TOPIC: Found a Seng Root this morning Feb 20th

Hey Guys,

I was up early this morning as usual and made a trip over to one of my seng hunting spots. In this spot late last fall I found a real nice old 3 prong and while digging it found 3 other roots within my dig circle that had no tops on them.

Dug 1 and got 4 roots

Well I had about 100, possibly 200 seed left after I finished planting yesterday and wanted to plant them in and around that spot where I found the nice 3.

When I got to the spot (right beside a old log) I noticed some kind of critter had been digging holes in and around that log and right there on top of a dirt pile I looked down and found this seng root just laying there in plain view.

It looked like it had been dug up a little while - the root hairs had turned brown and the main part of the root was sort of soft but the smaller thin part of the root still feals good and firm and the bud spur looks to be in fairly good shape.

I started to poke it back in the ground but considering the shape it was in was not sure if it would recover or not. And I am running a bit low on my own personal consumption stash so I think I will just slice up the good part of the root and eat it myself.

What luck - finding a wild seng root on Feb 20th.

PS - it looks to be in the 10-12 year old range to me.

TNhunter

That is amazing. I have never found a root partially dried out on top of the ground. I am with you on the find one dig four root thing but that would be alright to look down and find one just laying there.
Good looking 12 year old root too. I bet those 200 seeds will do well there.
Latt

Latt,

Yep - I bet those seed will do good there to. That big 3 I found had a nice wad of red berries on it and I planted them back there too but it will be next spring before those have a chance of sprouting.

All of that stratified seed I put down should be up here in couple months. I just raked back little spots here and there and planted it that way. A couple of the spots may have been 6' long by 3' wide but the rest were smaller.

PS - I cleaned up that root well and cut off the parts that had turned brown and then sliced up the rest and the large majority of it looked real good when sliced.

Ginseng slices & honey - add hot water and let soak a bit - sip it down and then eat the slices.

I tell you what - it could be just luck / coincidence - but since I started taking ginseng last fall and kept it up (at least 3 days a week) I have not even had the sniffles this winter, no cold, no alergy type symptoms, nothing.

TNhunter

TNhunter,
I am with you on taking ginseng. I cut it up just as you have in the pic. For a big root I cut the slices in half and for a smaller root I take the whole slice as shown in your pic about 3 to 4 time a week as well. I have gotten used to just chewing it up and washing it down with a pop or water. Somewhat bitter but it's not too bad. I am with you on the no cold or allergy type symptoms too. I know many people also experience energy boost when taking ginseng. It does that for me somewhat. But for me it makes me feel less stressed in stressful situations as we all experience with work or in general now and then. I am fairly low key most of the time anyway but the ginseng makes me feel even better.

RAIN,
I got lucky up here again on the rain after planting. Nothing better than planting then getting a good soaker after the seeds are down. I think the rain sets the fluffed up leaved down a bit which holds the moisture in and helps prevent the seed from drying out.
Did you get some rain too?
Latt

Hey Guys,

Lets consider someting a minute here.

Lets say that your dog goes through your woods and digs up a few wild ginseng roots when the ginseng harvest season is closed. Then you come along and find the roots and find the roots laying on the ground, so you take them home. But we think its legal to keep the roots out of season since we did'nt dig them out of the ground ourself but some animal dug them up. Is it legal to keep(take into your possesion) these roots after the season has closed?

Or, you find a dead Bobcat in your woods after the season has closed and you keep it since someting else killed it. So is it legal to take the bobcat for yourself after the season has closed.

Harvest means to take into your possesion. When the ginseng harvest season is closed, that means that no wild ginseng may be taken into your possesion.

Perhaps I'm mistaken on interpreting the law on this. If I am, then set me straight. I'm confussed.

Thanks, classicfur

Latt,

Yep - we got some rain the evening and night after I planted my seed this time and that is a good feeling. I have been real lucky on my plantings this fall/winter with rain coming soon after most of them.

Back in the fall we had some very dry conditions and I would only order seed and plant when we had rain showing in the extended forecast. During the winter months I have not seen the ground really dry out though. I have mostly been planting after snows melt off and man it has been nice soil condition wise - very moist and fluffy and easy to work.

Classicfur,

I feel very lucky to have found that root.

It was no doubt going to lay there and dry out or rot. The root hairs had already turned brown.

If it had been in better shape I would have planted it back but I doubt seriously that it could have recoverd from the state it was in to live agian.

Back when I was going to college (early 80's) I stopped and picked up a bunch of road kill coon, skinned them and sold the hide outside of coon trapping season. Back then you could only trap coon in the month of December, not sure if that is still the case or not.

I have no idea if it was legal to pick up road kill coon and skin and sell the hide - never really thought about that or worried about it - to me it was just the sensable thing to do.

The way I see it you could let it lay there and rot or make good use of it.

In this case I would do the same again - if I ever get that lucky again - doubt it seriously.

TNhunter

Hey Guys,

I looked around online for some details in the wording of the Tennessee Ginseng Laws and found the statement below...

==
The wild ginseng Harvest Season is from August 15th to December 31st of each year. It is unlawful to dig wild ginseng for the purpose of sale or export on any date not within the ginseng Harvest Season.
==

The Harvest Season is Aug 15 - Dec 31 so I guess technically that root I picked up off the ground was sort of harvested outside of the legal harvest season date range.

But it also says it is unlawfull to \"dig\" wild ginseng for the \"purpose\" of \"sale or export\"...

Technially speaking I did not dig the root - it was just laying there on top of a fresh pile of dirt and I picked it up.

Also my purpose was not for sale or export - it was for personal consumption.

Honestly - I never even considered if what I was doing was legal or not. My first thought was if it might live if replanted and after inspecting it closly doubted seriously that would work so moved on to making good use of it instead of just letting it lay there and rot.

Considering the exact wording in the Tennesse law looks like I would have had at least as good of a chance as OJ of gettin off scott free

TNhunter

TNhunter

I guess according to TN ginseng harvest laws. You could dig all the Wild Ginseng you want out of season if it's for your own consumption and not \"for sale or Export\".

I called and talked to a DNR Warden in Wisconsin that I know and he said: No roots can be removed from it's habitat outside of the open season, even if it was found laying on top of the ground, unless it was reported to the DNR dept.

He said that they had one instance where some turkeys had dug up some wild ginseng on private land out of season and they investigated it and awarded the land owner with the roots and a permit to cover the roots. He also said that if the person had not reported the roots dug up and just kept them. That would be illegal.

He suggested, if in doubt, call your state dept to find out the legalities on it.

So for someone to do that in WI, would be illegal but in other states, probably best to check with the state.

Better safe than sorry.

classicfur

Classicfur,

I looked thru the State Ginseng Laws info available here on the wildgrown site and found that in that short summary of the law that 3 other states - Alabama, Virginia and North Carolina exclude land owners from the normal harvest date ranges - even if digging it for resale.

The info that wildgrown has on Tennessee does not give all of the details (for example does not mention that you are not limited to the stated harvest date range if harvesting for personal use) so I am sure some of the other State Law documents available here may also fail to mention details like that.

The laws do vary quite a bit from State to State.

Personally I don't really agree with allowing land owners to harvest (for resale) on their own property outside of the date range that is set for conservation purposes.

Personal use I don't have so much of a problem with. Someone harvesting for personal use is most likely going to be conservation minded anyway.

TNhunter

TNhunter

Sorry if I sounded rude. But my mind has been trained to think about the legal aspect of things.

In my taxidermy business, I'm always confronted with things that require me to know the laws and if things are legal or not. Persons that hunt, trap or fish are required to know the laws and follow them. But that is not always the case. If someone calls me in Sept and wants to bring in a Bobcat to sell or mount, I have to wonder why, because it's not the season for havesting bobcats. Is it a roadkill and do they have the required paperwork signed by a Game Warden, and does it have a Cites tag attached.

It,s my responability to make sure that all fish and game that comes into my shop is legal to the best of my knowledge.

I believe that it's our responsibility to know the laws pertaining to the ginseng plant that has become a huge part of our lives. Unfortunately the laws are different from state to state.

When I hear of something taken out of season, a little red flag goes up. Sorry, that the way my brain works.

Enjoy your root!


classicfur