TOPIC: Seed From Different Sources Results, Good and Not Good

Daggone folks, I sure hate to see all this fire. I just wanted to show this year's results. I'm betting I do try small amounts again from the same people to see how it goes next year, and I will post that too. If you're a dealer, well deal with having it put out there until my account on here gets deleted. I love a free open and exposed market. I realize it is in God's hands and no man's. Sometimes we are blessed with a great lot and at other times not. So be it! Not like I lost or could lose much. Heck, I waste more money on coffee at McD's than them seed cost and sure don't want to see any anger or bitterness.

EVERYONE on this site has been so helpful and that is all that I am focusing on. What would I do with 100% germination anyway. Just make me more work thinning and transplanting them. Yeah, I wan't to clear a few g-doggs per year come retirement time but I want to have my learning and fun and failures (which is learning, which is fun). If I knew I was going into my woods to see everything make it and be big six prongers, where would the excitement be? It's like going to check one's traps. It's not catching the beaver or rats it's the thrill of the chase. Just like with girls. Once your married the fun's over. It's getting there that is the fun! (At least if seng gets boring it'll give you money and not drain it from you!)

5prong wrote:

And for the record, my wild sim plantings are textbook... No soil amendments, no fungicides, no tilled soil, and although I dont have any plants past 6 years old from cultivated seed sources I do have quite a few younger than that, that so fare appear very healthy. Perhaps a massive die out is just around the corner??? IDK for sure.
I don't have any allusions of getting rich from my plantings either, but am hoping to supplement my income a little one of these days

5prong, there are only a few of us on here that grow in the wild simulated method, despite what others may say adding anything to the soil disturbing the soil, ect. ect. Is by the very definition cultivated/woodsgrown.. There is nothing that anyone can say to change that fact. You can't tweak the method to suit your desires.
Bard,
I did not even mention your name ....but....
If you would like to stay on this board I would suggest that try to be a little more civil in your comments, if you want to flame me just crawl over to your own board and flame away sir.
Have a good day.

I'll have to agree with K-duce on farm seeds. They are just not hardy as the truly wild seng period. This is experience over a 20 year trial and error effort with the purchased seeds.
Oh, I've made a little money off my seng over the years but I've sure learned that you never know what it's going to do from one year to the next.
TNhunter even quit planting large beds and started putting out small scratched out areas here and there, where ever it might grow. In my opinion this is probably the only way to successfully grow truly wild simulated seng.
If your going to grow in large beds then you better get out your sprays because if you don't it will surely die somewhere down the years.

rootman

I agree with rootman. Though it doesn't matter if the seed are wild or cultivated. When you have a thick monoculture something is bound to happen. Heck, put all of us shoulder to shoulder for 10 years and see if an epidemic doesn't break out. You could give me a strong wild strain and after a few generations of caring for them I will make them weaker by not letting natural selection take place. It isn't natural for them to grow that dense but natural isn't gonna get you much more than a hobby either.

I have been thinking that if a supply of seed from wild plants grown for the purpose of seed without the assistance from man might give one a leg up. I relocate roots for that eventual purpose every year.This season I should finally get a couple thousand seed from those plants,so we'll see.. I hope one day to phase in my native seed to the point that its all I'm growing

I personally, am not too concerned what the methods are called. Someone writing an article somewhere or someone needing a legal classification can define it however they deem necessary.I plan to let the buyer call it what he wants.I would love to walk around in late summer poking berries in the ground from my plants and just let it ride for 10 years but i just don't believe much money can be made that way. After established,they will go a long way on their own if you don't juice them with fertilizer but eventually something will try to creep in. Actually, reducing competition from weeds alone allows them plenty of nutrients to grow strong.

Hillhopper

Well put Hill,

I think all newbies should realize if they are going to plant seed, then don't expect to harvest pounds of roots off of 1 lb. of seed.
If they are doing it as a hobby just start small and if you have the land plant in multiple spots.
You will enjoy watching it grow plus make a few dollars in about 10 years.
If your idea is to do it as a business then like Hillhopper says,be prepared to tend it like a crop and spend some time and money on your investment!

At my place I have wild ginseng growing in quite a few areas. Last year my son and I decided to try planting seed in an area on the far side that looks good but had no wild plants. We used 1lb from wildgrown, and 1lb from the castle. I have seen more sprouting from the wildgrown seed than the other, however, at this early a stage that doesn't mean anything. With both we raked the leaves, raked the topsoil, spaced the seed roughly 6 inches apart in patched 10' × 4'. The patches are scattered across an area of about ten acres. Since the wildgrown seed arrived first it got planted in september higher on the hillside. The castle seed got planted late october in areas of less slope but more canopy.

I don't really expect either one to survive a normal summer here. I wanted to know if the soil would support ginseng before I started using seed from my native plants in an area where none grew.

The difference in germination could be as simple as the amount of leaf cover or soil compsition. More of each is up every time I look, so the late spring is also having an impact.

Good Luck

I may try something I have thought about doing for a few years this fall. Clear an area of vegetation this summer and plant maybe 3000 seed on 18\" centers(hand poked,no rakes). Care for it the first year or two and keep weeds out and then let it go. See what happens in 7 years. It would give something to compare to and see what the input/outcome might be

Hillhopper

Hill,

I plant a lot of seed like that, not to that degree but I do stick several seed in the ground every year.
Maybe plant a couple of seed in each hole just in case one didn't make it.
Do you have your own seeds?
On 18\" centers my calculations that would be 2.25 square feet times 3000 seed would equal 6,750 square feet. Be a nice experiment. and very doable.

I should have that many wild seed this year from my transplants. Of course it would be 2017 before they come up. I figure that spacing gives them a little room but close enough to allow the weak to be culled. I was going to plant them in loose soil and push them to grow so they would in turn be producing seed quickly. I probably won't now that I think about it.

Hillhopper

You'll have a great way to compare them, given the rest of your plantings! i think it would be really useful...