TOPIC: 2010 beds

I planted these rows in 2010. Last year the deer ate most of them. They look good this year.

another

Not many red berries but there is a bunch of green ones. This is the first year I'll be able to harvest berries from them.

looking good! did you do anything different to keep the deer out this year or they just left them be this year on their own?

Nice

Thanks. I really didn't do anything different than last year. I had a resident doe with fawns last year. I think my son put her in the freezer. Ha. A lot of my other beds have been eaten though. I've tried everything but sleeping in them. Nothing seems to keep the deer away.

Many folks fret over deer browsing the tops off their ginseng plants. They view them as the enemy, but honestly I think that perhaps they are the best ally in regards to keeping your patches from being decimated by poachers.... I like to think this way anyhow...
I do know that once they become a little older it really doesn't hurt them at all to get browsed after the end of June... If they are browsed early in the year it may be different especially if it happens 2 or 3 consecutive years or more????

5prong wrote:

Many folks fret over deer browsing the tops off their ginseng plants. They view them as the enemy, but honestly I think that perhaps they are the best ally in regards to keeping your patches from being decimated by poachers.... I like to think this way anyhow...
I do know that once they become a little older it really doesn't hurt them at all to get browsed after the end of June... If they are browsed early in the year it may be different especially if it happens 2 or 3 consecutive years or more????

That is one good way of looking at it! This plant seems to have a lot of survival systems in place. Things that we look at as bad (as hunters) but is good for the plant's longevity. Reeder's plants are sitting out there necked as a jaybird! Might be best to snip them off once the berries ripen. I was thinking I may have too much other plantlife on my forest floor but, heck, it even fools me. Just the other day I found another wild patch having ten harvestable seng plants and more young-ens only 20 feet from my seed production bed. And, I thought I had an eye for it.

Jimsenger-- Ya they are pretty necked but they are close to my house and the coon hound. That might have something to do with why they didn't get eaten this year. I just started getting red berries yesterday. Once I get them all I'm going to snip the plants.

5prong--I often have wondered about the deer browsing them. I think it's good also. Especially after the growth bud is grown enough. I just love to watch them grow and when they disappear it's worse than a coon eating all my sweet corn. Anything to keep them out of a poachers gunny sack is all right by me.

Saw these ides for keeping Deer off Hostas. Maybe they would work for Ginseng too.

www.amityfarm.com/ohdeer.htm

Latt