Harvesting Wild Ginseng

Estimating the age of an individual ginseng plant may be done by carefully counting the number of scars present on the rhizome or neck of the plant. The neck is located at the top of the swollen portion of the root and is where the shoot originates (Figure 1). At the end of a growing […]

Care should be taken in digging ginseng. With a simple digging fork or trowel, commence digging about 6 inches from the stem. Remove the soil carefully over a 12-inch diameter circle, digging down until you can see the main ginseng root. This is important because the underground stem often proceeds horizontally before it joins the

Wild American ginseng is one of many plant and animal species protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora of 1973 (CITES), an international trade agreement which the United States and 134 other nations have signed. The objective of the Convention is to monitor, control, and restrict, as

By Steve Nix First-year ginseng seedlings produce only one compound leaf with three leaflets and should always be left to grow. That single leaf is the only above-ground growth the first year and the root is only about 1 inch long and 1/4 inches wide. Ginseng and development of the ginseng root has yet to