a few weeks ahead for a head start. Find the exact start-indoors, transplant, and direct-sow dates for your USDA zone in the table below.
Select your zone to highlight your dates. All dates are calculated from each zone's average frost dates — see how we calculate them.
| Zone | Last Frost | Start Indoors | Transplant | Direct Sow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zone 2A | May 30 | Apr 4 | Jun 13 | — |
| Zone 3B | May 15 | Mar 20 | May 29 | — |
| Zone 4A | May 8 | Mar 13 | May 22 | — |
| Zone 4B | May 1 | Mar 6 | May 15 | — |
| Zone 5A | Apr 25 | Feb 28 | May 9 | — |
| Zone 5B | Apr 18 | Feb 21 | May 2 | — |
| Zone 6A | Apr 21 | Feb 24 | May 5 | — |
| Zone 6B | Apr 10 | Feb 13 | Apr 24 | — |
| Zone 7A | Apr 5 | Feb 8 | Apr 19 | — |
| Zone 7B | Mar 28 | Jan 31 | Apr 11 | — |
| Zone 8A | Mar 20 | Jan 23 | Apr 3 | — |
| Zone 8B | Mar 12 | Jan 15 | Mar 26 | — |
| Zone 9A | Feb 28 | Jan 3 | Mar 14 | — |
| Zone 9B | Feb 15 | Dec 21 | Mar 1 | — |
| Zone 10A | Feb 1 | Dec 7 | Feb 15 | — |
| Zone 10B | Jan 15 | Nov 20 | Jan 29 | — |
| Zone 11A | Jan 1 | Nov 6 | Jan 15 | — |
Stevia is the natural sweetener plant — its leaves contain compounds 200-300 times sweeter than sugar with zero calories.
Top Growing Tips
- Needs warm temperatures to thrive; don’t rush spring planting
- Pinch flowers immediately — sweetness drops sharply when plant flowers
- Dry leaves and grind to powder for home use as sweetener
- Perennial in zones 9-11; grow as annual or overwinter indoors elsewhere
- Harvest before frost; strip leaves and dry at low temperature
Companion Planting
Good companions: peppers, beans, any vegetables benefiting from pest deterrence
Avoid planting near: Frost-exposed locations
Harvest Timeline
Harvest leaves before flowering for maximum sweetness; dry for long-term use
Growing stevia in your region?
These dates come from your zone's frost windows. For the full month-by-month plan — succession sowing, variety picks, and timing tuned to your climate, not just your zone — our regional vegetable-gardening guides cover your area start to finish.
Find your regional growing guide