TOPIC: opening day...

On down the line...

Here is what my seed producing bed plants look like on May 6 th....



And then later on on June 10. By June they have pretty much reached full size and berry stems are developing.
Now I am in TN, so if you were more northward... this would happen later for you.



TNHunter

TN, thanks. Last year when I discovered I had ginseng growing in my woods it was May so all the plants were up and what they were. The berry stems, sometimes do they not develop or if there's not one, maybe it was eaten by something.
I've been checking my "honey holes" daily hoping to see one/some emerging. Nothing so far.

Do you ever "thin" your seed producing bed? Also, is that bark that you're using as mulch in place of leaves?

Last autumn's leaves are still kind of thick on the ground but I have faith the ginseng will push through.

those a great looking plants TN.reminds me of warmer times,,,28 degrees this morning spitting a little sleet/ snow....good news I got my boat motor back yesterday all fixed and ready to roll....

TN, love those beautiful emerald green tops. Nice healthy looking plants. I"m looking forward to September already. Chief, I am going after the crappie on Thursday if all goes well. Hope you get a break in the weather up there and are able to get out.

today is another crappy weather day here.35 degrees, drizzle, cold north wind.just a yucky day...

woodsrunner...

I have not had to thin my seed producing bed yet... I spaced them out about a foot apart and they have done well.
When they are completely filled out those tops sort of take up all the space, but they are not really overlapping much at all.

I have had over the years, some berries to drop and sprout... I started my seed producing bed in 2010 (fall) so this fall it will be 10 years old.

I have some plants (just a few) that have sprouted from berries that dropped... that are now 3 prongs producing berries themselves.

In the first 3-4 years that i had the bed established we had some very hot summers, one end of June I remember it got up in the 95-102 range for a few weeks... and I have had other years in July.August where it did the same.. and man that is hard on them.

6-7 years ago, to help (retain moisture)... I put down on top of the bed a nice layer of pine bark mulch. That is what you are seeing in those pics.

Every spring (about right now) I give them a nice dose of Gypsum, and some organic fertilizer... blood meal, bone meal, epson salt, green sand. I keep the N fairly low, don't want to over encourage top growth.

Best I remember originally I put 44 roots in that bed... and I transplanted 2 from the top to another location... the ones at the top were not doing so well, so i moved them. I think there is 42 original roots in that bed now.

Best I have ever done on Berry production is around 450.

If I get a few good rains in July and August.. and one early Sept.. I usually get a pretty good crop of berries.

Some years like last year I only get a few... it was just too hot for too long and very dry. Most of my seed producing tops were yellow to brown by Sept 1 last year. Hope for a better year this year.

TNHunter

TN, your seed bed is inspiring and something to look forward to one day. I've not considered amendments to my natural patches or plots where I've planted. This brings up a question from Archon's recent post to Nick where he discussed soil.

I've wondered if soil composition is more important than north facing slope, amount of sunlight, etc. The first plant I found is on a south facing slope and there are several younger plants near it. This area I believe also gets the evening sun from the west. Oddly, it is the one area on my property that has several (10-20) pines among the deciduous trees.

I planted several seeds nearby in 2018 and had several three- leafers last year. Unfortunately, I don't know how many seeds I actually planted. This past fall, I planted several plots using your 2 seeds per square foot method and will record my success rate there.

I used your planting suggestion all over my property and can't wait for the buggars to sprout and hopefully note a consistency of success or failure and plant accordingly next fall.

Chief: I feel your weather frustration. It seems to rain here most everyday. Sunday was nice but that was the exception. I managed to fence 90% of my garden. Today was back to drizzle though in the low 50s. I went for a run and was soaked, forgot my gloves so was cold and uncomfortable the whole time.

Stay healthy all.

I heard that on the rain woods,the next weeks forecast has rain 6 out of 7 days..may get up to 4 inches in that period of time.wish I could save some of this rain till summer time...

well iam going to work in the shop on my boat this afternoon,because its another day with rain....

Second day in a row here of all day rain, and they have the whole county shut down over the virus. I guess it's shut down pretty much everywhere. I tell you what, if you're not depressed then you're smoking some good stuff. The only place left to go is the mountains, or lake, and you can't even do that for the damn weather, lol.