TOPIC: What is this growing around my seng?

Keep finding this around my wils sim. Seng patch
What is it?

That's a good sign to have \"Blood Root\" growing in and around your ginseng.
Latt

Yep, that is bloodroot and my gensing has it all around it also. It is a marketable crop and the root can be sold.

Cool, what's it worth per pound? How many to a dry pound?

I think it may be worth around $8.00 per lb. Not sure the ratio. I'm guessing 3 lbs wet = 1 lb dry.
I used to have a patch that I would harvest seed from. These plants were knee tall and the leaf was 12 or more inches across. I transplanted a couple roots from this wild patch. When I dug the roots they were over a foot long and as thick as a hotdog. I planted hundreds upon hundreds of seeds year after year from this special spot that was approximately 30 feet long by 30 feet wide. Never seen such a large and mature patch of blood root.

Unfortunately, I went to harvest seed late last summer and someone dug the entire patch. Didn't even leave one dang plant. Really made me mad.

So being a good steward of the woods means leaving some behind to carry on no mater what we are harvesting. IE: Ginseng, Blood Root, Yellow Root, Trillian, Jack-N-The-Pulpit, Twin leaf, Black Cohosh etc etc etc.

Thank you to all you good steward of the woods out there that dig respectfully.
Latt

Thanks Latt, good insight...how did your seeds produce? Do u have stratify them like Ginseng? How many years to a harvestable root?

I have heard up to $30.00 per pound but I'm not positive. I don't know how many roots would make up a pound but I guess the bigger the root the better.

Wow $30 bucks a lb ain't too bad.
As far as the blood root seeds germinating, I planted them directly into the soil and recovered with leaves. I did not stratify them. Results when planting seeds were less successful than transplanting blood root rootlets.

I am not done experimenting with blood root seeds yet tho. It takes so long to see what does and does not work. I think I need to get the seeds deeper into the soil to survive and germinate.

I read where the sweet red blood root pulp surrounding the seed inside attracts ants. The ants take the seed underground to store the seeds so they can eat the pulp. then the seed germinates as mother nature intended. I didn't simulate that process good enough when I used the rake and scatter method for planting blood root seeds.

Latt

I was paying $17-18/dry pound last fall.

When I collect bloodroot seeds, I always mix them in with peat and spread them out on a 1\" layer of peat in a nursery flat (with holes for drainage). I cover that with another half inch and bury it up to the rim in a good spot. In a couple years, there will be all kinds of small blootroot to transplant.

Sometimes I'll just mix them into an existing bed of ginseng or goldenseal. They are pretty small the first year, so I normally leave them be for a couple years before moving them around.

BCastle,
So what you are saying makes sense then. Then the blood root seed needs to be planted a good 1 1/2 inch deep for better results.
Thanks,
LAtt