TOPIC: Hsu's Theory

Anyone else believe paul hsu's theory within the next 3-5 years the picking of wild ginseng will be halted because of it becoming more extinct? every newsletter he sends he mentions this or is this just a marketing stragey for his seeds and roots? if so how will a person with woodsgrown on his own property be differentiated with someone out in the wild picking like current?

In my opinion I don't see how they can tell the difference in the first place. I belive that yes it's true that it's becoming more elusive but, when you really think about it whats the difference between wild and woods grown? Some say that if it was manipulated by man in any way then its woods grown. If thats the case then more than likely all the roots that any of us dig are woods grown or wild simulated. Let me explain... I highly doubt that there is a woods or forest out there that hasnt been hunted with that said I'm sure that a seng hunter who has dug in any woods has replanted thier berries which in turn has grown into a mature plant that any of us out there has dug. Or a critter has eatin a seed from a plant that a hunter has planted and deposited it elsewhere where any of us has hunted and dug. I'm getting this from the PBS video \"Ginseng Culture\" they talk about all this near the end of the video. Also I told my dealer once that I was afraid of hunting it out of my woods and he to me.... It won't happen! As long as you replant you berries and practice good stewardship it wont happen! He also suggested to skip a couple years hunting the same woods but even if you didnt the chances of someone hunting it out completely are very very slim.

I believe that when they make ginseng illegal only us criminals will have ginseng, lol. Poaching is illegal but it is done all the time I dont see where those poaching laws are working either,
Now to the question I think that first the government will first stop digging on public lands national forest ect. but until that time i wouldnt worry about the private land, you might want to hang on to all of your ginseng seed reciepts where you purchased the seed, that may help in establishing yourself as a legitimate grower in the future. Also, something political to think about, right now 90% of all american ginseng is exported to china, this is probably the biggest positive we can hope for as growers, China has america by the (short and curlys) on this deal, Im sure if they want ginseng our government is in no position to say no to them until we pay back all of that bail=out money we borrowed from them a couple of years ago, that is perhaps the biggest reason we should all enjoy growing ginseng for the next oh 20 or 30 years at least.

I think the majority of folks who think the ginseng population is vanishing are folks who probably have no idea what ginseng actually looks like, have never spent a few hours hunting it with someone who does know, or as you said those who have something to gain from the propaganda (selling seeds, roots, etc).

I read on a website a year or so ago someone who mentioned digging some yellow root (goldenseal) and soon after that post hundreds of people started bashing him for harvesting wild roots because well goldenseal is near extinct (they said). I bet you the large majority of those bashers have never walked a hollow looking for it.

I can show you acres of it and basically no one digs it around here because the price is low and it's way to much like work digging it (unlike ginseng which has much more of a fun factor to it).

Like they say about Guns - - - When they outlaw Guns only outlaws will have Guns !

When they outlaw Ginseng I guess most of us will be Ginseng Outlaws

TNhunter

Anyone that says that Ginseng isn't harder to find these days than years ago hasn't been digging long. I know the areas I have dug it is much harder to find these days, other than woods that I have been digging for years and many of those woods are now gone. Which brings up my point. The TRUE diggers (ones who plant seeds, and harvest only mature plants) are conservationists and not the cause of the decline in Ginseng. The main reason for the decline is habitat loss, logging, bulldozing, etc.. Some areas I used to dig are now void of all trees, fields, houses, stores, etc. now grace the landscape in their place. So if they outlaw digging, they should also put all stops to the expanding human populations. I agree with this and believe we should all help out by starting with all the upper end management of BP =) .... I did run into a GOOD patch of \"Sang\" yesterday. I will add more photos to my thread \"a few pix\".

Well said Shroomy.

I believe that a buyer would easily be able to tell Wild Seng from Woods Grown or Wild simulated other than its wild appearance. When a person sells Wild, they alot of different age roots. Example 10,11,12,13......17,18 year old roots and so on. On the other hand when someone digs their Woods Grown or Wild Simulated they will all be relatively the same age. I will harvest my Wild Simulated Roots when they are between 8 and 10 years old. When the buyer sees that all the roots are say 8 and 9 years old, he could easily say they are wild simulated and Not Wild.

I live in Maine where unfortunatly harvesting Wild Seng has been outlawed. The only Seng left in the state is along the Appalachian Mountains. In order grow my own seng I had to apply for a license from the state. I'm also required to keep a paper trail of all seeds purchased, How much seed, when and where planted. When I go to harvest the roots I am required to have the roots weighed and certified by the state. Then they will issue a CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) tag for that lot of roots. All roots in the USA that are exported out to other countries have to Have a CITES Tag isued for that lot. Check out this article from WildGrown. www.wildgrown.com/index.php/Ginseng-Arti...nseng-Regulated.html

Did you catch that? Endangered Species. Thats what they called it.

Start planting just in case!

Ginseng is on the Flora and Fauna Act of 1971 I believe, so it's not new news.

Shroomy said...

\"Anyone that says that Ginseng isn't harder to find these days than years ago hasn't been digging long.\"

Well --- I can say that and I have been digging since 1977 (that's around 33 years).

It probably depends on the specific area you live in.

In the Mountain areas you have the problems that Billy mentions with strip mining coal where areas are completely devistated to the point where seng will probably never grow again.

That is some awful stuff !

Here in the Middle TN area the worst thing they do is clear cut timber or cut it very hard BUT then after that timber does recover (could be 20-30-40 years) man those areas are often thick with Ginseng.

Most of the time when sites are clear cut they often just clearcut the ridge tops and leave the hollow bottoms. That actually improves the ginseng habitat, allowing more light down in the areas where ginseng grows and the ginseng we find in areas like that is very healthy, large, good roots, and larger berry pods.

In the late 70's early 80's I can remember going on several ginseng hunts only to find that someone else had just recently dug the spot. Finding holes with dried up 3 & 4 prong tops laying nearby.

In the last 5-10 years I have not seen that at all.

I talk to some of the guys that I know that used to hunt ginseng back in those early days and they may still do a little deer hunting, but very few of them are still hunting seng.

In the past 5 years I have been seng hunting in a few new spots and found ginseng populations that obviously had not been harvested in (I would estimate 10-15 years or more). Patches of big mature 3 & 4 prongs with anywhere from 30-100 plants growing.

I can honestly say that seng hunting around here is absolutely as good, if not better than it was in the late 70's early 80's.

I hate it for you guys where that it not the case.

I suppose in mountain areas, especialy where unemployment rate may be high, the seng hunting pressure is still very strong.

The opposite is true here in my area - most folks have jobs and make decent living at them, and I guess ginseng hunting it just too much work for those folks now days.

Good for me and my nephew (my rather new hunting partner) who I took on his first hunt a couple years ago, and man he is hooked big time now.

The large majority of our seng hunts are very successful and we have not been to a spot in the past few years that looked like it had been dug in the past 10-15 years.

TNhunter

i do find a alot around big cities more then 100,000 in Population...30 or 40 miles round city.. As for the big Mt i try to stay out of. Never Know if some crazy guy up there making Meth or big marijuana patch.. that happen to last year
in woods hunting hear heilo over head and so i come out of woods wouldn't know it about 7 or 8 cops looking in my car.. i told em what i was doing let them search me and car.. Nothing eever happen over it but it was a eye opener..As for were i live everything about all dug out..went out 5 or 6 times around here and found little of nothing were it should of been... Most people here in to foot hills have dug and dug it out... u might go into the woods and find 4 or 5 two porngs but that's about it..