TOPIC: Planting Large Amounts of Seed

This is a long post folks so I hope you have a few minutes.

I know many of us have discussed planting a large amount of seed in past or previous post. I wish I would have started planting ginseng more seriously 10 or even 20 years ago. It is true that once time is lost it can never be be recovered. Especially when growing a crop that takes 10 years or more to harvest.

However, if there is anyone thinking that it's too late for them that is not the case. The time is now to step it up on planting more ginseng. Planting more seed than normal is almost like reaching back and reclaiming those lost years.

Everyone has different goals on what their eventual ginseng harvest will do for them. Some are looking at it for extra income. Some for possible funds to help pay for their children or grandchildren's college. Some are looking at it to help with retirement. What ever the reason or goal is besides the point.

I have run out of land to plant on. So if you are out of land do what I do. Plant on friends or families property and work out a deal with them. Don't let a shortage on land stop you.

Why am I posting this. Many of you are already planting enough ginseng to reach your goals. However your goals may change and someday you may wish you would have planted more ginseng seed. I hope you join me in planting more now to make up for lost time. Some of us are not getting any younger. If you are young try to do this anyway.

Growing ginseng can be easier than one thinks. It just depends on how you do it. I may say some things below that may be different than how you grow ginseng and maintain it. I have stated this before that I am not an expert so please do not be offended if what I say is different than how you see or do things. Many grow ginseng and maintain their crop nicely by weeding, spraying and what ever else they can do to maximize the number of plants that survive over the years. This makes sense to me and to many others and it is option one.

Option two is to plant ginseng \"Wild Simulated\" style to the best of your ability and to leave it alone for 10 years.

Option three is to be somewhere in the middle of option one and option two where you treat or maintain as needed. This is where I am at and I had just applied \"Deadline\" slug bait to some of my patches recently.

DOING THE MATH
OK here is how I see it. If you want to end up with a certain amount of money then work backwards. If I want to end up with $65,000 in 10 years as an example, then here is how I think it can be done. And this example below is from just one years planting of 50 lbs of seed.

Plant 50 lbs of seed (Seed is going to be between $50 and $150 per pound depending on market, supplier and type of seed)
6500 seeds per lb x 50 lbs = 325,000 seeds planted. Lets say 10% survive over the 10 years. This leaves us with 32,500 plants. It will take about 250 roots to make a dry pound. So 32,500 divided by 250 = 130 dried lbs. So 130 dried lbs x $500 per lb = $65,000.
These are conservative numbers above. For example: Some think ginseng will be close to $1,000 per lb 10 years from now. Some would say there are 7,000 plus seeds per pound. Some would say it only takes 200 ten year old roots to make a lb dry. And some would say you can get 20% or more to survive over the ten year period. If this is correct and everything works out then my estimate of $65,000 would more than double and it may be possible to be at $130,000 or more.


So for a reasonable investment now we can expect a tremendous return in 10 years doing something we love to do. It just doesn't get better than that.

Yea this makes me excited! Anyone else?

Good luck,
Latt

Here is a good link for ginseng info.

www.a-spi.org/AGF/manual1.htm

Latt

I'm with ya Latt, I would hate to plant a pound a year and in 7-10 years clear 4-7
thousand from it to then realize what would have happened if I had planted so much more. When I harvest my first crop I will either see that I'm set or iv wasted a lot of time and money.... pretty sure its a safe bet. The numbers can't lie, even in a lean scenario.

Hillhopper

Hey guys,

It all sounds good. But it all starts with good, properly stratified seeds. Which means you have to have a reliable seed supplier before you make that big of an endeavor.

If you purchase seeds that were not properly stratified, then you would be lucky if 50% germinates in the second spring after planting. And I think that it would be more feasable that you would do well to see 25% emerge after the seeds have been sitting in the ground for 1 1/2 years.
If germination does not happen the first spring, there is so many bad things that can happen to those seeds between the first spring and the second spring. Seeds can dry out, disease, eaten by animals or slugs and snails, and much more.

But if you have a seed supplier that can deliver that kind of volume of seeds that are properly stratified and disease free. Then you outlook is pretty good. From what I've heard on this forum, there is alot of seed sources that could not be trusted to deliver good quality seeds.

Also the seeds would need to be planted in good disease free soil. etc. Planting seeds in an area where there is already diseased plants has disaster and failure written all over it.

There is alot more to successful growing than just planting the amount of seeds you want to grow.

I have seen some complete failures on this forum for First Year growers. Fortunately they planted smaller amounts. If they had planted 50 lbs of seed, it would have been a huge failure.

Remember, If it was an easy plant to grow, everyone would be growing it and making thousands$$$

But I do believe you have to start out first with good quality seeds.

There is big money to be made by growing seng. But not for everyone!

classicfur

Classicfur,
Good input for sure on seed quality and other info. I agree with what you said as follows too:

\" Remember, If it was an easy plant to grow, everyone would be growing it and making thousands$$$\".

I agree it is not an easy plant to grow. But I also feel that there are some \"Mavericks\" on this forum that are ready to pave their way to becoming successful ginseng growers of varying levels.

There are millions upon millions of people that do not know anything about hunting or growing ginseng. Then there are thousands upon thousands that only hunt and dig ginseng. And lastly there are only a handful that are attempting to grow ginseng in comparison to the total population.

There will be many successful moments along with some moments of failure for most that are attempting to grow ginseng. But with a little luck, education, planning, trial and error, communication and a continued increase in ones personal knowledge about growing ginseng, I believe it is out there to be had by many of us on this forum.

So good luck everyone.
Latt

Your logic is good, much like mine [and my partner's]. I am going to replant the first patch this year, and keep on \"Truckin\"

I only wish that I was already retired from \"my day job\" and able to do more in the mountains.

I had such poor results with the planting this spring that I would not consider planting that large. I did make arrangements with an ohio seed producer for 8 pounds. It is not the cost of the seed or the work that is holding me back it is the fact that everything I have read says to take small steps. after a couple of successfull years I could see myself planting a large crop but not until then.

Koolrayz,
That makes sense. Good luck with your 2nd planting consisting of 8 lbs this fall. I am buying some seed from Ohio too. 8 lbs of seed is a good amount of seed. Good luck.
Latt

I'm getting 5 lbs from one seller in Ohio as well, and another 1 from a different seller....

I'd like to add a second acre in this year, however we'll see.

Who are you guys getting seeds from in Ohio and how much are they?