Stevia Agronomy Practices....

Land Preparation

The land sites are plowed and or cultivated twice to prepare a fairly smooth, firm-planting surface.
Transplants

Transplants from cuttings would be superior, however cost makes it prohibitive. Stevia must be propagated from seed in plug trays placed in a greenhouse for a period of 7 – 8 weeks.
Planting

Depending on different climatic conditions Stevia is cultivable throughout the year except for times when it is extremely hot or cold. Stevia plants are planted into the field on a maximum spacing of 61 cm row spacing with a minimum total plant density in the order of 30,000 plants per acre.
Fertilization

The plant appears to have low nutrient requirements; however a soil test should be conducted. We are committed and encourage total organic cultivation.
IrrigationNormally, the Stevia plant requires frequent, shallow irrigation. Generally, one applies irrigation if the stem tips are drooping at least one time per week.
Weed Control

This crop also requires hand hoeing and weeding.PestsInsect pest pressures other than cutworm are minimal. Septoria disease can cause considerable damage to the Stevia crop. Animals seem to like the sweet taste of stevia, too.
Harvesting

Time of harvesting depends on land variety and growing season. Generally it can be scheduled when plants are 40-60 centimeters in height. Shorter days induce flowering. Optimum yield (biomass) and stevioside quality and quantity is best just prior to flowering. The plant can tolerate very low temperatures.
Drying Drying of the woody stems plus the soft green leaf material is completed immediately after harvesting utilizing a drying wagon or a kiln. Depending on weather conditions and density of loading, it generally takes 24 to 48 hours to dry Stevia at 40°C to 50°C. An estimated 10,000 kg/acre of green weight is dried down to 2000 kgs. of dry herbage per acre.
Threshing

Immediately following drying, a specially designed thresher/separator is necessary to separate dry Stevia leaves from its stem. Stem and leaf portions tend to be equally represented at 2000 kgs / acre each.

The care and feeding of Stevia
Stevia plants do best in a rich, loamy soil -- the same kind in which common garden-variety plants thrive. Since the feeder roots tend to be quite near the surface, it is a good idea to add compost for extra nutrients if the soil in your area is sandy. Besides being sensitive to cold during their developmental stage, the roots can also be adversely affected by excessive levels of moisture. So take care not to over water them and to make sure the soil in which they are planted drains easily and isn't soggy or subject to flooding or puddling. Frequent light watering is recommended during the summer months. Adding a layer of compost or your favorite mulch around each stevia plant will help keep the shallow feeder roots from drying out. Stevia plants respond well to fertilizers with lower nitrogen content than the fertilizer's phosphoric acid or potash content. Most organic fertilizers would work well, since they release nitrogen slowly.

Storage

After pruning, the leaves are dried in shade and then immediately sent to market for selling. The leaves are stored in gunnysacks in shade or in open in a room where there is no sunlight. If we want to keep the leaves, we can preserve them for 3 months. Even after 3 months, the leaves can be kept but then a bit of degradation starts likes excess shrinkage, black spots etc.
Manures & Growth Agents
As Stevia is for human consumption as a medicine, it is mandatory to do it naturally or with organic products. Growers can contact us to have the most effective products to increase the quality and quantity of the Stevia leaves and achieve additional profit.
Bed Preparation

Raised beds are required for Stevia plantation. Therefore, 1 ft heighted and 1.5 ft wide beds are built.Time of PlantingStevia saplings can be sown any time of the year. It is advised not to plant saplings during excess rain, heat, and winter. Stevia planting can be done from August – December (till temperature of winter does not goes below 10 degree C). After that again Stevia planting can be started from January onwards and continues till March end (till temperature does not exceed 42 degree C).
Land Preparation

Land preparation is very important in Stevia cultivation because once prepared, the beds will remain same for 5 years. Therefore, we have to enrich them with manure, growth promoters, and nutrients after the making of raised beds, which is prepared through deep plough & tilling.

Background of Stevia.....

Stevia is an incredibly sweet herb, obtained by a natural selective breeding process of the sweetest Stevia parent plants. The sweetener, Stevioside, extracted from the plants, is arguably 300 times sweeter than sugar. The fresh leaves have a nice liquorice taste. What makes the Stevia plant so special is that it can be used to replace sugar (sucrose). Many different uses of Stevia are already well-known: (as table sugar, in soft drinks, pastry, pickles, tobacco products, candy, jam, yoghurt, chewing gum, sorbets, bakery products). After US FDA nod as food additive and sweetner in December 2009, there is a humongous demand supply gap. The dried leaves of Stevia are about 40 times sweeter than the sugar.
The documented properties of Stevia are antibacterial, anti fungal, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, anti- viral, anti-yeast, cardiotonic, diuretic, hypoglycemic and hence a boon to diabetic people, hypotensive, tonic, and vasodilator. Indeed, the leaves contain diterpene glucosides with a sweet taste but which are not metabolised and contain no calories. The biggest part of the sweet glucosides consists of the stevioside molecule.
Stevia Rebaudiana Bertoni (Bertoni) is a perennial herbaceous plant and is part of the Asteraceae family. This family includes well-known plants such as dandelion, sunflower and chicory. The history of the culture of Stevia mainly stems from Paraguay and Brazil. Originally Stevia only grew in the northern regions of South America but its cultivation has become popular worldwide. The plant has been known for centuries by the native Guaranay-Indians for the sweet taste of its leaves. They use it, amongst other things, to make "mate" herbal tea. Stevia is often referred to as the sweetest plant of the world.

Its leaves are about 5 cm long and 2 cm wide and are planted crosswise, facing each other. In the wild, the height of the plant varies from 40 to 80 cm but when cultivated, the Stevia can grow upto 1 metre high. Stevia can be grown on relatively poor soil. The plants can be used for commercial production for 5 years, during which three to five times a year a harvest takes place of the part of the plant that is above the ground. The roots remain in place and so the plant regenerates again.

The Advantages of Stevia are:
It is a completely Natural Non-Synthetic Product.
It has got ZERO Sugar. Stevioside (the sweetener) contains absolutely no calories.
The leaves can be used in their natural state.
Thanks to its enormous sweetening power, only small quantities need to be used.
The plant is non-toxic.
The leaves as well as the pure stevioside extract can be cooked.
No aftertaste or bitterness.
Stable when heated up to 200 degrees.
Non fermentative.
Flavour enhancing.
Clinically tested and frequently used by humans without negative effect.

After Food and Drug Administration (FDA), declared a natural zero-calorie sweetener derived from the herb Stevia safe for use in foods and beverages, clearing a path for Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and other companies to market it in a variety of products. The tale of Stevia is quite interesting as it shows how a natural product, albeit controversial, can be banned by the government, only later to be co-opted by the largest multi-national beverage manufacturers in the world and ushered in by the FDA.
Until recently, the FDA only allowed sweeteners made from Stevia to be sold as dietary supplements, and not as food additives—obviously contradictory, because FDA simultaneously labeled Stevia as safe and unsafe, depending on how it was sold. But now, the FDA has indicated that it has no objection to two stevia products—Truvia and PureVia—being used as food additives. Both are already sold as tabletop sweeteners.
The New York Times reported that Cargill, which is marketing Truvia from Coca-Cola, said on December 17th that it had received notification from the FDA that it had no objection to the product, calling it “generally recognized as safe (GRAS).” PepsiCo received the same letter and designation from the agency related to its sweetener, PureVia, made by Merisant, maker of the popular artificial sweetener Equal. According to the Times, both products use rebaudioside A, an extract from the stevia plant. It’s this extraction compound that alleviates the herb’s somewhat bitter aftertaste.