Ginseng

[maplehound]

Has anyone tried planting Ginseng in thier sugar bush? I would like to try it but haven't yet.

[Dave Y]

If your gonna doit, do it soon it will take 10 to 15 yrs to make a sellable crop.
Also check with your ag extision office they should have litature to help you out. I f the dont have anything I can point you to some books.

[maplehound]

I have read some books on it. i haven't found anyone who sells the seed or starter roots. I tried getting some from a web site but they never responded back. I have also seen a couple difrent ideas as to how to sow the seed. some just spread it, some clear the ground, and some actually turn the soil first. I'm not sure wich is best, or if I even have a good place to plant any.

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

I've seen last year in FFG Magazine that there was a company in Wisconsin that was selling seeds $35 a Lb. Along 29 that cuts across central wisconsin East to West there are a bunch of seng' farms along the Hwy. I always wanted to stop and talk to some of them but never have.

I ordered a Lb of see from Glacial Ginseng in Michican what a FRAUD and i should have further persued the fact as i paid $105 for a seed kit that was suspose to come with a soil test kit and little survey flags-Well 3 calls later and 2 e-mails and yes we'll get them right out to you/ Or it was the Backordered story. NEVER GOT MY STUFF and about 750 seeds were duds out of like 8,000 to the Lb. Almost was going to pay them a personal visit in 2005 when i went through Lower michigan to the Upper peninsula of MI to forester1 place on my way out to yellowstone. Should have went for wire and mail fraud over $15-20/but how many other did the flim-flam??

Planted the seeds where i thought would be likely spots for it to grow/went back the following summer and didn't see anything come up=Probably should have let the seeds sprout at home and then plant them in the spring.

Should be berries on them if they came through but i never really set foot in the woods looking for them last year or this. There is a pretty good booklet put out by Bob Beyfuss the NY ginseng specialist called something like the practical guide to growing ginseng- Conditions have to be almost perfect as there a fussy plant from what i read and there is a worksheet to do an evaluation as to if it will grow in that section of woods or not.

I'm going to find the # for Glacial and post it=so call them up on their dime and shoot the kitty and then don't buy a thing. I gotta get on the horn and compensate my loss myself.

Here is a link to the flim-flammers= http://www.ginseng-seed.com/

[maple flats]

I will have to find it again, but I have the name and contact of a company in Cooperstown, NY who have it. If memory serves me they were called New York Botanicals or something like that. Seems like they claimed to be the largest in the world but when I spoke about them to a friend who grew up there he had never heard of them. He thought they were in a surrounding area and used a Cooperstown PO box. I will look it up some evening and post it. They were a name given to me by a NY Forestowner volunteer (covert?)from when I started to try getting my woods designated as a tree farm. He is now awaiting my call for an inspection to verify if I am following my forest stewardship plan. (ps, I am behind on the timetable but have started to follow it)

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

post edited.

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

post edited.

[cncaboose]

I got seed from Best American Ginseng last fall and planted some in Nov. Obviously I don't know how it's going to do yet. I only bought a few ounces of seed and planted in 3 different sites to try it out before I put more $$ and time into it. Their website is informative and you can order on line. Seeds came on time, are "guaranteed", included directions and were cheaper than what others are quoting on here. Website is www.gotginseng.com . Here's a website from NY Dept of Conservation that is informative too: http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dlf/privland/forprot/ginseng/growing.html Now don't all you guys rush out and plant it or my crop won't be worth anything when I retire due to oversupply. Just kidding.

[maplehound]

Thanks guys,
It looks like you don't plant till August or September. At least the one site said they are out till then. I just might try geting some planted. I am not real sure if I have a good spot to try it but if I plant one or two ounces I won't be out to much.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Kevin,

I do hunt it some down here and it usually sells about $ 350 @ lb dried. The problem is all the greedy jerks to put it nicely. I have dug it since a kid and only dug large 3's and 4's. You can take care of an area for several years and selectively harvest it and then some jerk comes along and digs 1's, 2's and everything else in sight and then it is wiped out probably forever because the same jerk will come back the next year or two and dig anything that didn't come up that year or what he missed.

[maplehound]

Brandon,
How is the hunting done? Do you get land owner permishion or do you just hunt yourown land. Is there such a thing as public areas that can be used for hunting it. I get the impresion from some I talked to that they jsut hunt it anywhere without asking. It seems there thought was, what they don't know won't hurt them.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Ron,

Just hunt wherever as long as you have permission. I think you can did it on public land too as long as it is not state or national parks, but not sure exactly about that.

[maplehound]

If it is public wooded land wouldn't it be state or national parks? I would think most land owners would want a share if you found it on their property. I don't know anyone who has found it growing wild in my area but most likely they wouldn't tell anyone if they did.