TOPIC: Buyers why this sudden interest more in green root than dry?

I could understand if it were being shipped green but all the buyers around here are busily drying the green root they get so its not going to be green when it leaves the buyers locally. I'm guessing the sudden influx of new diggers has you all worried about there drying practices???? If that's the case what's wrong with all your long term old school diggers dried roots that are properly handled and dried suddenly????I need enlightened.

GMCPaul,

The diggers selling green are wanting their money quickly. Some are making up to $200 a day without the hassle of drying and the worry.
The dealer can wash and dry the roots the same and actually have a better looking batch.
Of course the dealer still wants the experienced diggers dry roots.

Thanks for replying!! I see your perspective very well.
That leads to further questions based on your answers.
But you've got dealers this year paying a premium for green over dry based on the drying ratio and then others saying the dry markets dried up its sell now while you can the demands for green. Plus from what I've seen from many of the new 1st year diggers hauls when I've stopped by local dealers is its poorly handled and barely legal root in a lot of instances. This smaller root is contributing a lot towards increased weight of harvest this year but my god the root counts going to suffer per lbs.

GMCPaul,

Actually, The market for green was good at the start. Koreans wanted the best dug and undamaged roots at premium prices and the rest of the green the dealers had to keep and dry. Now the green market has slowed down and ratio- green to dry- price wise pretty much equals out. In KY that is the case.
I try to educate my diggers not to dig the small roots and they are doing a pretty good job.
We have mostly the short bulby roots and long life stems which seems to be favored now over the larger less wrinkled roots.

Actually, the \"fresh\" market is mostly for the Koreans. They want fresh root. The problem is that keeping it fresh is very risky. I thought about trying it but chickened out. If you can move fresh root at anywhere close to 1/3 dry price, I think you should. My experience tells me that fresh roots dry down closer to 4 to 1. Even so, I like to clean and dry ginseng myself. Terry

Here's another possibility, but im sure it will not sit well with some folks on the forum, But in the land of the blind the one eyed man is king\"

How to Use the Wet to Dry Conversion Chart
Why a Conversion Chart?
While it is understood ginseng weight from green to dry varies depending on seasonal weather and harvest time. In a dry year, ginseng may have less moisture and dry down less. In a wet year, it may dry down more as it has more moisture in the root. The ginseng industry rule-of-thumb standard for weight shrinkage due to drying ginseng roots is one third (1/3).Meaning, for every pound of wet ginseng that you properly dry, the dry weight will be one third (1/3) of a pound or 5.25 ounces or 0.33 pounds. This chart simply divides all wet weights to reach 3 pounds (1 pound dry), in increments in the thousandths of a pound. Due to rounding, you will find groups of three on the dry side, noted with shading.
Instructions:
To use the chart, find the weight of the fresh root in the \"Wet\" column, and you will find the dry weight. For wet weights over three pounds, see examples.
Remember, on your purchase forms you should record how the ginseng is at the time of purchase from the buyer, not on how you plan to sell the root.
How to fill out on Purchase Forms
Please, for timely processing, record like transactions on the same form. In other words, use a separate form for green ginseng and dry ginseng.
If a harvester sells you green ginseng, you must record the transaction as a green transaction. If you plan to certify the ginseng as dry, divide each transaction line by three, and then add up a new total. You can divide the transaction box in half and note the green weight with a “g” and the dry weight with a “d”.
If you find that you are “losing” ginseng due to this conversion, you can always bring the entire lot after dried and get a full accurate count at our office at the time of certification.[/b] While we understand a standard conversion is imperfect, it is your responsibility as a dealer to properly and honestly report such weight discrepancies in your paperwork

This years a good example, what we brought in early in the season was coming off the drying screens at 3.3-3.35 wet making 1 lbs dry, whats coming off the screens now from the end of our digging is drying out to the 3-1 ratio maybe just a hair better as the beginning of season here was wet, by end of our digging it was dry and roots had gone dormant being all yellow & golden bronze with some just stems digging and those roots are coming off the screens now at about 3 to 1 maybe just a hair better at 2.9 to 1
Those #'s are based upon my area if others seasonal rain was different they should have slightly different #'s but leading up to our digging season we had a good wet summer here. Which caused a slightly higher drying ratio at the beginning of Sept. as I'm used to the beginning of Sept. wet to dry ratio being 3.25-3.2 making 1 lbs dried.

Those early Korean buyers must have suffered then at ratios of 3.4-3.35 to 1 with them paying premiums on wet on top of the lower yield from the wet root once its dried.

gmcpaul,
I think the digger is the only one suffering with these prices.
My post got deleted so i will post again.
Years ago it was discovered that ginseng dug earilier in the year would dry lighter, when is say earilier in the year im talking about springtime and early summer as opposed to opening of ginseng season,
Now the ginseng opening day a few years ago was Aug 1,
Today ginseng season starts September 1 in most areas, so it would stand to reason that ginseng dug under the new regulations would hold its weight much better than even a few years ago.
If you are selling your ginseng green, use this formula to determine if you are getting screwed or not
fresh ginseng price X 3 = dry price
125x3=375dry
dont let anyone blow smoke up your rear!
If you are looking for 800 dry you need to be in the 240-260 fresh range.

Myself I've never sold wet. Then in my Considerable drying experience I've found that the ratio wet to dry fluctuates as I previously stated. Beginning at the start of Sept. I was seeing the root come off our drying screens at 3.35-3.3 wet making 1 lbs dried, towards the end of this years drying season I'm seeing the last of the root come off the screens 3 wet making 1lbs dried to around 2.9 wet to 1 lbs dried.
Now during the recent drought years it was basically 3 to 1 from beginning of Sept till we quit digging. This season was a very wet year for us until mid-late August so I attribute the extra %lbs needed to make 1 lbs dried to the roots having had excellent moisture retention do to regular rainfall that quit just as Sept. was coming in.
In average rain years my records show we normally start with a wet to dry ratio of 3.25 to 3.2 to 1 lbs at the beginning of Sept. but by late Sept. its down to 3 to 1 or 2.9 to 1 or so.
The roots at end of digging season always dry out loosing less weight I feel because the roots gone dormant and has begun to loose the excess water that the root was holding to make seed and survive. So from what I've found there's no exact wet to dry ratio only a basic guideline we can go by.