TOPIC: Random thoughts...1 year later....

Around a year ago I thought about purchasing seed and planting. Here are some random thoughts on raising 'seng after a years expierence with it. Please comment on my thoughts either yes or no in your views.

#1 Mulching the seed bed is as much important as the actual planting and covering with soil. *anywhere my mulching never covered good or was blown off or just rotted up I have no 3 leafers this year. My next planting will have as much emphasis on leaf mulching as covering with soil.

#2 Seems that 'seng getting some sunlight is a good thing when I dig it but not too good on young plants. I had a perfect top canopy and a lower canopy of small trees in a bed and decided to cut away those lower canopy trees to allow just a little sunlight to touch in. Where there werent any weeds to deal with, allowing that extra sunlight in, it filled up my bed with weeds, and i'm not talking, much light at all! My future plans are to allow my plants to get 3-4 years old before allowing more light, if then, it depends on how they are growing.

More later, add your random growing thoughts to this thread.............

Wild Crafter............

Like you, I've been at it about a year.

I had plenty of mulch on my beds, however not very good germiniation % on all of them. My concern is the soil.

How about your soil tests? Any diff on the beds that didn't germinate well as compared to the beds that did?

The sunlight coming thru the trees isn't much from the tall canopy. I've got not much low canopy a'tall. It's definately shaded in there, however not dark.

On the mulching don't get me wrong all of the bed needs to be covered a 100%. But some of my mulch that did get blown off they still came up. I also use straw for my beds and that does cause some grass and weeds to come up but i do weed occasionally in my beds. I don't do it a whole lot because if the babies don't have something to compete with what is their to make the root look wild. Now in my one year old beds i do weed a little more intensively so that all of them do have a fighting chance to grow.

Now on the lower canopy i removed every one of them to allow not only for a little light but for better air circulation on the plants. The more air you have flowing less chance of disease. But i didn't notice more weeds in doing so only from the straw and it wasn't horrible.

Hope I have helped you some and good luck on the planting.