TOPIC: Magic Formula for growing ginseng

OK folks.
Here is the magic formula for growing ginseng. This is based of of my 5 years experience in growing ginseng with over 50 lbs planted in 4 different counties in Ohio.

The formula is real simple. It goes like this.

Ginseng Seed planted (-) minus Deer devastating your ginseng beds annually = (0) Zero ginseng left after year 5.

Yea you may have a few left here and there at year 5. But it won't be many.

If you do not control the deer SOMEHOW, you are not going to have anything left. Plain and simple.

Anyone says different hasn't been attempting to grow seng. When it comes to deer, Ohio ain't no different than MI, KY, WV, IN, PA, MD, NC, TN, NY etc etc etc. Deer are prolific and I see no end in site unless they raise the limit quickly.

If you aren't controlling the deer beware seng planters. Ohio is not any different than the other states I mentioned. I have planted in 4 Ohio counties and the deer have ate almost all of it.

Been to all of my sites in the last 2 weeks and nothing but stalks are left if I can even find them here and there. They may survive and grow next year but the deer will hit them again. Each year I lose 20 % or more.

I am not giving up trust me. I am just rethinking my strategy in planting and controlling the deer.

Going to buy property, maintain and take care of my seng I plant and take care of the deer population on our land so they do not eat everything in site.

My girlfriend and I have an offer on the table to purchase 25.2 acres, so we will see what happens. I do not really need 25.2 acres but wooded land is hard to find in my neck of the woods. I really only need 5 to 10 acres to do what I want to do with farming seng. However, things will be different as I am no longer in the \"Feed The Deer\" mode.

Good luck everyone.
Latt

I know how you feel they even eat my yellowroot patch i think deer hurt ginseng far more than most people understand in 2008 blue tounge killed over half the locale population found more ginseng in 2009 then in many years but now i think theres more than ever even stinging nettals cant grow looks like someone took a weedeater to the entire woods

Down here the problem is rabbits. Its like they are at an all you can eat salad bar.

Latt,

Do your deer mostly live on natural browse or do you have ag fields in the area? Do you think they prefer the ginseng to other plants or just randomly browsing them as they head to their other food sources? Our deer tags recently went from unlimted to 1 doe per year with a firearm (luckily I bow hunt so it wont matter) but I fear our deer population is about to skyrocket.

Btw my name is John and I'm from the great state of Missouri. Sorry for all the rookie questions I'm sure to be asking over the next few months.

Have a good one,

John B

Latt, I hear you man!

Most people are lucky to harvest enough to pay for their seed!
Everything loves ginseng. Not only deer but there is the slugs,bugs and voles. Oh yes, I forgot about the turkey eating your seed and re-arranging the whole patch for you. Then if you're lucky enough to have some seed bearing plants,There comes the mice,chipmunks and birds.
The list goes on!
We've got to be crazy!

Latt,

I feel your' pain brother! Hopefully, some of the seng will come up next year and may give you the opportunity to dig it up and transplant it to the new location. I know that placing fencing or other deterrents are often sign posts to Ginseng poachers as many can be seen from afar. However, I have recommended this before, know that it will work, it has low to no visibility from afar or in most cases, even up close and Deer will bolt the other direction with one step on to it. That recommendation is to obtain old roofing tin from barns and sheds that were torn down, are being torn down or in need of tearing down. This old roofing tin can usually be had cheap and sometimes for free and is a great deterrent for Deer and quite a few other animals. To install it around your' Ginseng crops, beds or plots, just rake back the leaves, limbs and debris from around the perimeter of them, lay the roofing tin flat on the ground around the Ginseng crops, beds or plots and cover them back over lightly with the leaves, limbs and debris. Once a Deer and some other animals take one step on the roofing tin and it pops, crunches or pings, they will turn and go the other direction. They also do not like the feel of the somewhat slippery surface that is has as well. Also, a few rocks strategically placed under the roofing tin, will make for better effects and deterrent when any animal steps on it. There are also a few types of Aluminum siding that will work just as well and sometime even better. These are usually harder to obtain but might be found on old abandoned Mobile Homes. Even assorted pieces of old Aluminum flashing will work well and especially when they are laid out overlapping each other. Who really cares what you use as you are looking for effect and not aesthetics!


Frank

Latt, I feel your pain. Deer, in my opinion, are the single biggest impediment to growing ginseng in my area. As I've mentioned before, I've been attempting to plant seeds amongst lots of other wild cover plants. I think that my seedlings have a very tough time competing against all of the weeds, and a much lower survivor rate than most of y'all have, but over the long run, I'm hoping they will be naturally camouflaged as they mature.

If I ever attempted planting any sort of non-protected cultivated patch, it would be mowed down before I finished typing this sentence!

Deer walk on a concrete side walk, walk up to my house, and I swear they look in through the windows at night, so I'm sure that they can get used to many artificial things, and I'm not sure how well laying tin roofing, etc would really help. I'm thinking about cordoning off a section of land with lots of barbed wire and then perhaps just intensively cultivating a very non-wild ginseng there--something I'd rather not do.

MaxPanax wrote:

Deer walk on a concrete side walk, walk up to my house, and I swear they look in through the windows at night, so I'm sure that they can get used to many artificial things, and I'm not sure how well laying tin roofing, etc would really help. I'm thinking about cordoning off a section of land with lots of barbed wire and then perhaps just intensively cultivating a very non-wild ginseng there--something I'd rather not do.

I agree with you on the concrete sidewalk statement and them walking up to your' house! When I lived in West Virginia, they would walk all around my' home at night, they knew every door that I could sneak out of or any window that I could open to view them and they would always bolt. Flimsy unstable tin roofing is not solid and stable as concrete and that is why they fear it when they step on it. It is because it gives, is slick and makes noises if placed correctly with strategically placed rock underneath it. It is quite possible that eventually some of the Deer will become accustomed to it and their fear of it will diminish. However, if you change it up somewhat every few months by adding tin roofing on top of tin roofing or adding Aluminum siding or anything that changes the sound and feel of it when they step on it, they will never truly get accustomed to it and will likely stay away. In a worse case scenario, you could spray a little bit of Pine Sol from time to time around the crops, beds or plots where the tin roofing lays. Most animals cannot stand the smell of Pine Sol and will stay away when it is encountered. There are a lot of deterrents that can be used to keep away such as cutting back brush and removing it or piling up brush but the tin roofing to me, is a much simplier method!


Frank

Ahh yes, growing ginseng... Its kinda like waiting seven or eight years to open a Christmas present but every time you look at it the package shrinks a bit.

The cultivated boys deal with disease and we deal with predation. Which direction the scales tip is yet to be determined. Nature doesn't like to be manipulated and she loves diversity, she'll fight you tooth and nail for it. It definitely isn't easy.With that said, next years planting area is killed off,ready to be cleared, and I'm about to sink a few thousand more dollars into it.

Here we grow again.

Hillhopper

I'm a 100% virgin at seng growing, no expierence what so ever. But, when I find and buy my property, my strategy to control voles and underground varmits is through solar operated, electronic pulse devices. It's what we use in FL to control burrowing critters. They are very cheap and are very effective. Every few seconds they send a pulse. Critters hate it. Put up a perimiter around the plot. Slugs and such, I will try DE or diamacious earth. If no success, BT or bacious thimus. Spelling is not correct. I don't know how to spell that. Both 100% organic and certified organic use. I don't know about deer, no expierence in controlling them. Remmington has a lomg history of maintaining them! Just my ideas, you guys may have already tried those things and they don't work. Please share if anyone has.