TOPIC: container planting

Was just wondering if anyone out there has tried planting ginseng in containers . Maybe like a raised bed in there yard or even in the little seed starter trays with 100 something holes in them .If you did did you have any luck and if you did have luck how did you go about it , type of soil used etc. I plan on trying to plant some in the woods this year for the first time and also try some in containers to raise for seed producers and maybe some for transplant later on . Just curious if anyone has tried this before them selves .

Got plants growing in 3 gallon pots from some of the smaller roots I buy. Hoping to find time to place these roots in strategic places to get a new start on the ginseng population .

You use any special kind of mixture of soil or you just use plain potting soil . I tried this last year but only had three plants live out of about 300 planted seeds. Figured out what i did wrong though so going to try again in a few days.

Sorry but planting seed or growing roots in pots etc will prove to be a waste of your time in the long run as they will most likely die. Sow your seed or plant your roots in the ground in a shaded area so you can enjoy them.
Latt

Well i plan on sowing some in the woods this year for the first time if everything works out . But also wanted to try some in the yard so i could keep a eye on them one just to get to know the plant better and two for seeds.But the dirt in my yard would never grow ginseng so that is why I was going to try a raised bed with the wooden perimeter and the pots i was going to use really are not pots they are the seed starting trays . I was just going to try and start the seed in them then plant them after they grew a little but idk . Appreciate the advice Latt you are probably right .

Raised beds with soil added and under tree shade would work better than in the yard if the yard soil is questionable.

BCastle has posted some pics and info on this forum on how to do that. I would recommend no more than 4 to 6 seeds per square foot though. Anymore than that will likely be hit by disease.

Good luck.
Latt

Yes my yard is not capable of growing ginseng i have the shade a little to much in parts of it but the soil would not work stays to moist to often plus it is low lying.Any chance you could point me towards the thread with the info bcastle posted Latt , be much appreciated if so .

Jdman2840,
This is what BCastle had posted about raised beds as follows:

\"I normally use 2x8 x 16' for my beds, and make them 4 x 16 (64 sq ft). I end up putting something like 6 or 7 bales in each one and then sand and if it is available reasonably hardwood mulch.

Something I've done in new areas is to till up the ground under the bed really well and then lay the box down. Then, add the mixed peat and sand and till (mantis or similar tiller) and mix the peat mixture with the soil underneath as this will help fill up the bed at first.

My beds hold about 43 cubic feet of material. If you make yours the same size 4 x 16 it will hold 32 cf. _base_d on 6, 3 cf bales I'm using, you should be able to add about a 1/4 ton of sand (which isn't much btw) and a couple bags of hardwood mulch and get away with about 5 bales of peat.\"

Good luck,
Latt

Appreciate that I would have never found it haha . I have no idea what he is referring to with the peat bales I have never seen any around my area. Guess I will have to improvise . Seems to be the hardest part for me is what to put in as soil . The sand is something I could use but it wouldn't be that easy for me to get. Probably will end up going to the edge of the woods and getting a couple scoops of dirt to mix up with the compost i have been messing around with .

Jdman2840,
You have a woods? If so I would just plant it there and forget about the yard.

If you want to grow a few transplanted roots here is what I have done successfully.

On a small scale, if you do want to enjoy a few plants in your shaded plant bed around the house like I have done have a try at this. Go to the closest supplier of mulch, soil etc. Here is an easy mix to make in a Wheelbarrow.

One 2 cubic ft bag pine mulch finely chopped size, 1 bag coarse play sand, 1 bag potting soil. Get some dried maple leaves this fall and grind them up or better yet go to the woods and bag up some decomposed leaf litter and bring back to your Wheelbarrow.
This leaf litter is full of beneficial organisms that are good for ginseng. So the more the better.

Mix it all up and when you dig a hole in your poor quality soil add a half bucket of this stuff to mix with your soil in the hole.

So basically you are planting roots in ground containers that you made when you dig the oversized holes.

Lots of work but you will get some nice looking ginseng growing around your house in shaded planting beds.

Most likely the roots will not be of good quality when planting this method, but if you want to enjoy seeing ginseng around your house this works.

Good luck,
Latt

PS
If you are transplanting wild ginseng roots from the forest then cancel everything i said above and do this. Dig up as much soil in the area you dug the wild ginseng in. Bring that dirt home in a couple buckets and put it in the holes. Place your root so the growth bud is the same depth it was when you dug it.
Also make sure the wild root is laid out nicely and not cramped in the hole.
Then water it in after transplanting and cover it with leaf litter of mulch. Most likely you will have nice wild ginseng growing in your
mulch bed the following May.
You can take any seed they make and plant them back into the woods.

Good luck Latt