TOPIC: My first big planting of seng - Hankins Method used

TNhunter

You mentioned the garden weasel with too short of a handle was causing a sore back.

For me I had my two oldest boys( 18 and 12 yrs old) do the physical work and I dropped the seeds. It did'nt hurt my back at all.

See earlier this year I had surgery to repair a rotator cuff that was completly torn out. They put 8 pins in to have someting to stitch it to. And it's still not 100% so they are going to operate again in Dec. So I thought I would'nt plant this year, so my boys said they would do it for me. So I supervised.

Any way my 12 yr old used the tiller to plant all 7500 seeds.

classicfur

Classicfur,

I am not real sure if that Fiscars cultivator (garden weasel type thing) I have has that angled head like yours does.

Mine is out in the woods now. I left my rakes, hoe, cultivator down there near where I am planting - since I will be going back soon to plant more.

I looked it up on the Lowes site - below is a link to it.

www.lowes.com/pd_286937-1078-98666935_0_...e%26Ntt%3Dcultivator

I picked it up when we went on a little vacation the week of Oct 4. Just happend to stop by Lowes in Dickson TN on the way home and noticed it and bought one.

Looks like that Fiscars tool does not get good reviews at all (can see those on the web site link above).

You may be right - could be a design difference in my tool and yours making the difference.

PS - On the degrees what I said 10-30 degree would relate to a protractor, or like if straight up would be 90 degrees, where 45 degrees would be half that (like 12/12 pitch on a roof).

TNhunter

TNhunter

I can understand why your not happy with the way that cultivator works. If you flipped it over and tried it that way you would find that it has more of a tearing action to the soil but with the 40\" handle you would have to keep the handle fairly low.

www.amazon.com/Fiskars-7991-Extended-Rea...ivator/dp/B001DZIN82

The way they show yours being used in the soil does hardly anything. Mine does the same thing if I use it like they show. But when I flip it over, it's a whole different story.

The one I have has an adjustable handle that extends to 55\". Then the curved hand peice detatches so you can flip the whole cultvator over and still have the handle curved down. It's designed to work both ways.

I dont understand why Fiskars desined it to be used only one way like they show on that link.

classicfur

Classicfur,

I was looking around for something like a heavy duty rake with sharpe edges - something like a rake made for cultivating, breaking up the soil and ran across this one.

It is called a heavy duty thatching rake.

The other day I was using just a regular old garden rake and it worked fairly well - as good or better than that fiscars weasel.
The tines on it have rather rounded points, not sharpe or cutting at all.

Now that thatching rake sure looks like a different critter.

I have never seen one of those up close, but wonder if something like that might work. It looks like should work better than your standard garden rake to me.

?

TNhunter


www.home-improvement-superstore.com/ames..._campaign=bluecherry

TNhunter

A thatching rake is designed to remove dead grass that has built up below the green grass in a lawn. I remember my dad doing this to his lawn in the fall or spring. It cuts, scratches and lifts the dead grass to the surface. And then you remove the Thatch(dead grass) by mowing over it with a grass catcher attached or by raking it up. It creates a healthier, pretty looking lawn.

You may find that works great for you. But the blades on it are like semi sharp knife blades. Perhaps if you just scratch the soil suface with it, that might work well. But if you sink the blades down into the soil, it would be like pulling 20 knife blades through the soil all at the same time.

It would be nice to be able to test things out before you buy.

classicfur

Classicfur,

Yep I found a youtube vid of a guy showing how to use that thatching rake - it does a good job of removing the dead grass - not sure how well it would hold up to raking rocky root filled soil though.

I did find a few other heavy duty rakes online - like the one below (called a asphalt rake).
Steel head - lots of teeth - looks tough enough.

I can't believe that price is right though - looks like a mistake to me.

www.amazon.com/Bully-92308-16-Inch-Aspha...288266187&sr=1-2

I am also still wondering how a power edger might work - you know just for making shallow furrows to drop seeds in.

I see that Sthil has one and it says the depth can be adjusted so you could just \"edge\" 1-2\" deep and chop your way to a nice furrow all the way down the bed and repeat to make another or as many furrows as you wanted.

Not sure - I have never used a edger so no experience there. It is a tool that is designed to cut thru dirt though - not sure how it would react if you hit a rock or root though.

I may have to stop by our local Sthil dealer and see if they will let me test drive one

Hey - I found a youtube vid of one in action and this guy is hitting concrete with it often and it does not seem to bother it too much. He just keeps rolling down the edge of the sidewalk.

I wonder if you set that thing up to go about 1-2\" deep and raked back the leaves if you could just roll right down the bed cutting a nice furrow. That would be nice and would sure take the worst of the work out of it.

PS - looks like new blades only cost like 4.00.



TNhunter

TNhunter,

I wanted to give you a quick update about Hardwood Ginseng. I bought some seeds from him for my last planting, and I was very impressed with his price, his delivery speed, and his packaging. I emailed him to see if he would sell me the exact amount of seed I needed for my size plot. He got back to me within a couple of hours with a price that was just a little bit below what his lots on Ebay were selling per seed. I jumped on that offer, and he even agreed to hold onto the seed until I was ready for it. If that seed comes up, and there are no disease problems, I would have no problem buying from him again.

I will say that this gentleman is also incredibly helpful. I told him about the dry conditions here, and he sent me a very helpful reply. He told me that he experienced a similar situtation last year. He pretty much used Scott's method, and he said he had excellent germination, even in dry conditions. He said if you're really curious about your seed, go dig one up and bite it in half. If it's still white on the inside he said you're golden.

This is a great forum. I just recently joined and it is great to see so many people on here with a passion for ginseng. I used to dig ginseng back 30 years ago. Since then I have dug it and transplanted it but have not sold any. I just can't dig wild sang anymore. This majestic plant is getting harder to find and I have become more of a ginseng conservationist. However I know many of you are still digging and selling and replanting the seeds as good stewards of the woods and that is OK in my book. Replanting the seeds and leaving the smaller plants will keep the ginseng growing for years to come. I know of many wild plants and I have left them there. I am happy to say no one has dug them yet and I keep planting the seeds in the same area as the mother plants.
On the other hand I am buying ginseng seed and planting it with the intent to harvest it in 10 years. I started planting it 3 years ago on a serious level. I have planted 10 pounds a year for the past 3 years. So I have planted about 210,000 seeds thus far. Last year my sang came up everywhere. It looked like a green blanket and I was amazed. I think it may be a bit to close together so I have spread it out a bit more this year. I recommend no more than 1 pound per 1600 square feet. My technique is simple. I rake a 10 foot wide strip by 160 feet long per pound. I hand rake the leaves back in neat rows. Then I scratch the surface with a garden rake. Broadcast the seed so there are about 4 seeds per square foot. Any closer than that will increase the chance of root rot and other problems. Once I plant the ginseng seed I scratch it back in with the garden rake making sure not to push the seed into a pile. Just enough to let the seed sink a little bit in the soil. Then I rake the leaves back over top the area and you can hardly tell I was in the woods. Here are a few pics of some of my rows. I think next year I will plant 1 pound in rows 10 foot wide by 200 feet long for a ratio of 1 pound of seed per 2,000 square feet just to make sure the plants have room to breath once they get older. I am going to attempt to attach some pics of the woods with the planting beds. With this technique I can plant 1 pound of seed in an average time of about an hour per pound and this includes from start to finish with the raking and planting etc. I too clear the sticks out and line my rows with them. I am 49 years old and in decent shape but it does kick me in the butt and wears this old man out. On the other hand I wish I could plant more and plant everyday. I am getting ready to plant a pound of Goldenseal seed this weekend in the same manner. It will take a lot of rows because a pound of Goldenseal seed contains over 80,000 little round black seeds about the size of a pin head. Here goes the attempt to post the pics and my next post will not be as long as this posting for sure. lol

Welcome aboard, Latt. It's always nice to have another ginseng enthusiast adding to the discussions on here. I for one am impressed with the absolute butt-load of seed you have been able to plant each year. At this point in my life, ten pounds of seeds is my goal for the next decade! Seeing what's required to plant that yellow root, I think I'll pass on that project. Is it ok to just look at pictures of your patch? lol

Jacquo,
I will send you some pics next spring for sure. Did you see my pic under growing ginseng on this forum. I was able to get the pic of the one site where I planted 3 pounds of seed in 3 and 1/2 rows last weekend with each row taking almost a pound of seed and the half row took 1/2 pound. My goal is to put in 10 pounds or more a year for the next 5 years. I am not getting any younger and in 10 years I will be darn near 60. So I am planting as much as possible. I have some nice pics of some 4 prongs that I have marked in some woods. I also found a nice 45 year old root that weighed 2 .5 ounces wet and I have pics of that. I will get my wife to help me post some of these in the next day or so. I also found a \"Man Root\". It is the first one I had found. My buddy and I replanted it after we took the pics so the arms and one of the two legs could grow a bit more. I need to get some pics of my ginseng beds that I have planted for sure this spring. I will take a bunch and post them.
Thanks,
Latt