TOPIC: Price Outlook

Does have any ideas on the price outlook this year for wild Ginseng this year? I know that the season has opened yet, but it will be very soon since September is almost here. I'm just wondering if it would be worthwhile to dig this year. I'm not sure how Chinese tariffs on American Ginseng will effect us this year on pricing as digger/sellers. Also, I'm not sure if the tarrifs that the Chinese are imposing, are just related to cultivated Ginseng here in America, or if it includes wild ginseng, as well.

Does anyone have any thoughts?

Too early to tell on prices. Where does ginseng season start in August? I thought all states started in September.

It used to open Aug 15 in TN.... but they changed that a few years back to Sept 1.

Like you Chief... I thought they were making that change in all States. I remember they made that change in KY the year before they made it in TN... so it may be a state by state thing.

TNHunter

yep mine ...is from the first Saturday in September through November 1, annually. The season is the same statewide. Dealers may purchase wild ginseng only during the period from two weeks following the opening of the harvest season through the following March 1...don't understand why the dealers cant buy till then..my buyer says it costs him in the green market...

Yep TN back when I was a kid growing up in WV about 35 years ago, ginseng season started August 15th. My grandfather said when he was a kid, there wasn't a specific start to the season. Back in the early 1900's you were dirt poor and they used to dig all summer. That's why I don't put much stock in the whole going extinct issue. I'm not against having a season. It's just that logging and mining damage the ginseng population more than diggers. To this day, you can still go to the areas that my grandfather dug in and still dig ginseng. Granted there aren't huge patches that produce 3 lbs of ginseng, but one can still easily dig a pound or more. And as time goes on, less and less of the population are inclined to follow in the previous generations footprints, so eventually nature reclaims her own.

when I started digging 50 plus years ago there was no season nor a license to buy.....

Same here Chief...

I started digging in the late 70's... and there was no digging season then. You could hunt it all spring summer and fall if you wanted... and we did that some.

Back then you could go and park anywhere on a county road and go seng hunting, squirrel hunting, fishing, and no one cared. It was quite different back then.
there were lots of big timber tracts owned by big timber companies.. most of those have left my area now... they finally figured out pine trees will not grow in TN like they do in Florida/Georgia.

TNHunter

What state are you looking to dig in Dirtdobber?

North Carolina