TOPIC: Virgin grower growing

As you can see I am new to posting.... But I have been following this awesome site for 2 years. I started 2 pounds of seed 2 years ago in iowa. I planted in areas that are well protected and had wild ginseng already growing..... Only problem is that we had the worst drought in 100 years:( well despite the poor conditions I did get some to come up but had very poor germination. But to my surprise a lot of ginseng is coming up for the first time this year. I can not believe the seeds did not dry completely dry out and die.... With more rain in the forecast I am expecting more to come up. Everyday more and more is coming up...

Problem: one area I planted that did not come up at all last year and I gave up on it. It has become overgrown with undergrowth do to me not weeding and a multiple large trees falling down on a east end of a woods giving it more morning sun. Should I let the new plants fight for themselves or should I go in and try to weed and risk stepping on them or pulling them be accident? I will try to post pictures

BigRoots

A few pictures

BigRoots wrote:

As you can see I am new to posting.... But I have been following this awesome site for 2 years. I started 2 pounds of seed 2 years ago in iowa. I planted in areas that are well protected and had wild ginseng already growing..... Only problem is that we had the worst drought in 100 years:( well despite the poor conditions I did get some to come up but had very poor germination. But to my surprise a lot of ginseng is coming up for the first time this year. I can not believe the seeds did not dry completely dry out and die.... With more rain in the forecast I am expecting more to come up. Everyday more and more is coming up...

Problem: one area I planted that did not come up at all last year and I gave up on it. It has become overgrown with undergrowth do to me not weeding and a multiple large trees falling down on a east end of a woods giving it more morning sun. Should I let the new plants fight for themselves or should I go in and try to weed and risk stepping on them or pulling them be accident? I will try to post pictures

BigRoots

BigRoots,

It is great that you had some Ginseng come up last year and now you are having more come up from seeds that you thought were a lost cause! This example just shows how hardy and tenacious Ginseng can be! It also tells us not to give up on a plot by tilling, plowing or raking to start afresh when all you might do, is destroy plants that are just beginning to emerge.

As far as the area with the heavy undergrowth and downed trees is concerned! I would wait another year or two before becoming too concerned with this plot. Nature provides and where the tree shade is missing, the undergrowth may provide enough shade during the crucial time of the day for any emerging plants. Besides, weeding this area now, would only upset root generation of any emerging plants. I believe that it would be best to wait until any plants that come up this year or next year have had time to plants their' roots well into the soil and the plants are visible before attempting any weeding.

Congratulations the work so far and good luck with the new emerging plants!


Frank

BigRoots...

Ginseng is a survivor and I have seen a few 3 leafers up in my 3 year old beds this spring. They were planted in the fall of 2010 and just came up this spring.

Sounds like most of yours decided to stall out a while until more favorable conditions came about. Neat how Ginseng seeds can do that.

I agree with Frank on leaving the weeds and brush be for now.
If you think the area is getting to much sun, then the weeds may make the difference in surviving or not.

Although Morning sun is good for Seng... (cooler) vs evening sun (which gets much hotter).
If seng is going to get a lot of sun any time of the day, would definately be best if it was in the earlier morning hours.

Some of the best sang I ever found was growing on a East facing bulff and it was getting a LOT of sun in the morning, but then after mid day, no direct sun at all.

If you do decide to clean that area up would be best to do that in the off season (when tops are down).

Transplanting some of them to better locations might be an option to consider too and that is best done late in the fall as the tops start yellowing. The next years bud spur will be fully developed at that point.

PS - on posting pictures - you have to resize the pic to be no more than 800 pixels in width/height before you can post them.

Good Luck

TNhunter

I'm with the consensus here...let it go for the time being. I had a similar wild sim spot that I thought would be lost or nearly lost, only to find a bunch of three and four prong plants in there when I was again able to wade into the area.

As for the delayed germination, this has been a common issue in the forefront for a few years now. Ginseng needs the seasonal changes to break primary dormancy. However, as TN said above, if the conditions are not right at that point, they may well enter a secondary dormancy. We saw a lot of that last year. In fact, I just wrote an article the other day about a batch of seed I'd forgotten about in the fall and left in a plastic container behind the seat of my truck. Long story short, I thought they were a loss...but some are coming up this year. Low germination rates do not always mean bad seed.

Thanks guys! I am getting a nice rain shower now. Hopefully some more will come up

Pictures are hard o upload

First picture is of the overgrown area that the seedlings are coming up in

Some of my 2 year old plants

Wild four prong coming up... This one is in my avatar

Enjoy