I was wondering if anyone has grown ginseng for profit? The acreage we own in WV has about 80 acres which produce a great ginseng crop (my brother used to dig the roots in the area when he was a teen). I would be seeding and planting a small area on our hill (ferns are quite abundant here). I've done quite a bit of reading on the net on the subject but love some first hand experience if available.
I have never grown it but have hunted it quite a bit. I know several years ago there was an article in the paper where a fellow was raising it to send his kid to college. A couple of good old boys( apologies to all good old boys ) [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img] found his patch and harvested every bit of it. When they realized what they had done, they returned the harvested seng to the rightful owner. I would keep the location V E R Y quiet ! Besides, Missouri to WV would be a long haul to tend to your crop ! Good Luck !
I love your story as it's so typical though I am impressed the guys returned the ginseng. [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Our property used to be an old Girl Scout camp so we have an old dining hall which we're going to convert into a temporary home. The area I thought I might seed is in eyeshot of the dining hall. Though I would like to plant some 2 yr. old plants, there's a chance I may not be able to watch out over them (as we don't know when we'll move). Planting the seeds would fit into our potential moving timeframe. It seems like an easy cash crop which makes me wonder why others aren't pursuing it.
My guess is that you will not get a lot of detailed response aboout this topic from experienced growers, unless they are large enough and have their property secure enough, to not be overly concerned with attention.
It may seem to be an "easy" cash crop, but poaching is quite common. At nearly $400 per pound for good quality, "woods" grown ginseng, you can see why some folks might be attracted to hunting/digging it, whether on your land, national forest or somewhere else. It would be a sad day indeed, if, after years of work, you were to find someone absconded with your patch.
If you do pursue it, it would probably be best to make sure your security is top-knotch and even then, best not to talk about it, especially with anyone who knows where your property is. Sad, but some people will take advantage if they can.
Because we're not living on the property right now is one of the reasons why I thought seeding may be a good way to start. Since the plants will take 3 years to mature, we'll be living there by then. I'm going to wait to plant the seedlings when we take up residence.
Thankfully, the place I'm wanting to grow is within eyeshot of our temporary residence of the dining hall but it's out of sight of other areas.
I have a small patch of sang. I've been planting the seeds for about five years and find that few of the seeds have been germinating. I've tried several variations from simply dropping them on the ground to scrapeing leaves back and strewing them and replacing the leaves to lightly burying the seeds. I haven't found the key yet for good germination.
I know a grower in North Central West Virginia. He has acres of woods grown sang and he and his family make a very good living this way. His father started it many years ago by transplanting wild plants to his property. This is actually where I got my starter plants. There is a blight that sang gets quite easily so you have to be ready to treat it. You might check with the Agricultural Extension Service for information.
You can buy seeds by the pound from dealers. Not as expensive as you might think. If I remember right there is approx. 50,000 seeds to the pound, but don't quote me on that. I think it was $75.00 for a pound. I believe it is more like five years to harvest a plant. It is important to buy seeds from the same area you plan to plant. Some claim seeds from diffrent elevations of 50 to 75 feet and even as little as 100 miles from the source don't regrow well. Of course this could be folk lore too.
Good luck and please share any information you come up with.
Would you mind sharing your information regarding the grower in north central WV (ie. name, web site, etc)? Our property is triangulated between Clarksburg, Fairmont, and Grafton.
Rhonda,
I fellow I know was successful at transplanting as well as raising sang. But the buyer would not give him as much $/pound for it. The reasoning for it was that they said that when raised in a controled setting (i.e fertilized) the sang had larger growth rings and was not as valuable as wild sang.
It was absolutily amazing the size of the plants he had. BTW, I'm not all that far from you, here in western Maryland.
I'll definitely let you know how it goes. I hope to set the site this summer and plant seed and 1-2 year old seedlings this fall. However, I think I'll stay away from the fertilizer. [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
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