TOPIC: NEWBE in town

Hay All Names Dave and 42yr old been wanting to hunt sang for yrs but never new any about it..Studying this fourm and reading all your info has been a great help..I FOUND my very first plant on Monday WOW what a great filling and it has 4 prongs bout 18in tall and looked at top of root and counted 36 yr old BOY i cant wait till its berrys are RED and Sept 1st gets here..I am excited to see what root looks like I will post pic when i figer out how and planning on saveing root Just becuse it is my very first..I bought 15ac and all is faceing north and east boy what a lucky thing never thought of that when bought...I have walked about 2ac after finding this one just 10 feet from my Driveway. and located about 50 moor but just 3prong an have not counted the small ones yet..And my land is only 1 way in or out with 5 dogs and a real handy winchester( hope never needed) Well thanks for all the info you ALL have shared It alowed me to become a sanger and maybe a seller not sure yet..GOD BLESS you ALL and the season is just weeks away....And are there any buyers around Tazewell,tn Or Middelsburo,Ky that can buy TN root? And by the way must be dealer i dont like bootleggers or Sneekers..

Careful there Dave....this stuff becomes addictive

Dave,

Sounds like you have a nice place there to find some seng and have had good luck at that already.

My advice to any new digger is not to get too greedy with the digging. Only harvest the older mature plants, and leave the younger ones.
Even though 3 prongs are legal to dig, leave the smaller one for another year or two until they mature some. Give them a few years to make berries, that you can plant. Leave some of the mature ones too, so you can harvest berries off them each year and plant them to keep your seng population thriving.

If you take care of it, it will take care of you with years of fun digging.

If you abuse it, it will not last long at all.

You should also look into growing some wild simulated. Lots of info on here about that.

If you want to learn more about Growing Ginseng - you should buy the book (link below). Most of us here who grow it, have bought and read that book. He covers more than just seng too.

www.amazon.com/Growing-Marketing-Goldens...cinals/dp/0914875426

I have a list of all Registered Dealers for TN (2011 list). They will not put out a 2012 list for a few more weeks yet.

I checked it out and there is a dealer in Tazewell listed (see below).

Isaac Cadle - Skylock’s Pawn II, Inc. - 1520 North Broad Street - Tazewell TN 37879 - 423-626-2262

You should also check out our Friend Billy Taylor (who post here often). He is a dealter in KY and TN (possibly another state too) and I checked his profile and it list Middlesboro KY as his home. Below is a link to his website.

www.taylorsginseng.com/

If you get to know Billy - I am sure you will want to sell to him - even if it is a little out of your way.

Good Luck !

TNhunter

Hello Dave,
Welcome from another East Tennesseean. My name is Hugh Hartsell and I live in Morristown. Let me say right off that I want to back up everything that TN has said to you. You will look back in a year or two and see that it was probably the most important advise that you ever got. The very worst thing that you could do right now is to jump right into this new found treasure and destroy it by digging everything you can find.
A couple of things that are very important to you right now are to learn about stewardship of your existing ginseng and finding out how to add more plants to your farm; and then when you get it to the right level you can remove just the right amount each year to keep a sustaining population of plants. This can go on and on for the rest of your life if you do this properly. I hope to meet you some day. Get to know Billy because he is a treasure trove of walking information that is close by.
Hugh

Dave it is nice to meet you and welcome to the chat I enjoy chating here more than any where on the web because of the friends that we have here and all the knowldge that is giving freely for the asking.

As Tn and Hugh mentioned I am a dealer in Ky: and also in Tn: & Va: starting this season.

Thank`s Tn & Hugh for the props I appreciate it guys.

I started dealing in those two states because I have sevral friends over the state lines in both states and they wanted to sell me ginseng last season but that would have been ileagal unless they had it certified so I just went ahead and took care of that issue for us and all.I will have to certify those roots myself now and thanks to Kyjabber and the oficals that I have talked with in Tn: & Va: I have the ropes in hand on all this paper work.Fourtunatly the act of certifyng is much easyer to do in the 2 new states because there is more post to go through and I have two very good friends that can hold it for me till I need to transfer the seng one in each state within 5 and 8 miles from me.You said that you where new to ginseng hunting well as Bcastle said !! this stuff becomes addictive !! If you ever need any pointers for our surrounding area just let me know always willing to help a fellow seng hunter,I live in Middlesboro Ky: you can get my phone no# from the site that tn listed.

Billy.

Welcome to the forum-

Sound advice above,

please post regularily!

Thanks for the support from you all .I am on east of Tazewell Hugh I get to Morristown about ever 3-4 mo I would love to meet up with you I would consider it a great Houner to Meet you an Billy Some time and see and hear the Small tells of the woods cus i know nodody would ever tell us a TALL TELL LOL....I have decided that my fist plant is staying right where its at and the pods are going to fill thease old hills..I am able to see it every day and make a memery of how i am getting started..Its berrys are about half RED now so it will have a real chance of reproduction every yr for the rest of my life..I will never know what the root looks like but I will know it will contenue to have a safe life. ( i would not like someone digging at my roots the fell in love with me so I am going to receptct His) But his other frinds and family are fair game.They should of introducted themselfs fist!!
As far as taking care of my woods lot That is why we bought it so tired of ciyfolk Tearing down old groth for pools fences playground and ect I had a good upbringing I had a pond (pool) Brier lines (our fence) Tire swing out pasters The way alot of folks think the can out do mother natuer I may not be wroung but its not for me..Any way i found a few patches I would like to expand them and see how far they can go...1 is about 22 ft x 6-10 ft and counted alot just the 2-3 prong and i think they are very very close to each other...it has 85+ plants ....I did go uphill from them and found 9 4 prong and 2 5 prong with loads and loads of seed still green but thinking maybe all parants...I fell very blessed to have found an old groth plot that has not been allowed to be raped or abused the man we bought it from sait only person every up as hight as we bought was him and he kept all others out I am starting to really belive that ....We just go our Temp home st this past spring and our New home should be done by this next sring..Wish us luck If we find enuf plant an decide to sell any they will vbe used to buy seed for the next few yrs....Any other roots or plant woth watching an harviting to help cover the cost that will be incured palnning or Ginseng advencer.I do have loads and loads of SASafrass 5-10yr old and alot of mature but not willing to cut down and a good mess of slippey elm and big ones also but will only come down if needing to to building barn.Thanks and GOD BLESS

Newman,
I would love to get together sometime and talk ginseng. I'm going to mention another thing or two that I feel will be important to you. As you have already mentioned, poaching is a real problem with ginseng and you will undoubtedly be having unwelcomed visitors sooner or later checking out your property. They do find ways to get to the most inaccessable spots. They will relieve you of that treasure that you have found if they get a chance at all. A real good investment that you might want to consider right away is a game camera placed in a good location. Also, please don't go out to the local Co-op or Lowes and mention any thing about having found these plants on your property. Since the berry harvest season is almost upon you I think you need to get some good advise from Billy, or someone else that you can trust, about how to harvest these berries and decide whether you want to plant them right away or to stratify them. You will want to make some decisions pretty quickly about whether you want to buy stratified seed from a dealer or maybe rootlets. Try your best to get Billy if he is available and maybe I can help some if he is not.
Hugh

Newman and others,

I agree that security is very important. Telling people about your ginseng is a bad idea. Even people you trust will most likely prove to you they cant keep a secret.

I have several security items in place around my ginseng, (cameras,boards with spike nails hiding in the leaves,etc), but the best in my opinion is motion alarms. Dakota alert is a good choice.

Good luck.

Well im kind of 1 up on the cameras i bought 15 last deer season had a potcher and he was cought!!! Im not a horn hunter im a freezer filler and i get upset at a hunter cutting heads and leaveing lay to rot boy just really tweeks me melon...But 1 thing i can say about a camera is be sure to have more than just 3-4 and that they cover each other found that 1 out the hard way after losing 2 cams to thefts that took there bounty and my cams. I have a few that send images online not cheep but well worth it if you can get servace around them. I am 1 of those knowen to be crazy so that teturs alot of people...All ya have to do is make them think your cray dont relly have to be..LOL
As far as info this is the firt i have talked about my stuff other than wife An she has promised to not harvest till my death and then it will help cover expenaces....Hope to not have any buyers for a long time!!!!
I have 12ac already fenced with my Dogs in them this past spring so hunters may find more than they bargen for from now on..