TOPIC: Planted 1/4 pound this evening - pic of a real seng planter !

Here you go guys - a decent way to get some seed in the ground.

Finally talked my 9 year old into going planting with me.

He lasted about a hour and a half then tuckered out and played the rest of the time.

We got about 1/4 lb of seed planted in a little over 2 hours.

It was a absolutely bueatiful fall evening here in Middle TN.

TNhunter

nice TN

A fine lookin young man TN. I often get my son to go with me up to my plantings as well, he said we needed a little cabin up there the last time he went......Not a bad idea at all,sounded like a good winter project.


Hillhopper

I planted my seeds the other evening. In a couple of beds I just scattered the seeds on top of the ground. Since the leaves have not fallen yet I did not have any to cover the beds. I am afraid the seeds will dry out. No rain in the forecast so I have watered them a little. Did I plant to early?

As long as they are underground I'm sure they will have more than enough moisture to make it through. We have been experimenting with drier than normal seed and its been doing really well still.

Delta Dawn,

If you \"just scattered them on top of the ground\" I would say they have a slim chance of making it.

Especially if it is dry and stays dry for a while.

I have read that a ginseng berry that is planted (say 1/2 to 3/4\" deep under the soil and leaf mulch added) has a 8X better chance of making it than a berry that just falls off.

That was talking about berries where the seeds are incased inside the berry in pulp.

I think you are talking about stratified seeds.

The seeds inside a berry will not dry out quite as fast as a stratified seed will and when a stratified seed drys out - that is pretty much the end.

What you really need to do is plant stratified seed so that you get that seed at least 1/2\" under the soil.

I experimented some with planting depth last year and planted some 1/4, some 1/2 to 3/4 and some 1\" deep.

They all germinated nicely - could not really tell any difference in germination of any of those depths.

But we had a extremely hot and dry July and August this year and the ones that were planted 1/4\" deep did not survive until August.

The others that were planted 1/2 to 1\" deep did survive until August.

I am planting all of my seed this year at least 1/2\" deep, and most of it around 1\" deep.

Now I am located in the South - Southern Middle TN where it can get extremely hot and dry mid to late summer so this planting deeper may just be something that you have to consider if you were planting in my area.

I don't know of anyone here that plants stratified seed by simply broadcasting on top of the ground. I expect you will have very poor results with that method.
1.. The seeds will dry out quickly, 2.. mice, chip munks, squirrell, turkey, birds of all kinds, etc - will eat them.

There is one exception to that that is mentioned in Scotts book as a alternative method for planting ginseng seed.

But it is very dependant on timing and possibly on location.

If you will wait until your area is at that point where leaf fall is going to be extremely heavy, and at the point where a big storm is coming.

If you could get out and broadcast seed the evening, before a heavy storm, rain, wind happens that night.

The seed that you broadcast would immediatly be covered by heavy leaf fall.

It would also be beneficial if your area gets snow early and it stays on long (most of the winter).

If you broadcast seed and that very night it rains hard, and the ground is covered with leaves, and then soon after it snows and that stays on all winter, well those seeds would have a very good chance of making it.

In Scotts book - best I remember - they said they had as high as 65% germination with that method.

But now if you get the timing wrong, you cast your seed and it does not rain for several days, that heavy leaf fall does not happen right away, well you may have just waisted the large majority of your seed.

Hope this helps !

TNhunter

PS - in that picture above I had my boy planting them 1 seed at at time.

He was using that trowel to make a hole about 1\" deep, put in 1 seed, then pushed the dirt on top of the seed, then added leaf mulch, then steped on it to compress it all down, then move over about 6\" and do it again.

I was using a sharpshooter shovel with a pvc pipe for delivering seed and planting them about 1\" deep.

TNhunter

The sharpshooter shovel makes a wide hole and it is fairly easy (with experience) to get the depth as you want it (I shoot for about 1\" deep) and usually drop 2 seeds.



Using the sharpshooter shovel is a very good alternative to something like the Hankins Method (where you rake all of the leaves off, dig furrows, plant seeds, cover furrows with soil, then rake all of the leaves back on).

With the sharpshooter shovel you get them planted basically the same, but you don't have to do all of that raking off and on of leaves, or digging the long furrows. Also you don't disturb all of the leaves by raking off a big section then raking them all back on again (which could stir up fungal disease issues).

TNhunter

Thanks TNhunter for all the advice. I think I will go out and \"plant\" the seeds that i find on top & water again. I just didn't want to individually plant 3000 seeds. I have planted off and on for 10 yrs, trying different things, with little success.
I have a real small area (1 ft diameter)that i spread out the pulp and seeds that had been left in a baggy on the back porch over winter and they came up. How old should they be before I try to transplant and spread them out. I generally lose what I try to transplant. I'm in a wooded area in Northern IN so they are undercover of leaves and snow for to darn long as far as I am concerned. This time i am planting closer to the house to water if needed. Again.. thanks for the info.

For best results do plant each individual seed 1/2 to 1\" deep in individual holes, cover with dirt, then some leaves and step on it to compress all of that down. You can plant them as thick as 4-5 seeds per sq ft, but I think thinner plantings of 2-3 per sq ft would have better chance of making it without disease issues (over crowding tends to bring on disease issues).

3000 seeds would take a little while to plant that way.

I have planted close to 9000 seeds like that this past week (using the sharp shooter shovel with pvc pipe for delivering the seed), except I am making a wider hole and planting 2 seeds per hole.

Other methods that work well - Rake and Scatter.

I prefer this method which I call double rake and scatter.

It works best just after a rain, or within a few days of a good rain when the top soil is still nice and soft.

What you do is take a good stout leaf rake (one that has some good teeth to it) and first rake over the leaves to one side. Just the loose leaves on top, and try to leave the composted leaf layer alone and just get teh lose leaves. Rake them over to one side and pile them up.

You can make your bed 5' wide and up to 50' long for a 250 sf bed. That is what is recommended in Scotts book (Hankins method bed size).

If doing smaller areas you could make a 5' x 5'.

After raking the lose leaves over, then you go back and rake it again, this time pressing down hard and getting all of that leaf compost and as much of the top soil as you can. Rake that over and pile it up right beside your leaf pile.

Then you can drop your seed, at 4-5 per sq ft, or reduced rate of 2-3 per sq ft if you prefer, if you are going to fertilize you can add gypsum at that point.

Next rake that pile of top soil and leaf compost back on top of the seeds, then rake the lose leaf pile back on top and spread them out evenly on the bed.

Then walk up and down the bed pressing the leaves, leaf compost and top soil down on top of the seeds.

With this method the seeds generally end up being planted 1/2\" to 3/4\" deep - depending on how much leaf compost and top soil you can rake over and put back on top.

I had excellent germination with this method last year, and my seedlings survived a brutal July/August where we had almost no rain and extremely hot temps.

If you do smaller beds with this method, it is fairly easy to do, does not wear you out all that much, and the seeds get planted very well.

When you start making those 5 x 50' long beds it takes a little more stamina to make it thru all of that. I did several of those last year and it takes me about 45 minutes to start and finish a 5'x50' (250 sf) bed.

If planting 4-5 seeds per sq ft, you end up planting 1000-1250 seeds in that 250 sf bed.

If you will do either of the two methods mentioned above I am sure you will have good luck getting the seeds to germinate and live (if the location is right).

If you have not done a soil test, you should. Ginseng needs high levels of calcium in the soil to do well and it also needs a PH around 5.0-5.5.

Gypsum can be used to boost calcium if needed and it will not affect PH.

Calcium levels in the 3000-5000 pounds per acre would be ideal, but 2000 is acceptable, if below 2000 you will need to add gypsum to increase calcium levels.

In that spot where you have lots of small ginseng plants, it is probably best to transplant them when they are 2 years old, and you need to wait until late fall (September or October) to carefully dig them up and transplant them.

Late fall the root will have next years bud developed already so be very careful not to damage that bud spur, and plant them so that that bud spur is at least 1\" below the soil surface and water them in good.

They should do fine after that.

Good Luck !

PS - I have a few video's of doing wild simulated double rake and scatter method on my youtube channel, and some showing the results this spring. There are also several on there of ginseng hunting too.

www.youtube.com/yttnhunter

TNhunter