TOPIC: just wondering

i went up in a holler today which from the road looked like a good one for seng. i was dissapointed when i got up in there and found it had been timbered out before and briars seemed to be taking over about everything. i could tell that at one time there was prolly some good seng in there. there was all kinds of cohosh in there and some lady slipper. but because alot of trees where gone alot of sunlight was gettin in and the dirt was kinda dry. i was about to just leave but decided to work my way through the briars jus to see if just maybe there might be an old plant still surviving in there somewhere. and i did find a real nice 4 prong hiding behind an ol beech tree. this isnt the only time ive found seng in places like this. and when i do its always real old plants. not many of em but still real big. best i can figure they suvived the ppl who where working in there and most ppl dont even look for seng in these places so it has a chance to grow real old. have you guys ever found seng like this?

I worked one like that the other day. It sounds like it wasn't logged as hard as your spot but what I noticed was the seng was growing good on the edges of openings that were looging roads. I found a half dozen 4 stemmers but only kept one, the rest were too young.

Yep, when an area is cut over like that sometimes the sang will go dormant for a few years and then come back up once briars and other plants come up enough to provide them some shade. I'd be willing to be there is some more in there still.

One of my best areas is like that, Only there is a LOT of it! Not giant sized roots, but a lot of older plants. I found that if I wait till a little later in the season it's much easier to find as the yellowing leaves are easier to see and the leaves aren't as thick on the other plants (mostly briars). It got logged about a dozen years ago. Just about the same amount growing now as before it was logged, but a little harder to get to.

That's a good idea 5, wait til they yellow. Why do you think the roots are smaller, soil or because they may have gone dormant for a year or two?

We find some real good seng in areas that were cut hard 10-15 years ago. I think the ones that do survive that first year or two where the sunlight is more than they want, may actually do better for the next several years because of the increase in light exposure.

We have a lot of areas here in Middle TN where the timber companies clear cut the ridge tops and plant them back in pine trees, but they leave the hollow bottoms in hardwood timber.

In areas like that we find average sized segn down low on the hill or in the hollow bottom, but up near the edge of the clear cut find some HUGE seng growing.

It is usually in with a bunch of other thick stuff growing in that edge, briars, weeds of all kinds, thick stuff, but BIG Seng with Big roots - much larger than what we find down lower where the light conditions are your normal deep shade in older timber.

TNhunter

maya wrote:

That's a good idea 5, wait til they yellow. Why do you think the roots are smaller, soil or because they may have gone dormant for a year or two?

Maya, It's not that they are smaller, Just not what I'd call monster sized roots. I'd say that they are average sized for this area. The average 20-25 year old sang root around here probably only weighs about one half an ounce. Two ounces is about the heaviest root I've ever found. The plants getting more sunlight tend to have longer roots, but not necessarily a whole lot more weight. Just talking about what I've noticed around here, not implying that it's the same everywhere.