TOPIC: Ginseng Poaching Featuered on CBS This Morning Program

I never read all the comments about this article from our good knowledgeable members .But I have heard this nonsense before from different sources. It starts with a well meaning uninformed person and then people with a agenda take it and run with it.
All that has to be said is..How can a plant that is grown and harvested in excess of 2 million pounds of every yr be an endangered species.
Cultivated , Simulated, and Wild ginseng are the same all the plant,the only difference is the conditions its being grown. End of story !
They can argue genetics all they want but it all came from wild stock. I can disturb a wild plant growing in the woods by timbering and allowing more light on it and change its whole density.
The large cultivated growers are at war with the weekend wild diggers. If they can get the wild banned their cultivated crops would triple or quadruple in value. That is whats really going on here ! You better not let them get away with it and contact the people who write that dripple and write you government officials when the time comes.

Hi Strong Prong,

I agree with most of what you wrote. However, I have to take exception to this part of what you wrote \"The large cultivated growers are at war with the weekend wild diggers. If they can get the wild banned their cultivated crops would triple or quadruple in value. That is whats really going on here ! You better not let them get away with it\"

Wild ginseng and cultivated ginseng are two completely different things. They are traded in two completely different markets. Ohio for instance produces about 3000 pounds of dry wild ginseng per year give or take. A cultivated farmer might produce 6000 pounds per acre -and he does it in four years. The wild market does not affect the cultivated market at all. We in the wild market move hundreds of pounds at a time...where as the cultivated growers move hundreds of thousands of pounds at a time.

Beyond that, I just don't see any evidence from my perspective that there is any ill will from the cultivated growers toward the wild harvesters. If you have information otherwise, please share its source without naming names.

Welcome to the forum, KYsang, and Strong Prong!

I do think that there are \"big business\" tendancies -just look at the oil industry- to eliminate the small guy. I had not considered that such an degrogatory influence was underway, as Strong Prong suggusted.

I do not have a way to prove it, tho.

HUntsman53- having the health considerations you have -I'm sure- make you savor each moment you are granted on the planet. I believe that you reminded me of this some time ago, however it's worth reconsidering.

Having had a TKR [total knee replacement] six years ago, and working in critical care for over 30 years... I really do know how fragile and temporary life is. Like, no s^*t! It's why I can make a joke so readily, and offer that to others so readily. Enough said.

Bcastle- thanks for the points, well made. and to k_duce, thanks as well!

I have not heard anything concerning the growers of cultivated Ginseng working to get Wild Ginseng, Wild-Simulated Ginseng and Woodsgrown Ginseng banned to further their' price point on the value of their' crops. However, we would likely be the last to know and probably after it is too late! Also, in a way, it makes sense that some would want to do so and I am sure that there are some growers of cultivated Ginseng that have either thought about it or are working on it. I would hope that this is not the case but is just one more reason why that we all need to work together to insure that Wild Ginseng, Wild-Simulated Ginseng and Woodsgrown Ginseng is never banned or seriously affected by adverse legislation, regulation or laws!

Strong Prong is correct and I believe that everyone here knows that no matter whether you grow Cultivated, Wild-Simulated or Woodsgrown Ginseng, they all came from Wild Ginseng stock at some point in time! While they are somewhat or significantly different in their' appearance or how they grow (some are smaller or larger, some grow faster or slower, some yield less or more berries, etc.) due to the environment in which they are grown or how they are grown, they are still genetically tied together. They have only had their' growing traits altered just like other plants are altered via trimming, grafting or by being infused with growing supplements (i.e. fertilizers, sprays against disease, etc.) and by how they are grown. Will this help or hurt parts of or the entire industry, who knows but it is quite possible!

Too many folks such as Strong Prong view talk and proposals such as has been proposed here as nonsense and this is one reason why generally all such ventures never get off the ground or last beyond a couple of years. We need such an association with folks with interests in Wild Ginseng, Wild-Simulated Ginseng and Woodsgrown Ginseng to band together to inform the uninformed and insure that no person or persons with an agenda, take advantage of the work we do to advance their' on interests. With a fully voting membership who could approve, disapprove or totally squash a project with a majority vote, this should not be a problem but still there will need to be some kind of oversight to prevent it from happening. We all will need to be vigilant and expose anything that doesn't look or sound right, even if it is just rumors as well as inform the group of anything read or heard, that could adversely affect our' interests.


Frank

It appears to be too little to late to save any sort of hunting wild ginseng in alot of Public Lands, Wise growers will probably choose to form their own organizations with a main board and sub-chapters on a state by state basis in order to affect local laws. But for the digger that has no vested intrest, he will probably just fall by the way-side, just like what happened with prohabition. Pushing these diggers off of public lands will put more pressure on growers to organize to protect their vested intrests.

The folks that I was talking about Castle..one was a very large cultivated farmer and was proactive and two woodsgrown farmers that were sympathetic to the idea of promoting the Dept. Of Interior into closing the ginseng season entirely and applauded the 10 yr rule that almost destroyed the industry a few yrs ago.
It was during the regional meetings about 6 yrs ago when the agency was going around putting on these town hall style meetings on the new ginseng rules. That's when these guys were cutting our throats until the government told them they weren't going to be exempt from the new rules and any proposed ban. They couldn't prove that their ginseng wasn't wild since it hadn't been registered..poetic justice or just luck that they never got it through.
But now all growers have their plots registered and will exempt from federal mandates...Nothing to stop them now !
Please don't take offense just because you grow ginseng. That was just two or three guys and actually the future of ginseng rest with the growers. The growers and the diggers can work together in a Johnny Appleseed style program someday that could lead to ginseng numbers never seen before. All it takes is team work.

OK GUYS LISTEN UP...........U TOO FRANK.........

I HAVE UNCOVERED SOME INFORMATION THAT EVERYONE ON THIS BOARD NEEDS TO BE AWARE OF.
THE CBS STORY HAS SET OFF A CHAIN OF EVENTS WITHIN THE HERBAL COMMUNITY AND THE END RESULT IF FULLFILLED WILL NOT BE A PRETTY ONE FOR ALL INVOLVED. IT SEEMS THAT ALL OF THE MAJOR EDUCATORS, MS DAVIS, BOB BYFESS, SCOTT PEARSONS, ALL PRETTY MUCH AGREE THAT THE GINSENG COMMUNITY HAS BEEN HARPOONED BY THE SOUND CLIP CBS AIRED WITH ROBERT EDIUS. WAS THIS CLIP EDITED AT A LATER DATE OR WAS IT IN FACT A CONCURRENT QUESTION AND ANSWER IN ITS TRUE CONTEXT, WAS IT A MISQUOTE? IDK.
HOWEVER THEY ALSO SEEM TO CONCUR WITH THE LADY FROM UNITED PLANT SAVERS,

NOW HERE IS WHERE THE RUBBER MEETS THE ROAD. UNITED PLANT SAVERS HAS ALREADY PUT UP A PETETION FOR MANDATORY GINSENG CONSERVATION BY THE GOVT, USDA FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF REGIONAL SEED BANKS FOR LOCAL GROWERS OF WILD SIMULATED, SOUNDS GOOD, BUT ONE OF THE RECIEPIENTS IS THE HEAD OF MONSANTO CORP.....THE LAST THING THE HERBAL WORLD NEEDS IS FOR MONSANTO TO START GENETICALLY ALTERING GINSENG. THEY ALREADY HAVE 750 SIGNATURES AND ONLY NEED 1000.


http://www.change.org/petitions/save-american-ginseng-panax-quinquefolius

http://lists.plantconservation.org/pipermail/mpwg_lists.plantconservation.org/2013-September/002400.html

http://lists.plantconservation.org/pipermail/mpwg_lists.plantconservation.org/2013-September/thread.html

WHEN U CLICK ON THE 3RD LINK, U WILL SEE A LIST OF PEOPLE DISCUSSING THIS ISSUE JUST CLICK ALL THE WAY THRU THEM AND U WILL GET INPUT FROM ALL INVOLVED

K_Duce- thanks for posting this. It is taking some time for me to read ALL of it, however will do so.

Whitjr wrote:

K_Duce- thanks for posting this. It is taking some time for me to read ALL of it, however will do so.

Agreed. I'll continue to read through it. UPS is one of those groups I\"ve always intended to check out and maybe become a member of, but never got the chance to sit down and do it when I was thinking of it.

BTW Whitjr, I can host any association we start at least until it gets its own legs.

While all of the postings via the links that K_duce provided were somewhat hard to read, many were very informative, especially those from Bob Beyfuss! They show that he and a few others really know what is going on and they may or may not be able to head up a movement to not only help conserve Wild Ginseng but also help the growers of Wild-Simulated and Woodsgrown Ginseng as well. As K_duce stated, we definitely do not need the Monsanto Corporation with their' hands in Ginseng growing and manipulation via genetics! Wild Ginseng and even Wild-Simulated Ginseng do quite well on their own if left alone.

I will make this statement which I believe is true and will eventually come to light in the near future. From their actions and from observing some of these, I believe that the USDA and NF Service are hell bent on getting Ginseng harvesting outlawed in the National Forests. While they make big talk with their new regulations, permitting and harvesting seasons, it is apparent that they want the harvesting of Ginseng in the National Forests to end. I have been in the Cherokee National Forest many times and have yet to see a single NF truck or personnel or even anyone in Law Enforcement. They appear to be leaving the door open to the poachers so that they can decimate the Ginseng populations to the point that they can make their' case and totally ban Ginseng harvesting in the National Forests altogether and once and for all, for all time.


Frank