TOPIC: Seed Bed & Wild Simulated & Garden stuff

Here is a little patch of wild stuff, that I have been watching for about 5 years now...

They are in deep shade on a north facing hillside and 5 years later they have slowly increased in size some, but still quite small.

One on the lower side is now a 3 prong and might be large enough to harvest in a couple more years. I bet it will be 15 year old or more and still a smallish 3 pronger. I find them all of the time on this hillside that are 20-30 years old and still 8\" tall 3 prongs.



At the end of the youtub vid below I show this same little patch. Back in 2010 that one that is a 3 prong now, was a 2 prong. Most of the others were small 2 prongs then and are still 2 prongs today. Slow going on that hillside for sure. I expect they mostly need more light to get larger faster.



TNhunter

TN,
Thanks for getting out and taking some good photographs of all stages of your young plants. All of those look very similar to my beds and I think that the seed that I planted from Wild Grown is on just about the same time tract as yours. I don't think there will be any problem with that strain ripening too early..
My oldest planted seeds are about 8 years old now and it seems to me that after about the 5th year they really start to break loose and put on some size. Eight year old plants look as mature as about any that I dug in the mountains last year, according to the stem size and plant tops. It will be interesting to see if your planted seeds will make large bulby roots and the same for mine as well. Good luck to you as they mature.

Hugh

Awesome pictures, thanks for showing.

Looks good TN. I'm new to planting simulated and my ground is similar to yours with small 3 and 4 prongs. Billy Taylor has been helping me with useful advice. What results have you gotten out of a 7 year old bed. I'm hoping I can average 1/4 ounce roots out of 4 x 30 bed. Hopefully 1 pound of dried root a bed is what I'm shooting for. Is this a reasonable figures. Thanks

Loggy...

I have only been growing for 4 years now. 4 year olds are the oldest plants I have (started from stratified seed).

In Scotts book, he suggest planting 4-5 seeds per sq ft, and that you should have 1-2 mature plants per sq ft at harvest time. I would think that would be about the best results you could get and I don't think that is going to be possible on my place... but in an ideal location it might be.

I think Hillhopper has about as ideal growing location as any I have seen and he might get results like that.

I think to grow them that dense you are very likely to have disease issues, unless you spray fungicides on a regular basis.

In a 4 x 30 bed... If you had 1 mature root per sq ft... that would be 120 roots.

120 mature roots that averaged...

1/4 oz = 30 oz
1/2 oz = 60 oz
3/4 oz = 90 oz
1 oz = 120 oz

I would say that 1 pound of dry roots from a 4 x 30 bed may be possible but only if you have a very good location and can keep diseases (fungal issues) at bay.

I don't think I will get results like that.

Good Luck to You !

Do any of you guys know what a simulated ginseng root brings money wise. I'm not using any fertilizer just planting as it is in the wild. Had a couple buyers say it won't pass as wild and only bring about $15 a pound. And have heard it will pass as wild from others if planted correctly. Don't want to invest a lot of time and money for $15 a pound. Thanks for your help.

Those are some amazing pictures!

Loggy...

If you are not cultivating the soil and it is growing in wild conditions (just like wild does).. then I don't think anyone could tell the difference in a wild sim root vs true wild root.

I looked at some of my 2 year old roots and I have been looking at wild roots since 1976... and I could not tell any difference in my wild sim and true wild. I am going to check some of my 4 year olds this year later this fall and see how they are looking.

Now if you had several pounds of ginseng for sale and they were all 7 or 8 year olds, then a buyer might suspect something (if they were all very similar size).

Guy - who grows up in Canada posted some pics of 4 or 5 year old wild sim roots a couple years ago and man they looked great to me. Just like true wild.

Hillhopper posted some pics of 4 or 5 year olds recently and they looked great too. I sure could not tell them from true wild roots.

TNhunter

Loggy77 wrote:

Do any of you guys know what a simulated ginseng root brings money wise. I'm not using any fertilizer just planting as it is in the wild. Had a couple buyers say it won't pass as wild and only bring about $15 a pound. And have heard it will pass as wild from others if planted correctly. Don't want to invest a lot of time and money for $15 a pound. Thanks for your help.

I'm no expert but here's the thing. You don't want to grow to fast and it lose the wild look. A lot of buyers are looking for age more than size. If it takes 10 years and 300 roots for a dried pound that's still good sized roots and will bring a good price.

Here's another thing. Wild simulated has gotten the stigma of being cultivated and buyers will shy away from it. Truly wild simulated is no more than raking the leaves and throwing down a few seeds and is no different than wild.