TOPIC: Planting this weekend!

Whitt..

Way to go. 8 lbs of seed - that is much more than I have ever planted in a season - you are getting serious about it no doubt.

And some bueatiful woods there.

Too bad you have all of that Rodo to deal with but kudo's to you for getting that work done.

I hope you have excellent germination and it really thrives in that location for you.

Your picture of the evening sky, reminds me of Psalms 19:1.

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky proclaims the work of his hands.

I planted about a half pound of seed yesterday, and even though it has not rained in a few days, the soil was still quite moist under all those leaves and worked up nicely with just my big old saw toothed leaf rake.

THhunter

LOL TN \"Big old saw toothed leaf rake\".
Whitjr, Wow what a great way to turn RODO land into a ginseng habitat. I can only imaging the work it has taken to prepare the area. Hugh brought up a point I didn't even think about pertaining to mice etc. On the other hand those RODO walls may be a great place to broadcast some rodent pellets to get those little critters without poisoning other wildlife.
Looking forward to seeing those pics this spring.
Great job,
Latt

Thanks for the postive comments, guys. I'll keep in mind the rodent controll needs. It's yet another thing to do... guess that I need to move it up on the \"concerns\" list. Hugh- the rhodo wall is surrounding the whole area.

I am a bit concerned about the light in the area. I'm thinking about planting a row of Goldenseal or Bloodroot to enhance the shadde. It's the middle -1/2 way up- that gets the most light.

Whitjr, what is the canopy cover? Some of the best seng I have ever found is in woods with only a canopy of 70 or 75% verses the desired 80 to 85%. More light means more weeds typically too thou. Nothing that a good dose of \"Round-Up\" can't take care of in early spring as the weeds tend to come up before the ginseng does.
Goldenseal can spread quickly and compete against ginseng in some cases too thou.
Latt

I'd say that the best it has is about 70%

I would rather plant in 70% canopy than 90% canopy if you plan on harvesting in 10 years. Some leaves may turn a little red in August but they will do well I bet.
Good luck and I bet you will do well there.
Latt

Whitjr wrote:

Thanks for the postive comments, guys. I'll keep in mind the rodent controll needs. It's yet another thing to do... guess that I need to move it up on the \"concerns\" list. Hugh- the rhodo wall is surrounding the whole area.

I am a bit concerned about the light in the area. I'm thinking about planting a row of Goldenseal or Bloodroot to enhance the shadde. It's the middle -1/2 way up- that gets the most light.

Whit, I'd suggest using black cohosh as a plant to help provide shade in needed areas. it grows a good bit taller than goldenseal and will tolerate drier conditions than bloodroot. It is pretty easy to get started by root division in the fall. If you know of any wild patches nearby it would probably transplant pretty good in the spring too if you could do it in April when it is just emerging.

Thanks 5 Prong. While I'm concerned about the shade, I also want to be able to market it. Is Black Cohosh saleable?

Whit,
Yes, there is a pretty
steady market to black cohosh. The price per pound isn't quite as high as goldenseal, but the yield is higher per plant. currently it's selling for about $3.50/lb. A year ago it was over $5. Its nothing your going to get rich from, but in my opinion its a much better plant for providing shade for ginseng. Around my parts a lot of folks know it as \"pointer\" because it is a pretty good companion plant of wild ginseng, and points you to it...

Its pretty common to find older black cohosh plants standing 2-3 feet tall, not including the flower spike that comes straight out the top and is often by itself taller than the rest of the plant

The plant in the middle of the above pic about a third of the way up from the bottom is a young black cohosh plant. I don't have any better pics, but think there are some in the \"other herbs\" section of this forum.