TOPIC: Soil PH

I would like to try my hand at growing Ginseng. I live in a area that Ginseng grows wild. I would like to know the correct soil PH to start my seeds.
Can some one knowledgeable please tell me?

Royal Meadows,
Welcome to this forum!
There are more knowledgeable ginseng hunters and ginseng growers on here than anywhere I have ever found. I just joined this forum recently too. A PH of 5.5 is perfect and you need the calcium to be over 3,000 lbs per acre and the more the merrier. You can find out everything you need to know by looking at the topics and the post from the members as well as the Main menu topics to the left and the info is all listed there too.
Thanks,
Latt

Royal Meadows,

Agree with what Latt said.

I had a soil test done on two hillsides I wanted to plant this fall/winter and the ph came back as 5.4 in one, and 5.7 in the other.

I was low on calcium though.

To add calcium without changing the soil ph you can add gypsum.

If your ph was extremely low, like in the 4.0 range you could probably add some lime to add calcium and rais the ph up in the 5.0-5.5 range.

But if your PH is already around 5.5 or higher do not add lime.

Per Scotts book ginseng seems to grow best where the calcium levels are high 3000 or higher, and ph is quite low around 5.5 for example.

calcium levels in the 2000 range would grow ginseng but higher levels should produce better results.

Good Luck

TNhunter

This is a good article found at:

pubs.ext.vt.edu/354/354-312/354-312.html

Check out the part half way down talking about soil. It talks of a study done where ginseng hunters brought back 70 soil samples from areas where wild ginseng was growing very well. It talks about low PH levels typically having low Calcium Levels. However they speak of an exception and it appears the ginseng is doing well in the areas obviously where PH levels are in the acidic range that surprisingly have high calcium levels.

I know the soil sample I got from my one planting site had 6,910 lbs of calcium per acre but the soil PH was 6.8 which is common with high calcium level soil.
So anyone out there with forest soil that has a PH level of 5 to 5.5 and has a high level of calcium is very very fortunate.
Latt

Yep
Here is that same article I posted above about Calcium.
TN posted it to. It's a good article.
Calcium is King when it comes to Ginseng.
Latt

If you are really concerned about soil tests [like i am] you can really learn about soil chemistry, as applied to the growing of you crops. In that respect, proper 'sang chemistry is very very different from your backyard garden where you grow veggies.

I monitor soil tests at beginning/after application of lime & additives/ and much later. I don't think everyone does this, and am not saying that this is the best thing... it's just that I am \"anal\" about that chemistry thing... and I have axcess to free soil testing here in NC.