TOPIC: Tennessee Ginseng Dealers list

This is the latest list of TN Ginseng dealers I could find online today (it is for 2019 year)... last year.

www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/environment/na...A-Ginseng_Dealer.pdf

I know for sure that two dealers on that list are not buying this year... Joe Churchwell, and Jack Davidson.

I did just talk to the Dealer in Dickson TN... and he said this...

The market is going to be somewhat iffy this year... some Chinese are telling him they are not buying, but some are saying they are.

He said he planned to open this year paying 100.00 per pound for Green.
He is not sure where it will go from there, will have to play it as it goes.

He said his best estimate of what we might see for Dry this year is around 500.00 lb.
That is what he is hearing here lately...

Good Luck to All !

TNHunter

thanks for the imfo TN..theres not half the buyers around here as there was 5 years ago....

Chief... like Fur... there will be more buyers... when the price goes high again, and there is more profit in it for those that buy and sell.

I have such fond memories of the late 80's when Fur was sky high... bringing home 30-40 coons on a weekend. rats, beaver, mink, possum, red and grey fox... back in those days, if someone ran over a coon, someone stopped and picked it up for the fur price (20.00 or more laying there)... now days.. no such happening.

The Fur prices tanked here in 1987... and really never have come back for us southern trappers.

I sure hope Seng recovers much quicker... and I bet it will.

TNHunter

yep those were the good old days,i kept four or five coonhounds on hand, 600 or 700 traps,,the hounds are long gone ,got around two hundred traps left,still get a couple calls every year for animal damage control,thats about it anymore..

The bit of seng that I dug this year is good and dry now... I took it off the window screens the other day and put it in my sell box...

I have it ready to take to a buyer... but have not checked on prices again yet. They usually get about as good as they are going to get around Thanksgiving...

Pic below of how I Box mine up for selling. I am sure that a lot of folks just bring it to the buyer in a wal mart bag...

I like to show mine off a little better and make sure any Old, Large, Nice roots are on the top layer where they can be easily seen.

Even if it is just a small amount, I want to get the most for it I can !

TNHunter

looks good,i aint heard nothing on the price.

TN, roughly how many roots is there and approximate weight? I ask this question to get an idea of what I have growing on my property.

Woodsrunner..

Not sure on the number of roots or weight.. have not been interested enough in that to check (not with this batch anyway).

I have found in the past that it takes between 3.5 and 4 lbs of green root, to make a dry pound.

Roots harvested earlier in the year, dry lighter than roots harvested later in the year.
If you harvest them Sept, Oct... they should dry around 3.5 to 3.75 to 1
But if for some reason you harvested in June... could be more like 4 to 4.5 lbs to 1.

Back in the late 70's when I started digging seng, there was no season... so you could dig in the spring, summer and fall.
Spring and early summer roots, simply retained less weight, compared to fall roots.

Of course the larger the roots, the less you have to have to make a pound.

It would be nice if they all weighed a ounce or more... but that is sure not the case here on my place. I dig some 30-40 year old 3 prongs that have 1/4 oz or less roots on them. in heavy timber, deeper shade, less than ideal soil, they just do not get big.

Could take a couple hundred roots or more to make a dry pound.... even though they were all aged, mature roots.

But then you run into situations where the conditions are just right, and end up digging a bunch of roots between 1/2 oz and 2 oz.
You might make a pound with 60 roots or so if they were all whoppers and had even less age on them than the 200 or more from the other location.

Location, Location, Location... makes all the difference.

TNHunter

Below is a pic of one of the best hunts in my recent history... where I just found one of those ideal locations, and some really nice large ball roots.

It was on my 49th birthday, Sept 3... and I made my way to a east facing bluff and discovered some really nice root. A bunch of whoppers.

It does happen.

TNHunter

TN and others, it must have been cool back in the day to dig where and when you wanted, it seems I've been late to every party where financial gain or simply doing something you enjoy, has not been compromised by economic circumstances or government regulation. But that's ok because there's something about this plant that gets a rise out of me and I just enjoy seeing it from spring until it fades to that sad yellow color just prior to taking its long winter's nap.

I don't have enough growing on my property to make it worthwhile to dig and sell. It's kind of confusing where I could dig elsewhere without a permit and then selling is another obstacle. Years ago the money would have been nice but right now I don't need it.

For some reason, my eyes light up when I see a plant I haven't seen before, and the two colonies I discovered last spring of roughly 200 plants really got me fired up.

I figure I'll just keep researching, learning and enjoying the plants I have but eventually would like to try consuming some and learn what the hype is about. I can't run ultras forever so seng is providing that hobby to keep me busy.

I also enjoy reading you folk's experiences as well.

On a side note, I told my wife recently that when I get the dining room/kitchen done, I'm gonna start fishing again. I got the proverbial, "that's nice" as she walked away. She'll hardly eat anything I grow, doubt she'll eat anything else I bring home. lol