Ploughing: Plough the land two to three times.

Discing: After plowing, use a machine called a disc to break up any big clumps of soil, and it will make it even smoother.

Harrowing: This is another step to make the soil nice and soft.

Manure: This process helps the plants grow well, up to 10 to 20 tons, with the use of farmyard manure.

Leveling: Digging and spreading the land are essential. This helps to make the land even and flat so that planting becomes much easier.

Transplanting: After including fertilizers in the soil, they transplant the plants, preparing ridges at a 60-cm spacing. You should plant healthy seedlings with a 30 cm gap between them. The best way to plant them is with a 60 cm by 30 cm gap, which gives around 55,000 seedlings per hectare.

Seed treatment: It’s a good way to use Thirum or Dithane M45 (Inofil M45) to protect against diseases. Which is at a rate of 3 grams per kilogram of seeds before planting.

Thinning: After seedlings have grown, carefully plant them by scattering them in rows. Thinning is the process of pulling out by hand about 25 to 30 days after sowing. This helps to maintain a plant population of approximately 30 to 60 plants per square meter.

Weeding: Farmers need to remove weeds from the field twice. Within 20–25 days of planting, repeat the process after the first weeding.

Fertilizers: Ashwagandha does not require heavy doses of fertilizer. This crop does well with natural fertilizers. For growing the plants, use 10 tons of farmyard manure (FYM), which is almost 1 ton of vermicompost per hectare of land. To improve crop yields, it is necessary to apply 15 kg of nitrogen along with 15 kg of phosphorus.

Irrigation: Excessive water supply is harmful to Ashwagandha plants. Giving the seedlings water right after planting helps them settle in better. Providing drip irrigation will do wonders. It requires water only once every 10 days.

Pest control: There is no serious pest affected by this crop. To protect plants from any pest attacks, one should use Fostion MM pesticides with a concentration of 0.6%. There are several pests, like aphids, mites, and other insects, that will destroy the plants. Farmers should use a mix of 0.5% carbophos and 0.1% and 0.3% dicofol to spray every 10 to 15 days.

Disease protection: Diseases like seedling rot will be a problem in hot and humid conditions. To prevent diseases in plants, use seeds that are free from disease. Treat the seeds with carbofuran at a rate of 4-5 kg per acre before planting. Applying neem cake to plants will provide further protection.

Harvesting: The plants blossom and the bearing of fruits starts in December. Harvesting Ashwagandha’s roots will start by digging them from January to March. Harvesting happens after 150 to 180 days of sowing of seeds.

Yield: In commercial production on one acre of land, farmers can grow about 600 to 1000 kilograms of dry roots. Farmers used to collect almost 100 to 150 kilograms of seeds. In the best conditions, the maximum yield can go up to 13 to 14 quintals per acre.

Marketing: Ashwagandha is quite famous in the markets of Madhya Pradesh. Some importers buy within the country.