Stevia grows best in upland areas in sub-tropical climate. In other places it can be grown as an annual. The plant prefers a lightly textured, well-drained soil to which organic matter has been added. It needs ample water so that the soil is consistently moist, but not wet. In hot, sunny climates it will do best in semi-shade. Propagation is from seed sown in spring, but germination rates can be low-expect half the seeds sown not to germinate. Plant seedlings out once all danger of frost is over. Leaves are best harvested just before flowering. The plants will also grow from cuttings, which are best taken in late winter.The concentration of stevioside in the leaves of Stevia increasing when the plants are grown under long day condition. While, cultivating stevia on a large scale, it can be grown in well-drained red soil and sandy loam soil. The soil should be in the pH range of 6.5-7.5. Saline soils should be avoided to cultivate this plant.

Stevia can be successfully cultivated al l around the year all over India expect the areas, which receive snowfall, or temperatures go below 5 degree Celsius in winter. The summer temperatures actually do not affect this plant if the high summer temperatures have already been factored in the cultivation practices.
Since seed germination rate is very poor, it is propagated vegetative. Though stem cuttings are used for vegetative tissue culture plants have proven to be the best planting material for Stevia. Tissue culture plants of Stevia are genetically pure, free from pathogens and have excellent vigor. The tissue culture plants can be planted throughout the year, expect during peak summer. An ideal planting density is 40,000 plants per acre with spacing of 25×40 cm in a raised bed system. The soil can be enriched with a basal dressing of 25 tons of well rotten farmyard manure/hectare

Land preparation
Land should be ploughed initially with a disc plough or harrowed to break down the colds. Fine tilts is required. One to two times ploughing has to be done after harrowing. Around 25 MT of FYM/Ac has to be applied as a basal dressing during the last ploughing to incorporate the manure with soil.
Soil Type
Stevia requires very good drainage any soil that retain the moisture for very long period of time are unsuitable for Stevia cultivation and should be religiously avoided. Red soil and sandy loam with a 6-7 pH are best for the cultivation of Stevia.
Raised bed preparation
Forming raised beds is the most economical way to grow Stevia. The raised bed should be of 15 cm in height and 60 cm in width. The distance between each plant 23 cm. This would give a plant population of around 40,000 per acre.PlantingStevia can be planted in many ways. The types of agronomic practices generally depend on type of soil and climate conditions. Generally it is advisable to plant minimum of 40,000 plants per acre. Since the economical part is the leaves it is very important to achieve highest vegetative growth.

Plant Varieties
There are about 90 varieties of stevia rebaudiana developed all around the world. Basically all these varieties have been developed for different climate requirements, many times these varieties perform strangely in different climate conditions. At the end of the day, just like sugarcane, it is the stevioside and rebaudioside content in the Stevia leaves that determine the price and marketability of Stevia leaves. In many causes in south India it was observes that stevioside content was as low as 3.5%, which was below the minimum market requirement of 9%. Hence it becomes imperative that the grower selects proper varieties with adequate guarantees from the planting material suppliers about minimum assured stevioside and rebaudioside contents.

Fresh Stevia leaves
A leaf picked from a stevia plant and chewed will impart an extremely sweet taste sensation reminiscent of licorice that lasts for quite a while. For stevia to have a more practical application as a tea or sweetener, the leaves must be dried or put through an extraction process, which makes the sweet taste even more potent.

Dried leaves
For more of the flavour and sweet constituents of the stevia leaf to be released, drying and crushing is necessary. A dried leaf is considerably sweetener than a fresh one, and is the form of stevia used in brewing herbal tea.
Stevia extracts
The form in which Stevia is primarily used as a sweetener in Japan is that of a white powdered extract. In this form it is approximately 200 to 300 times sweeter than sugar (by weight). This white powder is an extract of the sweet glycosides (natural sweetening agents) in the Stevia leaf.

Liquid concentrates
These come in several forms. There’s a syrup black liquid (that result from boiling the leaves in water), which can enhance the flavour of many foods. Steeping stevia leaves in distilled water or a mix of water and grain alcohol makes another type.