TOPIC: Delimma: what would you do with this? found illegal sales on ebay....

On a whim, on a slow day at work, I went to ebay, and put in the search engine, Ginseng.

I got a seller that is selling fresh roots, IN KENTUCKY I asked him \"when were these harvested? his reply was 7/28/13. the ebay correspondance is below the line there.

As we all know, this isn't right.

What would you do about it?



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Dear whitjr,

7/28/13


- ragzandbonez Click \"respond\" to reply through Messages, or go to your email to reply

From: whitjr
To: ragzandbonez
Subject: Details about item: whitjr sent a message about APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS 100% WILD AMERICAN FRESH GINSENG ROOTS 28+ grams OF ROOT #251312003608
Sent Date: Jul-31-13 09:32:48 PDT


Dear ragzandbonez,

Can you tell me when this was harvested?


- whitjr

THE EBAY LISTING IS STILL ON NOW:

APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS 100% WILD AMERICAN FRESH GINSENG ROOTS 28+ grams OF ROOT
Item Id: 251312003608
End time: Jul-31-13 17:38:56 PDT
Seller:
ragzandbonez (250)
100.0% Positive Feedback
Member since May-17-08 in United States
Location: KY, United States

Listing Status: This message was sent while the listing was active.


Here are more items from this seller

FRESH 100% WILD AMERICAN GINSENG ROOTS APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS 28+ gram... FRESH 100% WILD AMERICAN GINSENG ROOTS APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS 28+ gram... FRESH 100% WILD AMERICAN GINSENG ROOTS APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS 28+ gram...

I emailed the guy thru ebay, and copied the Kentucky laws as stated from here on Wildgrown. I think [translate: I hope] that this guy is frankly ignorant of the poaching and lawbreaking concerns.

When you look at some of the roots he has up for sale, many are not very old. I do hope that these aren't from someone we know here on this forum. All you Kentucky growere might want to check a few of your patches....

I'm on ebay alot and you can look on there just about anytime of the year and find this. Most of the times the seller(s) are smart enough to not put thier exact location on the listing. Still doesn't matter, I may be wrong but I believe the ONLY time you can dig Ginseng out of season is if it is on your own personal property and it is cultivated (not wild), and for personal use not to sell.

Basically, anyway you look at it, it is illegal beacuse those roots do not look like cultivated (tame) Ginseng, they look wild best I can tell.

You can report it to ebay but it's unlikely they will do anything about it. You could report it to TN wildlife association but without a full name they probably won't be able to do much either.

*Intentionally staying quiet and looking for KY Jabber*

LOL>>>>

Whitjr, to answer your question - you email a screen shot and a link to the active auction to your state's coordinator or law enforcement contact for ginseng OR the state's contacts for the state in question.

ETA, to also add: Whitjr, you did right by bringing it to the attention here. Thank you. I have sent the information up the food chain.

For the record, in Kentucky, when talking ginseng, we're talking ALL ginseng regardless of production method.

www.lrc.state.ky.us/kar/302/045/010.htm

Section 4. Harvest. (1) Ginseng shall only be harvested between September 1 and December 1 of each year.
(2) Ginseng shall not be harvested which is less than five (5) years old or has less than three (3) five (5) leafed prongs.
(3) Seeds adhering to a plant taken during the season shall be planted within fifty (50) feet of the location of the plant with no tool used other than the finger.

246.650 Definitions for KRS 246.660.
As used in KRS 246.660, unless the context clearly requires otherwise:
(1) \"Harvest\" means to take any part of the ginseng plant while the plant is living;
and
(2) \"Ginseng\" means any part of the American ginseng plant known as Panax
quinquefolius.
Effective:June 8, 2011
History: Amended 2011 Ky. Acts ch. 15, sec. 1, effective June 8, 2011. -- Created
1982 Ky. Acts ch. 415, sec. 1, effective July 15, 1982.


www.kyagr.com/marketing/ginseng.html

ETA: I see some of the links are broken here and on our main site due to a our LRC changing their website. I will go fix those. I'm all about giving information from the official source.

In TN Law they make the distinction (for the purpose of sale or export) as far as the wild ginseng plant goes and the harvest season.

==
It is unlawful to dig, for the purpose of sale or export, any wild ginseng plant that has green berries or that has less than three (3) prongs. A \"prong\" means a ginseng leaf with three (3) to five (5) leaflets.
==

So if I want some fresh root for my own personal consumption, I can harvest that any time, from my wild simulated, or true wild root.

I always keep enough dry root to hold me over from season to season so I don't have to do that, but if I wanted to I could and it would be OK legally since it is not for the purpose of sale or export. It is for personal consumption.

I have not read the fine details of the KY law but looks like you might get in trouble if you did that in the KY State.

TNhunter

Not me! Why would anyone dig or sell this time of year - besides for breaking the law? As wet as we have been, my plants are still growing...so I assume the roots are, also!

Bad man. Very bad man!

So in Kentucky it would be nearly impossable to grow woods cultivated ginseng, if you were to do it legally. I guess you couldnt pick your berries to stratify them. If you had the plants close togrther then planting the seeds within 50 feet of the parent plant would be a waste because of overcrowding. Also, if all ginseng is the same by Kentucky law I suppose you couldnt break up the ground to plant woods cultivated. Sounds like Kentucky officials should reconsider how they word the rules for ginseng. I would hope the officials would use common sense for people growing ginseng, and not hold them to the same rules as wild ginseng.

lenno
If the rootlets and seeds are from a propagated source and placed in a tilled ground they are considered woods grown or cultivated and not under ( cites ) therefore you could harvest
and stratify the seeds.
This is the way I interpret it.

rootman