Whitjr,
That is good to hear on the 90% germination rate from wildgrown seeds. I planted a pound of those myself.
I planted some less expensive seed from hardwoodginseng.com (got that for 85.00/lb) and then some more expensive seed from wildgrown and hardings.
The guy we have been selling our seng to the past couple years (Glenn Bradey over in Pulaski TN) had stratified seed from a shade grown cultivated grower in Wisconsin for sale two years ago for 28.00 / lb.
When I checked with him back in Aug 2010 he thought he would have more of that same seed for 30.00/lb but then later in October when I checked with him again he said he could not get the seed because of the seed shortage.
If I could get some of that 30.00/lb seed I was going to try broadcast planting some of it (say around 5 lbs) and see how that does.
In Scotts book there is mention of some doing that and getting a fairly high germination rate (somewhere around 65% best I remember). You have to wait until the leaves are just starting to fall heavy and time your broadcasting just before a big rain, that way the seeds you cast are covered with a nice layer of leaves basically over night or within 24 hours of broadcasting them.
Now I could try that with about 5 lbs of 30.00/lb seed, but when you start talking 85.00 or 120.00/lb - I want to be a bit more careful with how I get them planted.
Good Luck to you and all on a very high germination and survival rate this spring.
TNhunter
