TOPIC: Raised beds????

FTB

Here is an excellent book on growing ginseng.
About 200 pgs are dedicated to ginseng.

Scott Persons book is by far the most complete manual on the subject. I have about worn out my copy.

www.amazon.com/Growing-Marketing-Goldens...cinals/dp/0914875426

Good luck!

classicfur

Classic

Thanks for that book.I will order it then.The one thing that surprized me is my wife seams to want to get into it also.

I did find a few wild plants was happy to see that.Only a few so i'll let them be.Did find a few great places for seng.All the companion plants are there.Now I just got to get some seed planted in those areas...

Have a safe 4th ...Thanks again ..Frank

FTB,

I agree with Classicfur on that book by Scott Persons - excellent read on all things gingsng and more. He covers lots of other Medicinal plants as well, goldenseal, cohosh, bloodroot, ramps, etc.

He also provides a long list of recommended seed suppliers.

Prep your planting bed areas this summer or early fall, get your seed order in early. If you wanted to plant 2 pounds of seed (just a for example there) you could order 1 pound to be delivered as soon as they start shipping seed, then another pound to be delivered 2 weeks later. But get your order in early to make sure you do get some seed - there was a shortage of seed last year and price increases, and that is expected to continue this year, could be even worse this year.

Get yourself a good stout leaf rake wiht some nice teeth to it.

I picked up the one in the vid below at Lowe's and man it is heavy duty, is guaranteed for 15 years, and the teeth on it do an excellent job of raking the bed and losening up the top soil.

I had a older leaf rake that I started off using, and when I changed to this new one, man it did a much better job. It is also 3' wide so it covers a lot of ground faster.

www.youtube.com/yttnhunter#p/u/3/eVplUuBiSAA

Good Luck

TNhunter

Tn

Can't thank you enough.You need to put out a DVD...learned alot on your vids.

The question I have is do you always dress your seed beds with bone meal and gypsum?

You have some great looking woods. Thanks again ...Frank

FTB,

That hollow that I was planting has some wild seng in it, but it does not thrive there like I have seen it grow in other areas.

I did a soil test and got PH of 5.7 which is OK.

Calcium was 1450 ppa (lower than ideal) and phosphorous was also on the low side at 11 ppa.

Gypsum will add calcium without raising PH.

Bone Meal will add calcium and phosphorous, and at the time of that planting I did not know it would affect PH in any way. Found out later this spring that Bone Meal will actually raise PH, much like lime does.

So from now own, since my PH is near ideal for ginseng, I will not be adding bonemeal to the mix. I will only add gypsum, and if I can find some other source of organic phosphorous I might consider adding some of that.

Rock Phosphate would work if added to the soil at planting time, but the only source I found for that local it was 40.00+ for a 40 lb bag.

The gypsum I am getting I get for 6.25 per 40 lb bag.

My seng plantings may just have to do without phosphorous supplement unless I find a reasonably priced organic option there.

I think Scotts book says that low levels of phosphorous (and best I remember that was stated as 10 ppa or less) are somewhat linked to poor survival rates for young plants.

My place is borderline low and that is why I was adding some bonemeal, but considering that it may raise the PH, not worth it.

They say that soil that is on the acid side (PH around 5.5) helps contribute to health in the ginseng plant - or more like is more difficult for the soil born diseases that affect ginseng to thrive in.

Bottom line - if you are not planting in places where you have healthy thriving stands of ginseng, do a soil test, check the results before you add anything.

Soils that are mineral rich, especially rich in calcium, but have a low PH, around 5.5 - would be ideal.

Only add Bone Meal if you need to boost calcium and possibly phosphorous and your PH is below the target of 5.5.


Good Luck

TNhunter

TN

All my beds are going to be hide'n on river hill sides in small beds.I don't have my own land to make such beds.The only indicators I got to go by is companion plants.As of now I got to try to hide them from poachers.I do know a land owner That has 180 acres but I have a hard time even trying to find any companion plants.To make beds there I would have to come up with some type of deal,so I can test the soil.

I did however buy a ph tester.I still depending on companion plants tho.That madin hair fern.I don't think I ever seen that here.I have hill sides of blue cohosh and trillums.

What would you do in this case?

Thanks again ...Frank

Frank,

In Scotts book he list several companion plants, listing Maidenhair fern first, then on down in the list he included Trillium and then at the end of that list he listed a select few that need conditions nearly identical to ginseng.

That short list he said were cal-cicoles (normally growing in calcareous soils).

It included Maidenhair fern, yellow lady's slipper, baneberry and blue cohosh.

Having both trillium and blue cohosh present sure sounds good to me, especially good since blue cohosh is listed in that cal-cicoles section.

I expect if you focus on areas whre blue cohosh is thriving that your ginseng plantings will do fine as well. Those places very likely have good levels of calcium in the soil.

PS - doing a soil test is fairly easy.

Just go to a hillside you plan to plant and in several locations (4-6) over that planting area, rake back the leaves and compost layer and take some soil out of the top 4\" of ground. Just collect several samples that way and mix it all in your container (zip loc bag would do). Then send about 1 cup of that mix in to your State or County soil testing location. We can mail ours in, just about a cup full of dirt, in a zip lock bag, inside a bubble wrap mailer (4\"X6\" can get those as walmart).

In TN it cost 7.00 for a basic soil test and you get back plenty of details, PH, P, K, Ca, Mg, etc - your State or County Ag test may differ.

PS - around here we have a lot of bainberry too, but at times I see hillsides just covered in bainberry but no seng - but then when you see bainberry and maidenhair fern growing in the same locations mixed together, there is almost always seng.

Good Luck !

TNhunter

TN

I lied ...LOL...I took a walk this morning and surprize!!Maiden hair fern.Now I'm wondering how much sang I walked pasted .First year back into it.I did find 2ea 3prongers and 4ea 2 prongers.All in All I did not finding any big stuff or patches.

I looked up that baneberry.I don't think I've seen it.It's something new to look for.I'm sure it's around.

Thanks again Frank...

Frank,

Glad to hear you found some MHF in there. Another very good sign and the fact that there is some wild seng in there too is even better.

It's sure not hard at all to walk past ginseng without seeing it.

When you only find some small 3's and 2's makes me wonder if someone has not been harvesting seng in there the past several years (hope not), or it could be that it grows there Ok but would possibly do better if you had higher calcium levels.

Or could be that you have deep shade, heavy timber. Seng will grow in deep shade but grows slow and just does not get real big, and the leaves are often thin and pointy, vs where it gets more sun the leaves will be broad and rounded more.

You might try getting out on your place early in the morning, the first couple of hours after sun up and find some spots that get good early morning sun, but then are shaded well after that.

You could even look around and find some trash trees (sourwood, dogwood, ironwood, etc) that you can cut down to let more light in to some good bed areas.

Best of Luck !

TNhunter

Frank,
If you're committed to raised beds, I would add \"The Practical Guide to Growing Ginseng\" by Bob Beyfuss to your reading list. You can order it at: I recommend it mostly because it has a chapter entirely devoted to growing ginseng in raised beds.

But if you've got maidenhair fern and wild ginseng on your site, there's really no need for raised beds. Just use the methods everyone else is recommending.