Growing Ginseng

[Latt]

Hello everyone,
Anyone out there that hunts ginseng in the wild might want to consider planting a pound or two of Stratified Ginseng seed. I have been planting 10 lbs a year for the past 3 years. I am getting ready to plant 10 more lbs the week of Dec 20th assuming the ground is not to frozen and that will make 17 lbs for me this year. This would have been a great week to plant but I am not receiving my seed until next Wed. There are many wild ginseng hunters now planting ginseng seed. If anyone would like to know how I recommend planting the seed let me know and I will do my best to answer you on this new post.
Brad, thanks for starting a new post. It will be fun to see how long it takes to get it going.
Thanks,
Latt

[Brad]

Latt...if you like, type up a short instruction and get it to me.  I'll format and post it here on the site.

[Brad]

Latt, your article is now in the Articles section of the site.  Thank you!  Let me know if you want to put any pictures with the text.

[frankyz669]

wow- so - is it better to plant in december?

planting the 3rd of october - is that too early?

[Brad]

I don't know as that is a good idea for our part of the country (Ohio).

We need our seed in the ground before freeze.  Also, once the seed is out of the boxes and into the bags, it can go bad quickly if precautions are not taken.  I always advocate getting the seed in the ground as soon as possible....and for me that is normally in August right after the seed becomes available.  It will start to acclimate with the ground (temperature and moisture) and go into winter with a solid position.

[frankyz669]

ok - thnx for the info brad.

i had my seeds for about 60 days before we planted.

they were kept dry and cool and in a paper bag.
you think that is all right?

[Brad]

They should be fine.  From the looks of your video, I think they still showed some moisture and should be ok.

When I'm storing seed I normally put them into plastic totes.  Every day or three I open the top and mix the seed around to distribute the moisture, and leave the lid partially off for most of the day.  This doesn't work nearly as well once I get under 5 pounds in weight, however, I've noticed.

[frankyz669]

well, we planted oct 2012.  and, we haven't see any emerge.  we haven't really looked that much though...  and to tell you the truth we're not sure exactly what we're looking for...
they are a five pronged leaf?  are we looking too early?
the leaves don't unfurl as seedlings?

[Brad]

Hi Franky,

No, when the seedlings emerge they look sort of like small strawberry leaves.  They have a single stem and three leaves with serrated edges.

This picture should help you find the babies if any are up.

[frankyz669]

ok thnx brad.
we will be looking for them the next time we are there.

we planted in late oct.  so they should've been emerging in the spring right?

[Brad]

Yes, they should be well on their way to setting buds for next spring by this time.  Normally, if they make it til the end of July they will be back.