TOPIC: How do we stop illegal digging out of season?

I grant I'm new to ginseng digging and selling but it would seem to me,that its in the interest of everybody concerned to do the best they can to keep ginseng a viable crop.Harsher penalties for early digging and buying would be great.The best idea I've seen thus far would seem to be a quota license,I'm sure that all diggers could dig their quota yearly,which at the same time prevents market flooding,would still have poaching but coupled with harsh penalties,its bound to help,just a view from the new guy.

GMCPaul, I agree ginseng is not threatened. Good point about corn, etc.

The thing is, cultivated ginseng came from wild ginseng plants at one time. Ginseng is ginseng. We don't need more government regulations. If we had to buy a permit to harvest ginseng on our land and then only be allowed a certain amount of pounds, that would be ridiculous. My land, my ginseng. If I planted the ginseng from seeds I bought, I should be able to dig and sell whenever I want. Next someone will tell me when to dig my potatoes and how many I can harvest each year. I don't see that I would benefit from digging cultivated ginseng in May, its just the point that I don't need someone telling me I cant do what I want with what is mine.

GMCPaul,
LOL it appears you have had plenty of time on your hands today to get all worked up over this topic alongside my and rootman's idea.That's all they were, just and idea to add to this conversation. I wont enter into a 2 page argument on this because its not worth the time and you have already shown your character by the way youve run up and down this thread with your derogatory words toward comments' posters. Therefore, ill say my peace and let you rant all day tomorrow about it if you want.
I didnt say a landowner had to \"pay\" for a license and i didnt say he had to have a quota. If the toothless,meth heads who dont work and that live with their girlfriend on government subsidies seem to be the problem then that would definately weed them out. My idea is no more \"pro government\" than yours is for greater oversight on the buyers and stiffer penalties.Don't get me wrong, I'm all about smaller government and them staying out of my business but.... Its just around the corner that they shut it down all together. I had soon something other than that be tried before they close it. Im not a dealer but i could buy several pounds in June and sell it as my own in October, it starts with these uncareing diggers. I know there are good dealers and there are crooked, unlawful ones but every other time i look at this forum i see a comment about how awful and treacherous dealers are, how one thing or the next is going to be for their benefit.....if folks dont like it they can buy a license as well,build their own network of sales routes or even fly that root to Hong Kong and sell it theirself.Here in the US we have a free market, go to it.
Its not a perfect world and there are no perfect answers or we would already have one. More stiff penalties and wildlife officers being more interested in it would absolutely help but getting people to do their job is getting harder everyday. Just game wardens setting in with buyers on occasion would make a big statement.Alot of things would help but talking about it on this forum and forgetting about it by Monday won't do much good either.

Aside from that
In my area it isn't endangered at all. I'm sure it isn't as plentiful as it once was but I have yet(in all my life) to go hunting and not find a patch of some size.

A man will always be able to dig his own wild ginseng but the government may one day keep us from selling it. There are loop holes at every corner...in a few years I'll be selling my root as wild or, if the harvest of wild is shut down.... I'll be selling some high priced woodsgrown because there is no wild available. It will hopefully move one way or the other.

Hillhopper

my problem is with private landowners always told what to do with their own land i can clear cut my woods then shove it up in a pile and burn it in may if i want to but i cant dig the ginseng there before i do it they can strip the top off the mountain in june but i cant dig the ginseng before they destroy it i can turn my ginseng patch into a corn field no laws broken as long as i dont harvest the root know tell me how that saves ginseng. i understand that some wildlife is considered public property for good reason deer can run fish can swim birds can fly but as far as i know ginseng cant jump the fence and run off atleast not on its own anyway do what ever it takes to save ginseng in our parks and national forest but leave us poor growers and diggers alone go bust a drug dealer or a meth lab might save some kids life thats worth more then all the ginseng in the world in my book anyway

How many times have we heard the stories of people stewarding their ginseng for years only to have it stolen as early as the month of May?
We can plant the woods full of seed but if the scavenging continues it won't do much good.
You sure can't guard simulated patches all summer and if you do shoot someone you're going to jail.
So I say again do we start a green market only?

While I'm on the subject of the green seng market, it seems like the green market has done exceptionally well this year.
A lot of the diggers said they love selling green so they don't have to wash or worry with the drying process and the price most of the time is better per ratio to dry prices even late season prices.

rootman wrote:

How many times have we heard the stories of people stewarding their ginseng for years only to have it stolen as early as the month of May?
We can plant the woods full of seed but if the scavenging continues it won't do much good.
You sure can't guard simulated patches all summer and if you do shoot someone you're going to jail.
So I say again do we start a green market only?

PLAIN AND SIMPLE NO WE DON\"T GO TO A GREEN MARKET ONLYCase in point Indiana green reached around $150.00, currently dried is $700+ a lbs. Using your method to FORCE ME TO SELL GREEN we would have net $6300-$7000 selling our root as we dug it this year, Now that its dried my & my sons combined 14.5 lbs is currently worth $10,150
So that would mean a $3150.00 difference in what I receive from the buyers here so this time Roorman I kindly request you TAKE YOUR HAND OFF MY WALLET IN MY POCKET AND PUT IT BACK INTO YOUR OWN POCKET. That is unless when I take my green ginseng in to you to sell you have to give me the current rate for ginseng then when its dried and I feel that the market reaches it peak I go back to you then for us to settle up and you have to make up the difference in what you originally gave me and what its currently worth dried. YOU LIKE MY HAND IN YOUR POCKET???? I don't figure you do so keep your hands off my money. By the way if it was a rare year that market dropped instead I wouldn't return to settle up. So that's the cost to you by deciding and suggesting we all be forced to sell green.
This FORCING us to sell green is 100% a money winner for you the buyer every friggen year boosting your profits considerably, with ZERO DOWN SIDE FOR THE BUYER.
STAY OUT OF MY POCKETS!!!

GMCPaul,

You're low balling the green market. In some areas in Ky. it went for $14 an ounce or $224 a lb.
On average I think everyone has agreed 3.25 to 1 ratio green to dry depending on time it was dug.
So your 14.5 times 3.25 =47.125 lbs. green times 224=$10,556
Now, I know I'm figuring on the high side. On the other hand I really think the green market is really taking off and will bring better prices every year even to the point dry will be undesirable. Already what's left from the green and has been dried is hurting the dry prices.

All I can say is Wow. lol


Latt

If the problem is some dealers buying green or dry ginseng before buying season opens from diggers who dig early, then what would keep them from doing the same thing and saying that they dried the ginseng themselves after season opened, or bought dried and said they dried it themselves.

Unless you had it where only green ginseng could be exported (which would be near impossible to do) I do not see how it could be of any benefit to only allow diggers to sell green only. If it did happen it would only benefit the exporter, who could set a price for the buyer, and the buyer for the digger, who would each have a very limited time to sell and there would be no holdover or time lapse to drive the price higher.

If the exporter lost a ton or two due to spoilage then that would put a hurt on them also, not to mention the extra expense of higher cost of shipping a perishable item at 3 times the weight of dried.