Scouting

[5prong]

I was wondering if anyone has been out doing any pre-season scouting.  I got out today for a few hours.  My main goal was to thin out some patches of black cohosh and clear some small saplings in prepping a planting site for this fall.  After getting that done though, I ventured on up the hollow to look around some.  I found quite a few plants today.  I'm not sure how good berry production will be this year if we don't get some rain soon though.  Right now the largest berries are about the size of a pin head.  That isn't all that uncommon for this time of year, but it has been unusually dry for the past month.

[Brad]

I went up to the woods the other week and sprayed.  Looked around for some wild sim I planted but didn't find anything.  Its so grown up in there right now I might not see it if I were standing beside it.

What I'd like to do is get a GPS, some time off work, and come down to your corner of the state and marks some stuff 


Also, I know what you are saying about it being dry.  I was talking to a friend who is a commercial grower the other day.  He said they have had to irrigate three times already.

[5prong]

I went to a nearby spot after work today just to chek things out.  I dug about a pound of root off of this N.W. facing hillside last fall.   I found quite a few plants today, but they are already looking pretty stressed.  I doubt that very many will still be standing come Sept. 1st.  I have no intention of digging this area again this fall, but just wanted to see how it looked.  From what I've seen in the last week or so things aren't looking good for a big harvest in S.E. Ohio this fall

[Brad]

I agree.  I'm hopeful that this will bring prices up a little bit.  We are in the position for a good year as last year corrected down a little.  Like I was telling a caller yesterday, I probably won't know until the week before season starts.

[FTB]

I took a quick visit to a small patch of wild I know of close to the house.They look beat up.I doubt I'll ever pick that patch because they are my pets so to speak.Time it gets time to pick, I think it's all going to be hunting and  little gathering.....

[5prong]

Don't count them all out yet.  We got some decent rain Friday night, and it looks like we'll get another shower here in the next couple of hours.  I know that some are pretty stressed looking and a few have already gone down, but theres always some that hang on until september.

FTB - I've got a few small patches that I've been stewarding for several years.  I'll probably never dig the entire patch, but I'm sure I will dig some of them in the futures

[5prong]

Well, I got out again for a couple of hours this morning.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that this digging season will be completely nonproductive, but I saw quite a few plants yellowing and going down like it was the first part of september.   Some plants are still looking pretty good though .  These were all wild plants.  The ones that looked pretty good had some berries that were still growing, but not nearly as many as in a good year.  I would guess that the berries that make it will start ripeneng by early to mid august.  I don't know why, but it seems like they tend to ripen a little earlier in these dry years.  I did see several plants that had already aborted berry production though.  I've been seeing areas all around me get some rain over the last few weeks, but the only measurable rain in my local area in the last 6 weeks came with the big storm at the end of June that knocked everyone's power out.  It's looking like we may get a little in a couple of hours though....

[Brad]

I got out this afternoon for a bit.  Most of my stuff is still green.  Sure, a lot of it is going down and a few are already gone, but there were a number of plants with full, ripe berry balls to my surprise.  I ended up planting a cup or more of ripe berrys.

[5prong]

Brad, berry production is way down for wild plants in my area.   A lot of plants completely aborted berry production this year, and the ones that did set berries have fewer than normal.  Most of the plants around here are still green also.  Some of the ones in higher and drier areas went down in July, but for the most part they are still in pretty good shape.  I have seen a few starting to yellow, but 95% ore more are still green.  Less than a week to go now!  Good luck to all.