mshirley34 wrote:Hello,
First I want to thank all of you all for the information and suggestions you have been giving me. Its very kind in you all to share such helpful knowledge. I did take some advice into consideration and installed a motion camera in one of my areas today with the intentions of installing more soon.
Mortis, I very glad that you haven't encountered a poacher. That is a major accomplishment or some very good luck. I say this because in the area in which I call home, is covered with folks that receive a disability check while at the same time seem to enjoy poaching other people's land. Which in all honest doesn't make any since to me. As you all know ginseng digging is hard work and very unrewarding more often than not. Therefore, it seems to me if the folks can dig ginseng they could hold a job. I know I come off harsh when I say these things but I can't help but feel this way. Especially since the guy I caught poaching was a gentlemen thats drawing a check but was telling me he was trying to make some money to feed his kids. I was very quick to make him aware that stealing ginseng from me, is the same as taking food from my family as well.
Anyways that is enough of my soapbox for today. Before I logout for tonight I do have a question for you all. Can I go ahead and plant the berries that are on my ginseng tops even though they haven't turned red yet? I'm wanting to do this with the intentions of having the tops broke off before season opens. Thank you
You are more than welcome for and to anything I can help with! We are all brothers and sisters and compadres in a common cause and do what we can to help each other.
I guess that I am very much like you in your feelings and what you state! If you draw a Disability Check but can get out and climb up and down hills, ridges and/or mountains all day to dig Ginseng and haul the roots back out, then more than likely, you are fit enough to hold a job. There are too many of these folks that take Federal, State and other hand-outs because they think it is owed to them. There are even folks that have not worked an honest job a day in their' life that do the same and much of this is inbred into them by other family members that have done or do the same. I am retired now but worked since I was 8 years old and worked continuously from 18 years old until after turning 58 years old. I have had back problems ever since AIT in the U.S. Army at Fort Dix, New Jersey and although my' Doctor stated in 2011, that I am 75% to 85% disabled, I have never claimed any type of disability nor received a check for it or any other type of help. However, I am at a point in my' life which I must try to get some disability compensation through the VA or Social Security Administration as I can no longer work Flea Markets and/or Gun Shows and carry my' heavy totes of inventory back and forth to setup and then to break down. Since I have 8 other people living in my' home besides me, I need something to help us make ends meet. Also, my 2014 Ginseng season will likely be very limited as my' back has been out for almost three weeks now and I can't climb up most slopes of hills, ridges or mountains more than 100 yards, if even that.
I can't give an good and honest answer to your question about planting green berries as I have never done so before! What I have done, is carefully snip the tops of plants with green berries and move them to a location where there is no Ginseng growing but will grow there. I then punch holes 4 to 6 inches deep with a small sturdy stick, place the stems in the hole and tamp then tightly so they will not blow over or out of the holes. I believe that there is enough life left in the top and the soil may provide what else is needed to allow the seeds to ripen and then fall off on their own. If possible, I will return to harvest the ripened berries and plant them. The funny part is and especially so, if you have a camera recording where you placed the tops, is the expression and cursing that you will see in the pics from a poacher digging up the tops only to find no root. A friend and myself did something similar to this when digging in the National Forest near here back in 1997. We found and dug probably more than 100 big 3 prong and 4 prong plants and placed the tops back in the holes where we dug the roots and groomed the area to look as if no one had been there. While digging more than 100 yards further up the mountain in the early afternoon, some Ginsengers came in below us and you should have heard them cuss everytime they dug a plant only to find no root. This went on for about a half hour before they finally moved further to the left out the mountain but it was comical while it lasted and we were laughing our' butts off, quietly though to keep from being discovered.
Frank
i counted my G.P.S. numbers on wild sheng and me and the wife have 912 wild plants to dig, great yr. here as we had just such a harsh winter here.Really seems to come up very well after a really harsh winter.....good luck to you Frank and be safe brother. 
