TOPIC: 2015 season starts now!

I'm starting this thread to put a little pressure on myself. As many of you know I broke myself up pretty bad a couple years ago and have not done much sengin since. Normally I get out in the middle of nowhere for some old ones but that was just not in the cards the last couple years. This year I am finally feeling half way back to normal and I'm on a mission!

I have been asked to harvest seng for two different projects. #1 is to get root well dug and green for a replant project for a seng business in which they want to start with all native Vermont root. They want 10-25 yo root for this planting. Project #2 is for a conservation project to help propagate wild seng in the state. They are planning on planting older roots (25+ yo I think) in these conservation areas where \"theoretically\" they can not be harvested. The berries from these transplants will be planted each year. I don't know much about this project but will learn more today.

One of my buyers for these projects is coming over today for a little hike and we will go out on one of two new properties I have permission to dig on. This property is somewhat promising as I have several patches within a mile of it, so there is potential, but the terain does not seem ideal. There are lots of maple that I can see from the road so we will see. The second property is awesome! Very steep hillsides, several ravines, and the owner has a big sugaring operation with tens of thousands of taps. He said there were some guys that used to go out for seng there years ago but they went north where it is relatively flat, I want to get up in the steeps where I suspect will be good for the old ones.

So, this is the start, I'll keep this thread going and we'll see what I can do with these properties and orders for these replant roots. Pics to follow...... hopefully several like these!

First let me say that I am very happy that you have heeled up enough to feel like tackling this task!
Secondly, Just can't wait to see some pics of those nice old ginseng plants that
I know you will find

Maya, It really sounds great that your body is healing properly and that you are feeling able to take on some new tasks. These projects sound interesting so I'm going to be following. I would like to see how you go about planting your berries that you make your patches with and if they will let you, I would like to see how they do theirs. Good luck with your mission.

Hugh

I would suggest to the conservationists to have you bring them seed from nice old plants instead. 1/3 to 1/2 of the roots probably won't make it through the transplanting, especially if they are old (i.e. less vigorous). I have transplanted lots of nice wild sang to my property, both mid age and old, to \"conserve\" it, and be able to harvest the seeds only to watch them disappear after 1-2 seasons.

Maya..

Glad to hear you are feeling better and looking forward to pics of those beauties you find.

In the past you have put up pics of some of the most impressive roots, long roots, and you get all of it.

In that pic above, was that a couple of big 3 prongs together ? Looks sort of like a 6 prong.

I have seen them look like that but end up being two big 3 prongs off the same root (a double top).

TNhunter

Thanks guys! We got off on the right track yesterday on this new property. It took us a while and we endured some pretty good rains, but we found a decent patch that I will go scout further some day. There were these four bigger ones with several 2 stemmers and some 1 stem ones close by. Once I found these we found a few more younger 3 prongs and then it really started to down pour so we got out and came back to the house for a cold one!

Thanks guys! We got off on the right track yesterday on this new property. It took us a while and we endured some pretty good rains, but we found a decent patch that I will go scout further some day. There were these four bigger ones with several 2 stemmers and some 1 stem ones close by. Once I found these we found a few more younger 3 prongs and then it really started to down pour so we got out and came back to the house for a cold one!

Hugh Hartsell wrote:

Maya, It really sounds great that your body is healing properly and that you are feeling able to take on some new tasks. These projects sound interesting so I'm going to be following. I would like to see how you go about planting your berries that you make your patches with and if they will let you, I would like to see how they do theirs. Good luck with your mission.

Hugh

I wouldn't say my body is healing properly, but it's better. They will be doing the plantings and I probably won't see them. Here's a nice older one that was above the patch in the previous pic....

Rural Action Forestry wrote:

I would suggest to the conservationists to have you bring them seed from nice old plants instead. 1/3 to 1/2 of the roots probably won't make it through the transplanting, especially if they are old (i.e. less vigorous). I have transplanted lots of nice wild sang to my property, both mid age and old, to \"conserve\" it, and be able to harvest the seeds only to watch them disappear after 1-2 seasons.

Yes you are absolutely correct Rural. That was the first thing I said when they mentioned this project to me. First let me say that bringing them the berries would be illegal! They must be planted nearby. They realize they will loose a great deal of the plants, but they feel it is the only way they can be fairly certain they are wild Vermont seng and not from commercially planted seed. They also want to have plants that will be producing berries asap.

Keep in mind this is some native plant conservation group and not really ginseng people. I don't think a one of them are diggers, but just academic types that have read about it, but not really lived it. Many of them are the ones that think digging should be banned and seng is endangered here. They would sh.. if I showed them all the wild patches I know of, all within ten miles of my house.

TNhunter wrote:

Maya..

Glad to hear you are feeling better and looking forward to pics of those beauties you find.

In the past you have put up pics of some of the most impressive roots, long roots, and you get all of it.

In that pic above, was that a couple of big 3 prongs together ? Looks sort of like a 6 prong.

I have seen them look like that but end up being two big 3 prongs off the same root (a double top).

TNhunter

Yes I believe that was a couple together. That was in a very steep ravine that had several old plants in the patch. I only kept older ones, over 15 years and left probably 40-50 legal young ones. The one underneath is younger, you can kind of see the leaves are smaller. This is one from that patch.