TOPIC: Red berries july

I found a second red berry on the same plant a day or two after the first. I decided to leave it there and return the next morning with my phone so I could get a photo. When I returned the red berry and a couple of green ones were on the ground, we had a pretty good storm that night so maybe that knocked them off. I planted all of them.

The attached pic is of another plant near the first one that had one slightly red berry a couple days ago. I returned there today and there are 6-7 berries of various degrees of red. I took a couple photos but need to get into town and email them to myself so I can save and then post them. I left the berries there as the plant is on a very short but steep slope and am willing to gamble that the deer and other critters leave it be tonight. Fingers crossed!

The other two colonies on my property have no red berries yet but I've found a couple more plants the past few nights.

Do you all typically plant your berries near their parent-plant or in another known successful location? So far I've been planting them near their parent.

jimsenger...

I have never sold any ginseng tops...

Years ago I tried digging some golden seal, and best I remember we sold the roots and tops on that.
that was too much like work for me... the most fun I had doing that was when occasionally I would find a seng plant in the midst of all that seal.

If he requires that you bring out the whole plant, top and root attached, that would be a little difficult, and to keep the top in good shape.

I mean you could not bag it or nothing like that, you would have to take real good care of it... which could be quite difficult if you were wading thru briers and thickets as we usually do seng hunting.

TNHunter

I'm wondering how many leaves/tops it would require to make a pound.

I've been visiting my plants pretty much daily since I discovered the first red berry, heck, I'm retired, work fixing up the house most of the day so a hike or buggy ride up into the woods is a nice finish to the day. I've been watching this guy the past few days. Though tempted to remove some of the berries, I've left them on because I'm hoping for a good photo (forgot my camera today, doh), this plant I think is not convenient for deer, and I'm using it as a learning tool. Hopefully I don't regret my decision.

I've posted the pic I took on 8.11.19. The berries were much redder today, wish I had not forgotten my phone.

Hey Jm...

Nice berries... hope they all make more.

notice those spots on the leaves, and those leaf edges that sort of look like they have been burnt...

I believe that is - alternaria leaf blight. When those spots get more advanced they often take on a bulls eye appearance.

It is worse when you get a lot of rain (which we have sure had this year at my place)...

It is natural and i expect every ginseng location has some of that.

My wild ginseng here has it quite often, but it usually does not get bad enough to completely kill off the top.

But when I first started planting stratified seed, I planted it as recommended in Scotts book. 4-5 seeds per sq ft.
I got very high germination rate... and in the first two years of growth, some of my beds lost 70-80 percent of the 3 leafers to that stuff..

When it gets really bad the leaves will start to look like they are just melting... and when the stem gets it, the top is gone for that year. In the case of a 3 leafer (first year), if that happens too early (say early June)... it may not come back again.

So just a word of caution on that... after learning my lesson on that.. I started planting my beds more like 2-3 seeds per sq ft, and made smaller beds with more space between them, spread them out more. That worked much better for me.

Good Luck !

TNHunter

As always TN, thanks for the info and don't think it falls on deaf ears. In fact, awhile back you suggested a pretty specific method of planting seed which I hope to go back and dig up (think it's in another thread) and use that method. It stated something like 1 seed every so many inches in a bed something-by something...

I did notice those spots and have noticed similar spots on tree and plant leaves here. The two summers I've been here, locals are commenting on the high amount of rainfall. Having moved from the Pacific NW, it seems light to me.

I just want to add I took a Master Gardener class in OR and one of the classes was on plant disease. Geez, there are so many diseases and causes it was overwhelming. I recall over hearing a class member mumble that with all these diseases why bother planting a garden. lol Then there was the classes on insects (pests) and invasive plants. If one puts all three of these together it can be overwhelming.

In the class and working on a gardener hotline we had to identify different symptoms and diseases based on description and/or photos, I don't think I quite got it. Many of the diseases/infestations looked too similar for me to distinguish.

Geez, and now looking out the window I see some tent worm caterpillar nests, too high for me to reach.