TOPIC: End of the planting season for me (some pics)

Today was my last day of planting and I have taken a few pictures of locations in East Tn. mountains. This group was taken from atop a steep mountain side and you can still see some of the companion plants. This particular location was logged about 40 years ago and is mostly Poplar growing in a deep silt loam soil with excellent drainage. We'll see how the new plants fare. More to follow.
Hugh

This is shot just a little farther out the hill;
Hugh

Hugh,
Those trees look to be somewhat small. Does this spot have a lot of weeds in the summer. I see what looks like a good bit of dry weeds still standing in the first pic. Did you already plant there? If it is weedy are you going to spray roundup?
I wish you the best there. You said the soil is pretty good so hopefully it does well for you.
Good luck,
Latt

This is one of the first plantings that I did after finishing my woodlots. You can see that I got an earlier start here. It is on a different mountain.
Hugh

Latt,
The reason that you see those weeds is because they are along a road and it is open. As you drop off the hillside it was all companion plants and the weeds were shaded out. These plantings are 100% wild and will be left that way. I chose these sites earlier in the season while things were still growing to be sure they would not get crowded out. Each one was loaded with Black Cohosh, Baneberry, Angel Hair, and Maiden Hair Ferns. I hope that I made some good decisions. We'll see.
By the way, I stopped at a Ginseng Buyer as I was coming back in today and checked prices. It was in Del Rio, Tn. and I had never talked to them before. They were paying $425,00 per pound for dried roots and $125.00 per pound for wet.
Hugh

Good luck in your plantings, Hugh.

Whitjr,

Thanks, and I wish you good luck with your plantings as well. It sure looked like you have put a lot of work into cleaning your planting areas up.
It will sure be interesting to see how things develop this coming year. I finally had the time to really get into Ginseng growing in a big time way. Some of mine will be pure experimentation and some will be completely by the book. I took the liberty to use some of my past ventures to pick sites that I thought would work well and I ended up planting in 9 different counties in East Tenn. The two lots that I have here at the house were planted using the Hankins method in certain sections and the Rake and Scatter in others.On others I used Brad Castles Planting tool. It was especially helpful when the ground was dry. I have high hopes for these sections because I used all the amendments to help growth and and they are just out the door. I have been eliminating squirrels for the last two weeks in them.
Some of the larger plantings were done high in the mountains on steep mountain sides that sloped off to the North or Northeast. In looking for these sites you would always find companion plants on these areas and occasionally some seng. I planted all these locations with a long handle mattock and I tried to stick pretty close to where the companion plants were growing. I would use logs to plant under if any were close and blowdowns that might give cover from deer. I also spread the rows a little wider to help with possible disease. It will be interesting to see which of our methods work the best for all of the guys who are really getting into Ginseng growing. Good luck to everyone in 2012.
Hugh

It sounds like you have put in your time there Hugh. I certainly hope it rewards you at least as much as you have put into it.

Boys, I just could not stand it. I ordered 2 more lb. of seed and I know my wife is going to give me that look:angry: The problem is I don't know for sure where I'm going to plant it. But I'll manage to put it somewhere.

rootman

Rootman,
I can totally relate. I am sitting here Sat morning with no plans. I wish I had a pound or two to plant this weekend. I know all too well that look too. I wish I would have bought some of those seeds that PA woodsman had for sale, that had those nice embryos.
Good luck on planting those 2 lbs. Like you said you can find a spot somewhere to plant.
Latt