TOPIC: Planting Large Amounts of Seed

TNhunter

I do have an Atv with a small John Deere dump trailer. Automative equip will just have to wait.

Today, we just finished clearing some areas for planting this fall. I figure we have cleared enough area for about 7-8 lbs of seeds already. Now that we have all of our Firewood cut for the year and the weather has been in 60s- low 70s, we should be able to clear the rest by the end of July. I'm shooting at clearing enough to plant 25-30 lbs of seeds. I incorperated some of my wood cutting to help clear some of the beds areas.

It just started to rain, so we will waitl till monday to clear some more areas. The kids need a rest. I guess I do too!

Getting some prep work out of the way is getting me pumped up for planting seeds!

classicfur

Here is another small self propelled Hay Rake that looks like it would do a good job of moving leaves off to the side and out of the way - looks like it attaches to a big wheeled tiller type tool.

BCS Hay Rake



Dealer in KY.

earthtoolsbcs.com/html/bcs_implement_prices.html

Looks like it would cost you 2-3K to get that entire setup though - tiller and hay rake attachment.

If you need a really nice tiller for your garden anyway - could do dual purpose. The hay rake thing cost quite a bit more than the tiller.

It looks like it would go good enough to climb some fairly steep hills and you would not have to go too fast either.

TNhunter

TN,
Nice job finding some items like the harrow and the hay rake. I really like how the harrow works in the woods. It would be a huge time saver. It looks like the metal tines scratch the surface of the soil well too. You may have found the perfect tool for raking leaves in the woods. It leaves a nicely raked planting bed not to wide. It might be the way to go if you plant a large amount. You sure have peaked my interest in the harrow.

Classicfur,
I agree with others. Spending time with your kids and teaching them the value of good old hard work is priceless. I am sure they will be rewarded when they see the fruits of their efforts and all the ginseng growing. It's great that you have taught your children this!
Latt

Latt

My kids have been very helpfull in in the ginseng garden. I do pay them well and give them a pizza party at the end of the day. So they got tired of pizza so we had to switch to Chinese food yesterday. I can't complain with all the hard work they have done.

I have promised them a great reward after we start harvesting. They truely deserve it!

I think we have cleared enough area for aprox 11 lbs of seeds. We have been blessed with cooler weather to work in. But even so, the pool has gotten alot of use lately, even if the water temp is only 68 degrees. Too cold for me!

I figure I will need to start planting seeds mid-late Sept, So we can get it all planted before the ground freezes. That's only 2 1/2 months away.
I will order my seeds by the end of next month based on how much we get cleared for planting.

I'm getting pretty excited about planting this large amount of seeds.

Thanks for the thought of planting large amounts of seeds.

classicfur

Classicfur,
I think we all have the desire to plant a little more seed the more we talk about the great stuff we do on here. 11 lbs is a lot of seed. Even if some were going to plant 1 lb but are now going to plant 2 lbs, I am sure they will be glad they did in 10 years when they have twice as much as they would have.

I am going to start clearing some planting bed areas this July. I am gong t wait to rake leaves until I plant but at least I can get the branches and debris cleaned up.
Good luck everyone.
Latt

11 lbs is a lot of seed! Our plans are for this year is to determine if the area we are working with will be the right area to put into 'sang. I have plans to put in only another 6 pounds, and more 3 yr old rootlets, using the area previously cleared... that didn't germinate.

I am going to put the 'ole Troy-Built tiller to work, tho. Any area that I put seed into previously will receive a tilling. I got a soil test back , that indicates
I've raised my pH about .3 point, and the Ca about 80 [to about 1000/acre]. there's about 9 add'l soil tests still at the lab to be considered yet. Once those are back to me, I'll buy the apprioate amounts of lime and gypsum, then spread and till. I want to do this sometime in August, prior to setting the seed.

I thought this area was pretty good for the planting of ginseng, however it may turn out different. that understory of rododendron may be too much of a detriment to the successful growing of our favorite crop.

Classicfur- Cool work with the kids! I like it!

TnHunter & Latt- That harrow rake looks pretty neat. When I get bigtime, I'll have to have one. I'll be interested in what you guys decide on this.. want to see a vid of you guys using it!

Whitjr

I'm learning here.Have stupid question.Your saying your seed treatment for fungus is what stopped the Germination?Was it caused by soil conditions also?

Larry may be growing predominately using woods-cultivated methods, but his roots take on a really nice wild character. I bought 30-40 transplanters from him a few years ago for a workshop I was doing. We were doing a seed bed demonstration. Not sure if it is that rocky Maryland soil or what, but those roots looked great. Dense growth rings, multiple appendages, nice size. Excellent quality. Didn't look like they were grown in soil that was tilled that much at all. I wouldn't hesitate to do what he's doing if I could get those type of results.

FTB-
I'm not saying that seed treament caused my 15% germination rate at all. There are a variety of factors that could have caused my poor germination. Discerning which one was the biggest culprit is a real challenge.

I have not treated for fungus at all, yet. My soil treatments were liming the soil since I had low pH, and adding Ca in the form of gypsum since my Ca was very low.

The guys here are real assets, the knowledge base on this forum is really great to relative newbies. I've certainly learned a lot from the \"crew\" on this website.

I have to agree w/ Rural Action Forestry, Larry's rootlets did look wild-grown. I bought 300 3-year old ones. I got out some photos from my resource materials notebook, and they looked just like the ones in the photos. Deer like them too, however that's another story.....

Guys I have been way behind on this topic and have just read through alot of these post and I am amazed at how hard some of you have to work to get the ground rite etc.It makes me that much more thankfull to live in a area where I do not have to do anything at all to the soil,just drop the seed as I would a wild seed and it does fine.I have a great deal of respect for all of you that have to work alot harder than that to accomplish the same goals,

Billy.