TOPIC: Double/Tripple root size - Fresh roots dug today 10/27.

Hey Guys...

I figure most of you seng addicts are starting to have some real withdrawal symptoms about now.

So today I went out to my spot just down the hill from my house where I have a few transplants planted and dug them up to check them out.

These were in a good spot originally, but a year or so after I planted them - had the bad luck of two trees dieing on the west side of them that opened them up to some serious evening sun. They would live OK up thru June or July and then it just got too hot/dry for them and they would expire.

In the fall of 2009 I transplanted 10 little 2 prong roots to this spot and the next spring below is what one of the best ones looked like. It was a purty little 3 that first year after transplanting. Notice the ground around it, almost no weeds or grass.

This pic was taken June 2010.

TNhunter

Here is what that same little 3 looked like the next year in June 2011.

Notice a few more weeds showing up. Result of more sun creeping in from those trees dieing.

It did grow some and seems to be making decent progress.

Now below is what it looked like in June 2012.

Notice, even more weedy and some grass showing up now.

In 2011 it died in August, just after green berries has swelled full.

In 2012 it died in June - at the end of that awful hot/dry spell we had.

Here is what it looked like July this year.

Hate that..

So what I did today was go down to that spot and dug up all of those transplanted roots.

Even though they had been expiring early each of the past two years, they did grow into decent roots.

Below is a pic of that root from the tops shows earlier as I was digging it up. It had some nice root hair and small root shooting off the main trunk and reaching out in different directions.

It is a nice bulb root with some branches - below is what the whole root looks like after I got it all out.

Now here is the part that I was really suprised by.

I also dug up the first two roots in my seed producing bed (the two at the top).

I wanted to transplant them down in to the woods a bit deeper in another hollow just to spread those roots out some and not have them all in one place.

My see bed was cultivated woods soil, and I added composted pete, so the dirt there was real soft.
I also ammended with some bone meal, gypsum, and epson salt.

When I dug these two roots from the cultivated seed bed the soil there was very soft. I just dug them out with my fingers.

The thing I notices about both was that they were at least 2, possibly 3 times as large as they were when I first planted them in the fall of 2010.

Those were wild roots, transplanted into the cultivated bed for seed production. And Wow in just 2 years, they doubled or trippled in size.

And they still look quite wild to me.

Check em out below and see what you think. I was impressed with how much the roots grew in just a couple of years.

They weighed 1.1 oz and .9 oz.

TNhunter

TNhunter,

Great little documentary! I think that you answered my question, as to whether you were going to transplant them to a location where they might fair much better during the hot summers!!?? I can see that the last two seem to have a little bit of the color and sheen (appearance) of cultivated Ginseng but they still show good growth scars and stress rings.

Thanks for sharing!


Frank

Nice roots there. They look pretty good to me.

TN,
I am really impressed. That is the reason I was going into some woods grown besides my wild simulated.
I seen some roots the other day that came out of the Black Mountain and WOW! I see now what Billy Taylor was talking about, my apologies to him.
As long as a person can keep them looking good stress wrinkles and age I'd say it's a win win situation

rootman