TOPIC: Growing ginseng west of the Tennessee

There has been ginseng growing wild on my place just west of the Tennessee in southwest Tn, since my family bought it nearly eighty years ago. My grandfather and I dug it and planted the seeds for many years. When I returned from the army in the late eighties he had passed and noone else seemed interested.
Since then I have tended what was left but the heat and drought and over abundance of deer have taken its toll. Now that my son has taken an interest and I'm no longer traveling for work, We have decided to re establish it for fun and profit.

Since TnHunter is having some success on his side of the river (the wrong side:laugh: ), surely it will grow even better on the good side.
I will post the steps taken and pics as I go, any suggestions or comments would be greatly appreciated.

TnTrader

First part of the first patch. This is before I raked back the leaves and cut out a few saplings.

What the soil looks like. Loamy, moist with a layer of rotted leaves.

TnTrader,
Thanks for sharing your history on family and the land. I wish you the best in your planting. Not sure that soil looks loamy. It looks like is is clay based. Anyway, I am not there to see it and I am just looking at the soil in the pic. Loamy to me means dark soil with a lot of organic matter in it and sometimes some sandy limestone deposits mixed in.

Anyway, I had a well know ginseng buyer in Ohio tell me 35 years ago some of the best ginseng he ever saw came from brown clay based soil verses rich dark loamy soil. So who really knows anyway.

I know clay will hold in moisture longer and in the South perhaps that would be an advantage under drought and heat conditions.
Good luck,
Latt

Im with Latt, Im sure it will grow but im not sure it will thrive without a little help.It may be different in your area but here, that type soil is found in flat woodland bottoms that at times are too wet for ginseng and the forest is usually full of Red Oaks... Im guessing your soil is very acidic. If it was me, that spot looks manageable with a tractor so I would probably work the soil up about 8or10 inches after adding the necessary lime or gypsum required (per soil test), that will help keep the soil loose once worked in. If that spot isn't drained well and gets swampy in winter and spring, I would for sure mound my beds. Then give it a go.

Hillhopper