TOPIC: New to ginseng and in Texas to boot

What can I say, I like a challenge!

I've started my plants indoors in pots because of the Texas heat. A friend of mine has some property in east Texas which I want to move my plants to when - if - they survive. The property consiss of oaks and loblolly pines, and is on what they call a mountain here, actually a hill about 700 feet high.

Well, I can't seem to get these little guys to survive past a week. They appear to be fine, and then just keel over and die. I've been using differenty types of earth, but typically it is fine potting soil you buy at your loal hardware store for starting seeds.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

dwdwone...

You are probably in for a real challenge to grow ginseng in TX.

It does not naturally grow there per maps showing the range of wild american ginseng.



North East Texas, and at the very lower end of a direct North facing hillside (700' tall) would probably be your best bet.

If you can find a place where there is a rock bluff that faces near due north or a little north east, then at the bottom of that bluff would be a good place to try it.

On your seedlings dropping like that. Sounds bad.

I would suspect a fungus issue of some kind.

You might try (organic solution) treating your potting soil with Actinovate before you start your seedlings.

I have never tried starting seng in pots indoors though... could be something else going on with that - for example you could be giving them too much light, or something else could be wrong.

Good Luck !

TNhunter

Wow sounds like a no go to me. Where I live is essentially dense damp northern forest and I still worry my seedlings will dry out. In Tx I think your best bet would be a dirt cellar with some lights.

Edit: One thought though, how cold does it get there in the winter? If not below freezing perhaps you could try a different time of year. Although I have a feeling the heat would still kill them even after established.

I give a friend who lives in Texarkana some seed to try and he had no luck at all. I described the correct area to plant them in and they still didn't make it despite his efforts. They came up since they had already been stratified but died that summer. That's about as far NE as you can get in Texas but you can give it a try. I don't know the average winter temp there in TX but it may not be enough to meet the dormant cold requirements for the roots if they did make it through the season unless you are far North. As far as your seedlings in the potting soil goes, a peat moss based soil holds too much water for the seedlings to survive. You need a coarse well drained mixture for them to live. Get you a bag of composted humus, some really fine pine chips or hardwood bark. Mix a little lime with 1 part humus to 3 part chips or bark, think about how they grow in the wild, you can even mix in a little fine gravel.They will do lots better.

Hillhopper

Well, right now I'm protecting them from the Texas heat and am trying to grow them indoors in my balmy 70 degree living room. I've tried putting them in different types of soils and in different spots. Ironically, a few seem to be doing well in a cactus pot - maybe because of the good drainage - in a medium light area, I'd guess around 50%. Tests in lower light areas had poorer results.

If I can get these little guys to grow, I'm planning on planting them on the northern hillside of my friend's property next year - if they survive my home. The place is in a real Texas forest in the northeastern part of the state where the end of the Ouchita mountain range pops up, just briefly.

As far as temperature, it does snow a couple of times each winter, and it can and often does get down below 0. Our winters typically last from late November through mid March, although this year we had temperatures close to freezing just a few weeks ago. You just never know.

I've heard of ginseng growing in the mountains of southeastern Oklahoma, which are 3 hours away, but I've yet to see any. On the map that was posted, it seems to just slightly overlap into that area, but not quite.

Speaking of the map, if temperature was a major issue, why is Mississippi in the growing zone, which extends much further south than North Texas? And why are colder climes such as Montana and Washington state, out of the growing zone?


I'm not giving up. Maybe I'll make it to the Guinness Book of World Records. Or more likely just to a pint of Guinness.

I'm in the hill country of northern tn and can't necessarily speak for the more southern states but I'm guessing the reason it never migrated to the west coast was the dakotas and prairie lands through the middle of our country providing a natural boundary. Good luck on your efforts.

Hillhopper