TOPIC: Fresh Roots

lenno

So you want to know about my failures in seng growing.

Well back 7 years ago I thought I could grow ginseng, especially since I have a Green Thumb growing plants and having a Veggie garden for years. It should be easy! I was going to get Rich. Right? Wrong!!!

I bought some seeds from Paul Hsu which came with a pamphlet on how to plant them(not very detailed). Well any way the first planting was terrible! So the next year I tried again. I thought I knew what I was doing. Oh how I wish I had Scott Persons book back then. I planted alot of seeds and alot came up, but it was below 50%. I'm a slow learner! The year after they came up I moved to Maine. Fortunately they are planted on a friends 300 acre farm and I'm able to visit each summer. I would say that after 5 years of them growing, I estimate there is about 15% left. A little over 4,000 plants.

Through trial and error I was determined to grow genseng successfully. Here in Maine Most of my plantings (1-4 yrs old)Have had atleast 85% germination rate. And I'm still buying my seeds from Hsu. I did have a damping off problem 4 years ago, but I think that problem is solved. Out of the beds that did'nt have the damping off problem, I have somewhere between 75 - 80% of 1-4 yr olds still growing well. The biggest problem I have now is the Slugs. They are everywhere in the spring.

If someone told me that it was going to take this long to learn how to grow Ginseng, I would of said \"NO WAY!\"

Even with all the disapointments, It has been the Most Enjoyable hobby I have ever had. I look forward to every spring so I can watch my seng grow! I'm Addicted.

classicfur

@ Classicfur,
we were in the woods on and off from the later part of Sept thru Nov ( 11-12 wks)
I am thinking maybe 250 man hrs. We used fallen branches to make perimiters for the plots, Raked leaves back and used a two wheel seed planter which cut furrows and dropped the seed, then gentle packing and covered back the leaves. Very much work !But I thought I needed to do what I could while I can still work!
I think 98% germinated,and came up this spring. They are a little close together, and expect to thin them as I have in my 2006 planting.

hillhopper,
here are some pics on the scale (six fresh roots)

jimseng

That many plants Must be a Great Sight to see!

Good Luck!

classicfur

Jimseng, good looking roots.

classicfur, Thanks for sharing that with me.I have been growing ginseng for 4 years now by planting stratified seed. I have had pretty good luck so far.I planted too close together that first year and I think I still have 80 percent or so still alive after 4 years. I spray fungicides on that planting often,hoping to prevent a major disease problem. If I can make it through 2 or 3 more years with no problems I will harvest them and consider myself lucky.I dont plant so close together now.

Lenno

Sorry to hear of your problems. I am praying not to loose as many, as you spoke of. I do expect not to have a perfect return, after hearing someone chime in on another post last year saying something about \"no horticulture geneius\" They spoke of ony 10 to 15 % survival was all I could expect (?) yet my 2006 planting has about 80% still coming up at yr # 4
Like you said it is a great hobbie and seeing the germination of around 120,000 seedlings this year, I am in awe of this planting.
I did not recognize the term damping off (?)if you can clarify ? Thanks, Jimseng

jimseng

In Wisconsin 5-6 years ago having less than 50% germinate due to the way I planted them. I don't see it as a problem anymore. Because in 2-3 yrs, What used to be a failure will turn into sweet success as I harvest 4-5 thousand very wild lookin roots. And will hopefully harvest roots each year after. Since I have been planting for seven years in a row now.

The Damping Off disease I talked about can affect all kinds of plants. Here is a site that breifly tells about it,

www.plantpath.wisc.edu/ginseng/Diseases/DampOff/DOText.htm

With the damping off disease I had three yrs ago, luckely only lost about 1/2 lb of seeds. You can read about it on my post.

www.wildgrown.com/index.php/Ginseng-Foru...ia-problem.html#6244

Good Luck

classicfur

lenno

80% after 4 years is great success. I believe there is more chance of disease in the first three years than there is after 3 years old. So hopefully your over the hump of getting disease with your first planting.

I know I get excited about the thought of harvesting in 2-3 years from now. Of course I will see what the price is at that time and decide weather to harvest or leave them in the ground a little longer.

Thanks for sharing,

classicfur

jimseng wrote:

@ Classicfur,
we were in the woods on and off from the later part of Sept thru Nov ( 11-12 wks)
I am thinking maybe 250 man hrs. We used fallen branches to make perimiters for the plots, Raked leaves back and used a two wheel seed planter which cut furrows and dropped the seed, then gentle packing and covered back the leaves. Very much work !But I thought I needed to do what I could while I can still work!
I think 98% germinated,and came up this spring. They are a little close together, and expect to thin them as I have in my 2006 planting.

Interesting... because that's what I'm going to try this fall, if we can ever get any rain - soil is too dry right now. I noticed that just pushing the seeds into hard ground didn't work, maybe 30% came up. The 200 seeds I potted, 100% came up. So I got one of the 2 wheel seeders from johnnyseeds, plan on tilling up a shaded patch, getting them started there, then transplanting to the hillsides. Going to try the same thing on some of the hillsides, as well. A lot of work, but if they don't germinate at all, they don't grow.

I got one of the seedsticks, too, but after the somewhat dismal record of doing that by hand, I don't think I'll rely on it heavily. Probably will try 1k seeds with that, in a variety of situations, to see if I can learn anything there.

This one year learning cycle is a bear, isn't it?

I have some pics of my Ginsens plots, in this earlier post, when they came up in May, some 2006 and some seedlings of 2009 planting. it was hard pushing the seeder through the rough soil but I got good results.
Moisture content is very important, the seed cannot dryout and they need to breath,having good air ciculation and drainage

www.wildgrown.com/index.php/Ginseng-Foru...n-my-lot/Page-2.html