TOPIC: How is the drought affecting your harvest?

Hello all this being my first post I'd just like to see how this is horrific drought conditions are affecting the rest of you. I'm 22 years old and am on my eleventh season of harvesting wild ginseng in Iowa and I have never seen it this barren in the old growth timber that my father and I hunt. Were primarily only seeing dried up yellow plants then trying to spot leafless dried up stems to dig. Hope all is well for the rest of you and happy harvesting!

Iowagrown, Not any better here in Missouri. Theres nothing left where I hunt close to home but I have found some by driving about 50 miles south.

ILL......it was dried up and gone by the first of Aug...no digging here this year....this is what mine looked liked by the 2nd week of july.....

On my first hunt I went to a place where we did really good 3-4 years ago and left a lot of 2's and small 3's.

I remember one flat with a gentle slope that was just covered with seng.

I made the BIG hike back into that area and hunted it hard and found some seng, but not near as much as I was expecting. I also located that flat area where I know we left hundreds of 2 and small 3 prongs and I found nothing there.

It was in sort of a odd place (opposite side of the hollow from where you usually find seng) and in a little dryer place than it usually grows in... but it was just full of it.

Not this year - could not find any there.

I think our month of June wiped out any seng that was growing in less than ideal locations.

All that is left now is the seng that is growing in much more ideal places, deeper shade, cooler areas.

I would say that what I did find (10 ounces) is about 1/3 or possibly 1/2 of what would have been there if not for the bad heat and dry spell we had for the entire month of June this year.

I am going out again today to see what I can find in the hollows here close to home.
I hope there are still a few hanging in there. We did get some good rain the past few days so hopefully what is still around will stay a while longer.

TNhunter

Pike co Ky

Most of the good plants where down weeks ago northern wi

bout gone in NE KY too, lucky to find a light green plant at all

I guess I am very lucky.some spots seng is gone for the year here in Pa.
Other spots it is green with berries.went yesterday and today found 20 oz
seems like the shady side and deep hollows it is still ok.I did see several yellow ones though.

On the 1st and 2nd, I found that many of the plants under heavy tree cover or other foilage are still fairly green with the berries full ripe or already gone. However, in the areas with fair amounts of breaks in the tree cover or other foilage, the plants are mostly dead and/or yellow and laying on the ground. You can tell that these plants just wilted away from the drought and too much sunlight because in normal years, the stems, prongs and sometimes the berry shoots are still standing tall. I once found a whole patch of Ginseng on the side of a mountain in West Virginia that had died off but the stems, prongs and some berry shoots were still visible. I was taking a break from the treestand while deer hunting, walked to the end of the ridge, laid down and I spotted it. Luckily there had not been any snowfall, otherwise the stems would have been laying on the ground and not very visible.

I have had a lot of things going on since the 2nd but hope to get back out in the morning. Hopefully I will be able to find some plants that have not totally died off!


Frank