TOPIC: Very important information concerning reproduction of Ginseng

1st let me say,,,thanks to Tnhunter.

TNhunter I enjoyed that information from the site and thanks for the u.r.l. concerning the green berrys.

If you live in any area like General`s and mine Eastern Tn,,Eastern Ky etc where the open of season is August 15 then you are going to have green berrys in some of the pods there is no way around it and this season this worreyd me because they where smaller than they should be I thought I spoke about it here on the site and then to a old timer from the mountians,

A good friend of mine named Rick Johnson that has been senging for over 3o years and has been a dealer for near 20 years and he informed me of something that I want to share with you all.

He gave me a 100 o/o gurantee that this works he has never led me wrong about anything and he has done this for many years with great succsess. So hear it is.

I talked to him about the green berrys concerning me this season as they where not develped good yet and im very glad I brought it up.He said that when seng season opens if you want the green berrys to turn red before they fall or untill you can go back and plant them that there is a very simple way to insure this.

He said when you harvest the root with green,or some green and red berrys together and want them to finish turning color to do this.Dig the plant with care so that you do not detatch the stalk from the curl of the seng.Then take the the stalk and root in hand and break the curl off below the hair root/hair roots of the curl leaving the part of the curl with the hair roots attached to the stalk then plant the stalk right back into the whole you dug the seng from and put your dirt back around the stalk with the curl and hair roots attached and make it firm around the stalk.

He said that the berrys would fully ripen and fall,or that you could go back and plant them.The reason was simple,the part of the curl lives once replanted and is fed by the hair roots steming off of the curl,he said It is a 100 0/0 surety and I am telliing you all this because I know this man good enough to believe his word.He has been senging the same hollers for 30 years and has been doing this about 25 years.He has taking me to sevral hollers with him and I have never been once that I didnt dig good roots,mature.

O.k. Hear is something else that he told me and I am happy also to share this with you all.

Reseeding the Mountian as you dig not just with this years seed but on and on.

He said alot of people are to stingy to do this,and I know he is right,but I also know that there are some very good stewards of the woods who are members of this site and I think that this will be a blessing to some of you,so hear it is.

When you dig some mature plants this season,do the same as above dig carefully so not to break any of the hair roots connected to the curl of the seng.Then remove the stalk from the top of the curl,leave the bud that is there for next seasons stalk.Then hold the curl with one hand at the entrance to the root,with the other hand break off the whole curl so that you have the entire curl,hair roots,and next seasons bud in hand put your harvested root in your bag.Then replant the curl as you would dig a root to transplant it.The curl will bear a new top in the season ,seasons to come and will produce berry pods with full berrys in them for you to replant and eventualy the hair roots will grow into mature digable roots again,now this is realy cool to me.The size of the new berry pod is according to the curl you saved.This is how he planted his patch around the house and you art to see his seed seng without the orignal roots its something else.

Then he asked me had I ever dug a plant that I could not find the large part of the root to in the mountians and I said yes I have sevral times I have dug a big whole sometimes looking for it and sometimes even sifted through my dirt that I had dug and still nothing.He said Billy you live in a area where the old timers practiced this method all the time and it has alot to do with why our seng has always been here even tho our state delivers more wild seng than any other state every year,he said I have been doing this for many years and alot of the others especialy the older diggers he said I know that some times moles will eat the roots,but there will always be apart of the root left if a mole or other animal eats it,but when you find one that has no root only stem and very small root recreated from the hair roots,but at the same time it has a big pod of berrys in it well that was done for seed,and seed again as if the plant was never dug,also if that happens then you will know you have walked behind me or someone who knew this secret of the woods and was a verry good steward and not so stingy that they where worryed about loosing there seng curls because what we leave today makes tomorrow better for us or the children (he has 3 sons).........

I was like, thank you Rick for all this information I will share this with my friends on wildgrown.com and I am sure they will appreciate this information as much as I do.

You know what,I about gurantee that some of you have had this to happen in the Mountians a stalk,berry pod,a curl and no master root,,seriously have you ? if so now you possibly know why.

And from now on I will never have to be wooryed about the seeds being plumb ripe on opening day again also once my mature patch is ready for harvest I can once again enjoy the benifits of the seed from the big 4`s.

You never know what you might learn if you talk to the Elders and then just Listen to them as they begin to talk to you..

Billy.

Billy, I know for a fact that all that you have posted here is 100% true and accurate. A few of my friends and I have always referred to the replanted curl as a spider root because in the first couple of years after replanting it tends to sprout quite a few hair roots ( thus resembling a spider ).
I also dug and interesting plant or maybe I should say plants a couple of years ago. The ground apparently had shifted a little causing the growth stem (curl) to seperate from the main root. Not only did the curl resprout, but so did the main root. The tops on each of these were 4-prongs. I don't remember exactly, but that curl had around 25 steps, and the main root had 2, and bothe of them had good seed pods. I don't know If you could divide younger roots like this and have them survive, but I do Know that it happened with this one older plant.
A person can't replant all the curls or he would have a hard time selling to the dealer, But I have done this quite often, and it does work.

Billy & 5prong...

I see what you mean and found a good picture online that will help \"show\" others exactly what you are suggesting.



That root would be ideal for what you are suggesting.

It actually developed a small root off the root neck (or curl) as you call it.

You could just break that off at around where the (2 year arrow) is pointing and then plant that root neck, with small root right back in the hole you dug the root system from.

Keeping the main root but planting back that root neck with a partial root system in place.

It looks to me like it would be hard for a much smaller root system to support a large top but perhaps after a year or two the top would adjust to what the root can support and the plant would continue to develop and keep on producing seeds.

Like you I have found big old tops before that hardly had any root and I dug a hole big enough to put a basketball in looking for the rest but never found it.

Could have been a old timer in my area doing what yours was.

Or could have been a mole or perhaps even root rot that got the main root but the rest survived to live on.

On other occasions I have been digging a patch and found some really nice roots that did not have a top at all. They were just taking a break that year and had no top. It is always nice when you find a suprise like that.

TNhunter

5 prong that was a very neat experience with that old bunch of seng.I also agree that you shouldnt do that with all the wild roots you dig because of the dealer being able to desern the age and also because of the main buyers having a considerable liking to the big curls,but it is a very good idea for your private areas to help produce seed rite there in that spot.Also it is neat to have a few like that in your private patch around the house just for seed purpose.I am looking forward to doing a few like that this year and taking some before photos of the curls without the main root,then 3 years later around 2013,14 digging up the curl to take another photo and seeing how it has developed and formed,also make a record of how the top comes back and what size tops they produce if it be the good Lords will.I have found this very,very interesting.

Tnhunter that is a nice example and helps show the idea.


I spoke to Rick and he told me that one thing I would see is that the top will sometimes come back a 4 prong,sometimes a 3 prong,and that sometimes the stalk would be big,or it can be small,but the one thing that would stand out is that the berry pod would always be full just as if it hadent ever been dug.He said one 4 prong,came back two years later as a 4 prong,and that another one came back as a 3 prong in his personal patch.Very neat I thought............

Great imformation guys thanks. I sure do hate to dig a green berry ginseng plant, now if I find one in an area I know I won't be able to come back to after the berries are ripe I can try this method.

Thats right general and thats why I was so glad to get this information and also one of our friends her 5prong was familar with this soulution with the green berrys after start date.It made me happy to learn this for sure.

Hey Billy and the rest of u guys, its been awhile but anyways, never did know that about the curls some very good info. Also was wanting to share some info that my grandfather shared with me years ago and it too works. After digging a plant with green berries just stick the stalk back in the ground with real good dirt around it and up a little higher than usual and some to most of the green berries will turn ripe. I know this works because i have done it in the past, but the only downfall is it doesn't come back like Billy's method. I have planted a many a berry from this method in areas i seng more than once a year.

WOW!! Great info guys I do appreciate the heck outta all that and Billy Yes I have dug plants where I couldn't for the life of me find the root!! I always chalked it up to mother nature wanting to keep that one and I was always alittle disapointed cause the tops were BIG OLD 3 and 4 prongers with full berry clusters! Now I know why, and I had always wondered if there was a way to tell if anyone else had dug where I had and now I also know that to. And just for the record I'm not in the mountains I'm in S. Indiana where the land is mostly flat farmland I really got to search hard for just alittle bit of upland forest so its not just the old timers in the mountains that knew of that trick. Again thank you very much for all that info guys.

Hillbilly good to hear from you man its been awhile.I am looking forward to chating some this season with you my friend.

Bird Nird you are very welcome,and I rekon no matter where we live this is a very good detail to learn and know.

I sure like this and I will do a little sampling using this method starting this year with a few 4`s,im looking forward to seeing and recording the yearly details doing this with a few plants.

Billy, that sounds like a good idea, but the powers that be in Wisconsin state that we have to take the plant with us to prove it is at least a three-pronger. Our season for at least 12-15 years opens sept. 1, so very few green berries. Our DNR takes it for granted we are all breaking the law, they just have to catch us.