alarson,
Some dealers that are near state lines will have a license in their home state and also the near by state so they can buy in both.
If you find a reputable dealer in PA or OH you might give him a call and talk to him and see if he comes over into NY to buy.
On profits...
On Wild Ginseng the price varies from year to year, this year we sold our wild seng for 700.00 per pound, last year we got 380.00 per pound.
Depending on how much I get to go I usually end up with between 3 & 5 pounds of dry.
I actually take vacation days off work so I can go but now I can't make near as much digging seng as I do at my job (unless it was a very very good seng day) but I sure do love to get out and hunt seng. It's fun, great exercise, and well you do make some cash at it too.
On wild simulate seng planting profits...
I don't have any harvest experience on that yet, I just started planting this fall. I planted 3.7 lbs of seed and there is around 7000 seeds per pound.
It takes me around 6 hours to plant a pound of seed (all by myself) and I don't get in any big hurry on that. A young fellow, in a hurry could probably cut that time in half.
Per Scotts book (if planting in good locations) for every pound of seed you plant you should harvest around 7 lbs of dry seng. But now it is not a quick crop - takes 7-10 years to reach a decent maturity for harvest size.
I am not a serious grower by any means, mostly doing it for fun and hope to have a little extra income in retirement (12-13 years from now).
If that 3.7 lbs of seed I planted does make 25.9 lbs of dry root in 10 years, I will sure be happy, especially if it brought the price of what we sold this year.
25.9 x 700.00 = 18,130.00
That would send me and my sweetie on a nice vacation and then some
PS = I think around 350.00/lb is more like the average price for wild seng so you would be better off using that for serious estimates.
Good Luck !
TNhunter