TOPIC: Digging Ginseng Carefully

I saw a video on the internet of a guy going to town with a pick axe digging a wild ginseng root and it about made me sick. It was no one from the site. I dig with a long flat head screw driver. I know many old timers on here dig with a multitude of different tools and I am OK with that (Like you need my approval, lol). My point is this, when I dig a wild root I take every measure to not disturb any small 1 or 2 year old roots that have sprouted from seed fallen off the mother plant. I know if you cannot get a mature root out without disturbing the ginseng babies you are supposed to leave it there. In the real world no one is going to pass up a good root if they are out to dig. I have transplanted many roots and they will grow 99.9% of the time. If I have babies growing next to a mother root I will CAREFULLY lay the babies to the side and dig the root. Then I take the babies and re-plant them at least 12 inches apart right there near the area where the mother plant was growing. It is better to move them away from the mother plants soil as much of the nutrients have already been absorbed over the years by the mother plant. I have seen 20 little 1 and 2 year old plants growing right on top of each other and I know only a few will make it this was in mother nature. However if you spread them out 12 inches apart and re-plant them correctly many will survive verses just a few. Very rarely do I find a mother plant without at least 1 or 2 babies growing at her base. So I just hope anyone learning to dig takes the time to make sure these little 3 leaf ginseng babies are taken care of as I have described.
Like so many of the folks on here have said time and time again. take care of the seeds by replanting them and we need to make sure we do the same for the little ones growing near as well.
Thanks,

Latt,

I don't think it matters all that much what you dig with when it comes to damaging or not damaging a root, or small roots in the immediate area.

If you dig wild and out of control with a toothpick or something larger like a flat head you can sure damage seng.

The main thing is the tool you choose you need to be able to control well and dig carefully with and you have to use some common sense and good judgement. Also if using a larger or long handle tool you need to dig out far enough from the root system area so that you really just loosen up the dirt all around the root, then extract the root by hand (with fingers). That is what I do.

I use a long (36\" hickory handle) tool myself with a very old hoe type head. Billy uses the very same tool and also with a long handle.

I know for sure that I don't damage any more roots than I would with a flat head screwdriver or any small/short handle tool.

I rarely ever do damage a root, but since I do consume ginseng myself, if I ever do I just put it in my eat pile, rather than sell pile. And again it is very rare for me to damage a root, and that happens no more often with my long handle digger than it would if I was digging with a very small tool of some kind.

On your point on the small seng - agree you should always be careful not to damage any small seng in the area you are digging. Occasionally you may accidentally uproot a small one while digging a larger root and if that ever happens to me I just move over a bit and find a nice place to poke that root back down in the ground.

If you have not seen it yet - you might check out the vid of Billy digging a big old 4 prong with his long handle hoe. He shows how to dig proper and plant the berries back.

When I first watched that vid - I was amazed at how similar we dig. Again even though using a larger, long hanele tool - he just loosened up the dirt around the root, then took it out with his fingers. Same exact thing I do. Hardly ever damage a root when you dig em like that.

And of course if the area all under that big plant was filled up with small seng, you could either pass on digging it, or if not too thick just dig very carefull to get the big root out and then make sure all the other small roots were in very good shape before you left the site.

And as always - take the time to plant every single berry.

Thanks

TNhunter

www.wildgrown.com/index.php/Ginseng-Videos.html

TNHunter, I have seen your videos and Billy's video's long before I joined this site and I know both of you advocate being a good steward of the woods. I may even try digging with a larger tool similar to what you guys are using. It has taken me up to a half hour to get a big root out with my flat head screwdriver. I have observed your technique at it looks very efficient. I am just speaking in general to any new diggers so they will look out for the little baby ginseng plants so they can replant them or to look for them before they start their dig regardless with what tool they use. Thanks for the feedback TNHunter!

Latt

Latt,

Agree with all you are saying there friend.

Sometimes I think it is just hard for new sengers to see the value of good stewardship until they have been around long enough to see it pay off.

In 2008 my nephew approached me about learning how to seng and I gladly took him up on that. Young new sengers - especially if they are in need of cash can easily get greedy and not dig it right. Like digging a few two prongs as they go along or not taking the time to plant the berries. They just get excited and go for the root and toss the top down and move on looking for another.

In 2008 and 2009 I had to fuss on him quite a bit for that and just kept explaining how in the future it would work out much better for us if he did that right.

Then finally this year came 2010 and we hunted a few hollows that we hunted in 2008 again and because we practiced good stewardship then we came out of the woods with about the same amount of seng we harvested in 2008. Found lots of nice 3 prongers and an occasional 4.

The longer time goes on and the more times we hunt those same hollows agian (every 2 or 3 years) have as much fun, collecting a nice pile of mature roots each time the more that good stewardship practice will sink into his very nature as a seng hunter.

One of these days he may be taking my son or grandson and fussing on him for digging an occasional 2 prong or forgetting to plant the berries

Good Stewardship in most cases I think has to come with the wisdom that time passes on to the seng hunter actually seeing the good or bad results of their actions.

PS - on that long handle digger. Once you try one you will probably never go back to a short handle tool. I know that both Billy and I can say that.

I dug seng for many years (probably 20+) with a flat head, then eventually found a very small pick mattox tool that had about a 14\" handle and used that for many years (until it broke), then about 5 years ago tried out this long handle hoe and basically fell in love with it compared to the others.

It does a great job of digging seng, but also serves as a walking stick, weed/briar beater, snake tamer, a dog will sure respect you when you have that tool in your hand and I have found it to be very necessary for helping get around on very steep hillsides - like the blufs I like to hunt on. You can hook the blade around a sapling or root or just slam the hoe head in the ground and help pull your self up and around on those very steep places.

A few weeks ago while fishing I came to a spot where there was a bluff that faced north and tried to climb up there and look around for some seng. I did not have my digger with me and found it to be extremely difficult to get around on that bluff without it.

Good Luck in finding a good long handle tool to try out.

TNhunter

TNhunter thanks for the feedback. I can relate to using my flat head screw driver as a tool surprisingly enough to get around the woods. I used to dig this gully that was 200 foot deep cut out buy a creek bed. I used to hunt the side of it and it was steep I mean really steep, felt like it was straight down darn near. I used to slam that screw driver into the side of the steep back and held on as I tried to avoid falling to the bottom. I would get my footing and then pull out the screw driver and slam it back into the ground again a couple feet over on so on. That spot was full of big mature seng. It was so steep I would sometimes find big seng roots with some of the roots exposed due to the soil erosion. Well that was 30 years ago and I'll leave those hillsides to the younger fellows. Anyway I think I will look into that long handled hoe to help me move around the woods as well as digging roots. I think you have convinced me to give it a try. Old dogs can learn new tricks. lol
Thanks,
Latt