Looking for a little help. I use to know a man that raised cultivated ginseng and was always curious as to what it was worth per pound. Unfortunately we lost this gentleman as he passed away after 82 years of life. Is there anyone out there that could tell me approximately how much a pound of cultivated ginseng typically goes for?
jwilks,
It's hard to say, Depends on how it was cultivated. If it is woodsgrown it could be as high as 2/3 the price of wild but if it was grown to big and fast it could be as low as $30 a lb.
Depends on the market also.
Thanks for the help rootman. Maybe you can help me with one other thing. In your estimation what is the green to dry ratio for yellow root? I know sang is roughly 3.5 to 1 but am not sure what goldenseal is.
As Rootman said, it all depends on quality and age. Is this still in the ground or is it dried already? Handling can make a huge difference also. When I have customers who are looking for ginseng, they sometimes are willing to pay extra for older cultivated root.
Thanks for the info guys.. Didn't realize that yellow root dried so much.. We have a ton of it around my area and I'm trying to decide if it would be worth digging it until September gets here. Have you ever dug any yellow root and found it to be profitable? Most guys that I talk to say it's just a lot of work.
If it is in a place fairly easy to dig and just dig the biggest plants of goldenseal you could make around $10 an hour. Yes it is hard work. When I use to dig quite a bit I'd start at daylight and quit about 11 o'clock before it got to hot. I then would clean and put it on drying tables that afternoon.
