TOPIC: seed bed dirt

Hi I am new to growing ginseng. I am wanting to make a seed bed. I was wondering if the composted bark and sawdust from sawmill would make good dirt for the bed?

Melton...

I was looking thru some of my 2014 ginseng pictures last evening and ran across this one of me seed bed. This was first week in August.



I established my see bed on a north east facing hillside. I broke up a 14' x 8' spot 4-5\" deep with a grub hoe. Then I raked the 8' wide part towards the center to end up with a hilled up (raised) bed that was 14' x 5' or so.

That left some good drainage ditches on each side of the bed... with the bed itself being raised up 4-5\" above the rest of the ground in that area.

My dirt in that area was nothing special... just your average woods soil.

I added to it, composted peat moss (garden magic brand).. and I also went to a hollow that grows very good ginseng - that has rock chip filled soil that the seng just loves... and I brought home 6 (5 gal buckets) of that seng loving rock chip filled soil... and added that to my seed bed.

I added some Bone Meal, Epson Salt and Gypsum and a little blood meal (not too much this is high in N)... and later on added some green sand (lots of good trace minerals).

Before I planted the roots in there that I had collected, I cut some gypsum board in narrow strips and laid them across the bed too. So each row of roots planted, had a strip of gypsum board above and below it. Over time the gypsum board will break down releasing gypsum into the soil (calcium).

The roots I planted were all wild roots, with age, and good size and they have done well, growing in size a LOT over the past 3-4 years.

I have some pictures of when I created the bed and I will try and find some of those and post them next.

TNhunter

Here is a pic that shows the shape of the bed after I had broke up the ground and then hilled it up.

It was bad dry that fall as you can see from how dry the dirt looks. I had to water that bed really good before planting my roots in there. But this was just with the dirt that was on site and you can see the shape of it.

Notice I have the bed laid out so that it runs up and down the hill, so in heavy rains or extended wet weather, the extra moisture can easily drain off the bed into the ditches and then go on down the hill.

This next picture shows the bed after I had added some composted peat, and other organic fertilizers mentioned earlier and 30 gallons of that rock chip filled soil. I worked all of that into the top 4-5 inches and then raked the bed smooth again and shaped it up like I wanted it.

I still had not watered it at this point so it was still very dry.

I took this next pic after putting down the gypsum boards and some more composted peat moss.

I had given it a good long soaking the day before, so it is not so dry now. Looking better.

This last pic was after I had planted my roots in there... and I added more composted peat moss to cover the roots to a good depth.



After that I collected a bunch of sugar maple leaves from trees in my front yard and covered the entire bed in a good layer of maple leaves.

I did this in the fall of 2010 and that picture at the start of this thread was taken early August 2014.

They have done well in this bed and I have had many years of enjoyment just watching them come up every year, watching them grow, collecting berries and planting them here on my place.

In the last two pictures (including this one taken in winter after a snow)... you can see that I put a fence around the bed.

Not long after I had made the bed, before even planting roots in it, there were deer and turkey tracks in the bed.
I guess they were just curious and had to get over there and walk around on it and check it out.

well... that made up my mind real quick that I was going to put a fence around it. It is nothing major, just a 4' tall chicken wire fence. But I have not had one single top browsed, and no turkey scratching in my seed bed and both of those critters are all around my place here. so that small fence has done a good job of protecting them.

TNhunter




PS... the PH in my seed bed was good... in the 5.8 range, but my calcium was lower than ideal.

That is why I was adding gypsum, and gypsum board and bone meal to my bed.... and all of that rock chip filled soil.. Did all of that to help boost my calcium levels. I would say it has worked, because they have grown well.

Thanks Tnhunter

TNhunter,

If my memory serves me right didn't you have somewhere around 44 plants in that bed?
A person could probably get upwards of a thousand seed off that bed, couldn't he?

I always have trouble with birds, mice, squirrel and other seed loving critters eating the seed! Seems like a never ending battle.

I have been reading for the last couple months and this site is awesome. TN that bed looks encouraging. My question (first of many I'm sure)...what is rock chip dirt? Thanks