TOPIC: Goin' to the mountains this weekend!

I'm stoked! Leaving early from work tomorrow, going camping the NC's Linville Gorge fri night with some buddies, then out on Sat, then to the area that I'm growing to check everything there.

I plan on photographing all the crop that's up. Will post some photos when I get back --on this tread. I am certain that what is up is likely to be what is going to come up. Last time I went 3 weeks ago, there were about 400 new plants up. I was a bit dissapointed with that emergance... we planted 4 lb.s of seed there. I don't even want to do the math on that!

I'm thinking that there will also be a good assessment of deer encroachment by then as well. The rootlet beds were all up, and we'll see what is \"topped\" if any.

I'll be off the grid until at least Sunday. Think good thoughts for me guys!

Whitjr,
Going to the mountains sounds great. I wish I had land in the NC Mountains. I know NC mountain sang is some of the best sang around. I know there are a lot of so called \"Wild Crafters\" that think the mountains are theirs to do with what they may. I am not giving them a bad wrap but they do tend to cross property lines. Do you ever think they will stumble onto your patch. Sorry to bring it up as if there's not enough to worry about.
Latt

Whitjr

Hope you have a great trip.

One thing I have notice with seedlings, is once they start emerging, they will continue to emerge for three to six weeks or more. Then I usually get a small amount that emerge the following spring. So don't count them out yet!

Good luck!

Security is a big concern. However the patch is a new beginning, and well-consealed. The neighbors [some acres away] are good people.

We are tight-lipped as well. No spread about our intention [well, except here, hmmmm.....][laughing] and I don't even buy the needed supplies for the endeavor in the nearest town some miles away. I chose to do this as I guess I'm a little paranoid.

Well, is it paranoid to think that someone might be trying to steal your crop when someone might try to steal your crop? What a conumdrum! [laughing again]

At least I don't lay awake worrying about it....

Whitjr
Yea, it's something we all have to contend with I guess. I'm like you, I do not lay awake at night worrying about it either. I try to spread my planting areas around. I am sure one of my patches will get hit someday but they won't get it all. I will be surprised if at least one of them does not get dug.

Classicfur,
I am glad to read your post about the ginseng babies coming up over a three to six week period. I have one location that we really spent a great deal of time on. I mean the seeds were planted 1/4 inch deep in soil that was worked 1/2 inch to 1 inch deep. Then I put the sugar maple leaves back on the beds just like they were before I raked them off. I planted 1 pound of seed per 1600 sq foot site in 5 different 1600 sq foot planting beds. So far the germination has been the worst ever.
So far my buddy says that only 500 have sprouted out of 35,000 seeds.

Wow is this a huge shock and I have never experienced anything like this before. Even if the soil was not good the seeds would come up and a potential soil problem would show up later in the plants. I have discussed this with a few on this forum. It could be snails and slugs, damping off disease, mice or matted leaves, green seeds or who knows what the heck else. Regardless it is drive me crazy and I am laying awake at night on this one.
I hope this does not happen to anyone else. Hopefully they will come up still but I have low expectations at this point.
Any thoughts anyone?
Latt

Latt

If I had a feeling about seedlings not coming up, I would do something so as to figure it out.

In the past I have had small areas in beds that did'nt come up from slug damage. I have also had damping off in two beds.

I would not be able to sleep until I found out the problem.

I would start out with a section of bed, maybe 2'x2' or 3'x3' and start peeling the leaves off very carefully by hand.

If you notice alot of seedlings that are starting to emerge, then cover them back up and wait.

Slug damage: the seeds will be cracked open but will have nothing sprouting out. The slug will suck as much of the pulp out as it can. the pulp will not be out to the edge of the crack, but the pulp will have a concaved shape between the husk crack. Note: slugs will only eat what is above soil level, not what under the soil.

Damping off: Can have alot of different signs. The rootlet can turn brown to black. Or the seed itself will be rotten. cut open to check interior. Usually the seedling starts to sprout and then is atacked by one of several diseases.

Mice problems: are usually easy to identify. If you find empty cracked open seed shells under the mulch, its mice.

Not fully stratified: See post by Guy. He has pics that show the embryo and what they should look like in the spring.

www.wildgrown.com/index.php/Ginseng-Foru...d-on-emryo-size.html

Hopefully with some inspection under the mulch, you can come up with an answer of why they have not come up.

If it was me I would want to know. I have learned some things by doing inspections. I can't stand not knowing.

Good Luck.

I am with ya on this Classicfur. I have already asked my buddy to carefully peel back some leaves and get me some pics of the seeds. I have also asked him to crack open some seeds and take some close ups for me to look at.

I am almost certain it is \"Damping Off\" or \"Tip Over\" as Larry Harding refers to it. With all this record rain my fear is it is attributed to disease. Larry told me a couple of years ago that in an extremely wet springs this can happen.

I guess I have been lucky up until now. I hope to see this planting site soon to get a look at it myself. I have talked with another grower on this forum and he said he had an associate that decided to go big one year and it was a an extremely wet spring. Well this fella lost it all to \"Damping Off\" and got so upset about it he switched to raising Goldenseal.

If this year is a washout on the seeds I planted last Fall and winter, I will not give up. I will chalk it up to experience and plant again next spring. My 2,3 and 4 year old's are doing fine thou. The first years seedlings are the most at risk of \"Damping Off\".

Maybe I should have sprayed this year for \"Damping Off\" to prevent it from happening due to all this record rain. Oh well live and learn I guess.

I saw this interesting site for organic sprays. I wonder if they work on ginseng?

www.ghorganics.com/page15.html#Seedlings...ping%20off%20disease

Latt

Latt

I hope you can figure out what the problem is. Just so \"You don't Loose Your Mind!!!\".

There is actually two forms of Damping Off. Pre-emergent and Post Emergent also known as Tip Over.

Pre-emergent, the seed germinates but is killed before it can send the stalk up through the mulch. This is the kind that I had a couple of seasons ago.

Tip over or post emergent is when the seedling is attacked after it emerges through the mulch and tips over.

And yes, wet weather will increase the chances of damping off.

I'm proud of you, to say \"I will not give up\"!

My first two years were terrible! But I was determined to learn through trial and error, how to be successful at growing ginseng. I have learned alot, but not enough. And I did not give up!

The people that succeed with ginseng are the ones that don't give up!!! Thats you and me.

P.S. I replanted the beds that had damping off and sprayed them with Plant Helper this spring and they seem to be emerging well so far.

Good Luck!

classicfur

Thanks for the kind comments,
I did go to the spot that I planted at a fellas property tonight. This is the first time I have seen this spot since we planted. A few spots where I planted 4 lbs of seed that I bought late in the year and planted in Feb did terrible. So this is seed that I fear was green seed. And I do not like planting that late either

The other 6 lbs I planted there last November has done pretty good. This is the woods with over 6,000 PPA on calcium but the PH level is a bit high at 6.7 but acceptable on the high end. The rain was coming down again. I found one plant that had Post emergent problems or possibly \"Tip Over\". It was the first 3 leafer I checked out. It was a healthy looking green 3 leafer but when I examined it is was rotten at ground level do to all of the moisture or possibly disease. Being the first plant I inspected it scared the heck out of me.

On a good note this was the only one I had found like this.

On another good note there were thousands upon thousands of healthy 3 leafers on the other sites I planted. There is a lot of mayapple and blood root in this rich loamy organic black sandy soil. There is a lot of that lacy (not viney though) woodland ground cover and I do not know the name of it but I am sure you have all seen it. It is kind of thick and stringy like cotton candy. The ginseng appeared to have no problem getting through it.

So this 6 lbs of seed looks very good at this point and the other 4 lbs is less than marginal at best.

I am used to 80 to 90 % germination over the last 3 to 4 years. This year is a bit different thou with all the rain and potential seed quality issues on some of the seed.

Snail and slug damage was at a minimum and slightly noticeable on a hand full of plants. They are going to get hit with some deadline as soon as it comes in. We ordered 50 lbs of it.
Latt

This woods I mentioned in the above post is not the same woods that I posted about earlier today where I only have about 500 plants growing out of 5 lbs planted according to my other buddy.
Latt