Thanks guys, went out yesterday with my brother and we got a little over a pound between the two of us. This morning I went with a buddy who is just learning, to a property that I'd never been to before. We found some good companion plants (Cohosh, wild ginger, various ferns), but couldn't find any seng there. I took him to an area that I know after that and we found a little there, but not a whole lot. It was another area that was just timbered a couple of years ago, and just hard to get around in there, and even harder to see through all the weeds that are growing there now, but he did mangage to get about a quarter pound. I showed him how to dig on the first couple of plants, then he dug the rest. I'm planning on going to a couple of very small spots where I've dug some pretty good sized roots in the past, and have a couple of hunts with newbies on unfamiliar ground planned. Other than that I probably wont be digging a whole lot this year. I've already gone in to some of my better areas and pinched tops off. I'm not planning on digging a couple of those areas for about another 6 or 7 years. There are quite a few plants there that are in the 15-25 year range right now, and many, many younger plants. Its going to be a great dig one of these days if I can keep it safe from any illegal early diggers.
My brother is doing some digging this year, and we share some of the same spots, so I'll let him go dig those ones this year. Good stewardship is the key to keeping a good population of ginseng growing. I'm really bummed this year because of the lack of berry production. I've planted thousands of berries over the last several years, and hopefully will get to plant thousands more in the future, but haven't had the oppurtunity to plant many this year:(