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TOPIC: Wild Ginseng Question

Wild Ginseng Question 13 years 2 months ago #8476

  • airhead2day
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We've owned 90+ acres of land (southern Ohio) that has been untouched for 40+ years (probably more like 70, at least). I'd like to know the odds of finding some good plants. What I mean is, I realize deer, moles(?), etc. feast on this plant so is abandoned land typically a good place to hunt, or is it more succeptible to being bare because of the increased wildlife. (Thx)

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Re:Wild Ginseng Question 13 years 2 months ago #8480

That depends on the following. If the Ginseng has not been poached by trespassers or dug out completely sometime in the past. If the woods has the right canopy and soil conditions and companion plants, then ginseng will most likely be on your property even with dear and turkey or moles present on your land.
I would be happy to come and hunt it with you this fall. I live in West Central Ohio. My fee for a one time hunt is 40% of the roots we find that day. lol like you are going to show me your ginseng spot. Offer stands thou.
Latt

P.S. You might want to consider planting some ginseng on your property too.

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Re:Wild Ginseng Question 13 years 2 months ago #8488

What do you mean by, it has been untouched for 40+ years, no logging, hunted for seng? If it hasn't been looged for a long time, you most likely won't have a lot of deer or other animals that need understory for food and cover, so that shouldn't be a huge concern unless bordering properties are suitible for deer. That being said what type of trees and other companion plants are there?

90 acres isn't a lot of land, get out and hike it this spring and see what ya got!

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Re:Wild Ginseng Question 13 years 2 months ago #8492

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Latt, lol, I was thinking, 'How am I gonna say \"heck-no\" but thanks.' (If it weren't for the internet and extension offices I'd have to take ya up on that.) I did see where planting 50 seeds a year can reep thousands in 7-10 years. I think we might consider it eventually. Thanks.

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Re:Wild Ginseng Question 13 years 2 months ago #8494

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Yep, no logging, and to our knowledge nobody has hunted for seng. The bordering properties are all untouched as well. There are plenty of pine, oak, and sycamore trees, some white birch and I dunno what else. I can't identify plants, I know there are tons of weeds, stickers, and brush. Blackberries, a natural spring runs the whole hillside (thinking this may be good -damp/moist). To me, 90 acres is A LOT, lol. And I totally expect to keep my eyes open during mushroom season. If we don't find much this spring, maybe we'll have better luck when the berries pop. Thx Maya.

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Re:Wild Ginseng Question 13 years 2 months ago #8496

Airhead,

Latt's offer it actually quite generous (keeping only 40%) when offering to hunt with you on your property.

If you really want to know if seng grows there, want to know how to find it, how to grow it, having a experinced seng hunter meet with you and hunt the property a time or two and share his experience and knowledge with you - well that is just worth a lot.

It is sure not easy to just go out and start successfully hunting and finding seng on your own. Most all of us experienced seng hunters had a friend that took us and trained us up back early on and I expect most have fond memories of those days and the friendships made.

Latt is a bit more generous then I am on that - I always suggest 50% split when I hunt seng on someone elses property (whether they go along or not) and if they do go along and want to learn to find seng or how to grow it (proper stewardship practices) well I gladly teach them all of that.

What I typically do is sort of lead them to the areas where seng will be found, and hunt until I find one, but I don't point it right out to them I just say - there is one over here and then let them come and look for it until they find it.

I show them how to dig proper, and how to replant the berries, and then explain companion plants and where we need to look next based on companion plants found, the lay of the land, trees in the area, etc.

I will have them keep that first seng top and as they hunt just stop and take a look at it occasionally to get their eyes trained. Then when I find another one I will call them over and let them find it again.

Usually after a few hours they are finding seng on their own.

At days end I probably found 90% or more of what we found that day but then we split it 50/50.

I usually just divide the roots up into two piles and then let the other guy pick which pile he wants. That is sure a simple and fair way to divide the stash.

One of our Decons at Church heard me talking about seng last year and asked me if I thought there might be seng on his property. We ended up hunting it last fall and did fairly well (got 22 oz of green root in about 2.5 hours).

He was thrilled and enjoyed the hunt very much and the nice pile of roots he had at the end he was going to keep and consume himself.

I have another spot lined up to hunt this fall with another land owner and member of our local Church. He wants to go along and learn how to find it, where it would be best to try and grow it on his land, and wants me to come and teach him all that and we will split the roots 50/50 that we find during that teaching process.

Anyway - Good Luck at finding / growing seng on your 90 acre tract of land.

For every pound of seed that you plant ( a pound is around 7000 seed ) you should harvest around 7 pounds of dry root.

Plant 1000 seeds and you should harvest 1 pound of dry root.

The roots really need 7-10 years growth to be quality marketable roots.

Thanks

TNhunter

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Re:Wild Ginseng Question 13 years 2 months ago #8501

TNhunter,
Darn good post! Reminds me of when I got help many a day ago and I have used some of the same techniques you have mentioned when helping new ginseng hunters too. The one that I get the biggest Kick out of is when I have put a ginseng plant top in the hand of the new sang hunter like you have mentioned and they still get excited when they find Virginia Creeper, Trillium and Jack-in-the-pulpit and they say found some. Then I will say so you found some huh and they will say yea. So then i'll say so the plant in your hand looks like the plant you think is sang and they will say yes. I get a kick out of it as they try to learn the difference in the ginseng characteristics verses the plant they misidentified as ginseng. Eventually they get it. I had one morel mushroom hunting buddy last year that picked up on it quickly and found a small 3 prong on his own within an hour of minimal instruction. Some others I have worked with have not been as easy.

Always fun to be in the woods regardless.
Latt

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Re:Wild Ginseng Question 13 years 2 months ago #8509

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TnHunter, I imagine that would be a fair price considering someone like myself could spend the whole weekend in the woods and still not recover half of what I could with someone experienced. Heck, I might even come out empty-handed as I do realize it's 'an art' of sorts. My plan was to learn as much as I can, see what I can find, and if I don't do so well, find help.

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Re:Wild Ginseng Question 13 years 2 months ago #8512

Airhead,

Last season I took a bunch of pictures and made some video's while hunting seng. You might check out some of the individual video's from my different hunts. They sort of take you along on a virtual ginseng hunt, I give some seng hunting tips, point out and talk about companion plants some and sort of walk into finding ginseng plants.

In the one below talked about maidenhair fern (probably one of the best companion plants there is), and walk into finding a nice little 4 prong.

www.youtube.com/user/YTTNhunter#p/u/13/NiZiUFxuPc0

My channel below: Total of 24 ginseng video's.

www.youtube.com/user/YTTNhunter

Here is a excellent youtube channel to check out done by Billy our friend (and forum member/moderator) from up in South Eastern Ky.

www.youtube.com/user/ginsenghunter1#p/u

If you watch those they will get you fired up about hunting seng and get you some decent virtual experience :-)

TNhunter

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Re:Wild Ginseng Question 13 years 2 months ago #8513

Airhead2day,
You have received some good advise and I think you can learn how to find ginseng from watching these videos and reading up on it. If you ever do take someone on your land to help you, make sure sure they understand it is by invitation only each time they want to go or if it is just a one time deal. Also make sure they are trustworthy and will not talk about your land containing ginseng. I have seen a few sang hunters take liberties with others peoples land when it comes to hunting ginseng.

A good friend or stranger will ask for permission prior to coming on your land and will not bring anyone with them that was not invited or approved. The last thing you would want is someone spilling the beans that there is ginseng on your property if there truly is.

I am sure you will be able to find a trustworthy ginseng hunter in your area if you decide to go that route. But choose wisely.

It's your land and you can do with it what you want. However if the word gets out it won't take long before you start seeing trespassers on your land looking to dig up your ginseng. It also depends on how much effort you have made to ward off trespassers in the past.

90 Acres is a fairly large woods to monitor. You might want to search around on this forum to see how some are protecting their ginseng and property from trespassers.

Good luck this fall,
Latt

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