Ginseng -- Can you dig it???
 

Anybody here harvest wild ginseng? We've been doing it since before I can remember for home use and selling it along with hides to our fur market. Market rate for decent quality (don't realy have the really good roots around here) exportable roots for my area is going for about $325/lb dried right now.

Spent Sunday afternoon digging with the wife and probably got about 1 1/2-2lb green. All told, this season, we'll have probably close to 4 or 5 lbs of dried root.

Anyone else on here actively look for the stuff?

Re: Ginseng -- Can you dig it???
 

If I lived where it grows, I would.

Down here the only thing you can dig up in the woods is fire ants and that market is very poor and they keep climbing out of the bag.

Re: Ginseng -- Can you dig it???
 

What I dig up goes for about 6,000 a pound. :love:

Re: Ginseng -- Can you dig it???
 

Doesn't grow great here either. Though I've been told that quite a bit of the roots we find are pretty valuable. Takes a long time to get a three or four prong root here, and the growth rings on the necks of some we find are at least 25-40 years old. Even though they are half the size of some of the mountain 'sang, our buyer says they are worth more.

Re: Ginseng -- Can you dig it???
 

Hehe...don't think it hasn't crossed my mind, monger. No moral misgivings here about such an enterprise. I've often thought that a few dozen plants spread across my place would likely go completely unnoticed. My problem would be where to get seeds, and what to do after harvest.

Re: Ginseng -- Can you dig it???
 

Anyone else on here actively look for the stuff?

YES!
My best year ever was about 5 years ago, I found a woodlot that was full of huge OLD plants. I never got off my knees going from plant to plant and filling all of the bags I had to carry it home. I dug 12 lbs (green root) in one day! We have several buyers in the area that prefer to buy the roots green, I paid my property taxes that year with the roots I dug. That particular woodlot has been logged off so now I have to wait several years before going back to dig because the plants go dormant until the trees fill out again (Ginseng needs shade). I always plant the berries / seeds to assure more Ginseng for future digging. Looking for and digging Ginseng is Very hard work, I have come out of the woods after searching for and digging all day and felt like I was going to collapse, in my area It likes grows on VERY steep hillsides and in deep ravines, it punishes your legs climbing these slopes. I love hunting Ginseng, when I am in the deep woods where it grows I feel like I am at peace in this crazy world.

Re: Ginseng -- Can you dig it???
 

I heard you need a license to hunt ginseng, is that true? (I am in Ohio)

Also, how hard is it to find?

Re: Ginseng -- Can you dig it???
 

on my place i have some young ginseng , planted a few years back

Re: Ginseng -- Can you dig it???
 

NO, not enough time, but good American stuff goes for good prices! I researched this years ago...takes a long time to mature, but if you can grow it and have patience, BIG payoff!

Re: Ginseng -- Can you dig it???
 

people well steal the stuff off your land if you do not watch for it ,

Re: Ginseng -- Can you dig it???
 

Awesome Zilver!!! And yes, the 'sang seems to like the steepest hills it can find here too!

Igor, I dunno about the license. Probably varies from state to state. Here in MS no license required, Sept-Dec digging only, no harvest from state lands, harvest only mature plants (3 separate leaves/5 yrs of growth rings) and must replant berries for each plant dug. If you export it yourslef, you have to buy the same license fur sellers do (I don't know the name for it).

mick silver, I tried planting on my place several times with just about zero success. I just don't have the old growth hardwoods for it.

Re: Ginseng -- Can you dig it???
 

Re: Ginseng -- Can you dig it???
 

I hear ya man.

Looked out down on my driveway one day, and this old man was walking DOWN the driveway, not coming up from the gate.....so I hollered at him "HEY....WHAT ARE YOU DOING ?"

"Just hunting a little 'sang.....you don't care if a man does that, do you ? "

"YOU GOT A GARDEN ? "

He replies "Yeah"

"YOU MIND IF I COME HUNT TATERS ? " Damn sang hunters....no respect for private property AT ALL.

Nuther time, father and son came out of the woods right at my shop....pockets bulging with sang. I made them dump in on the ground and ran them off.....THIEVES....

Found plenty of places on my property where they've already been and stolen the plant and gone.

Like I said, you have to hire armed guards to try to grow it....they'd clean you out.

Re: Ginseng -- Can you dig it???
 

Hey mtnman,
where's your place?,
I'll be down with my bags and trusty digging knife now that I know your hills are full of sang:tongue_ma:


Up here where I live, there are literately thousands of acres of deep woods that are owned by logging and paper companies. These companies do not harvest ANY ginseng, they care about the lumber only. they could care less if someone hunts sang, in fact they encourage deer hunting, my family has a long term lease for a huge tract of paper company owned land, we even built a large camp on the land.

Re: Ginseng -- Can you dig it???
 

Re: Ginseng -- Can you dig it???
 

Never knew the stuff grew here, but I learn something new every day. I have been in many woods the last couple weeks, and I think I have seen these plants before. This thread got me to look up a picture of the plants, and now I just might spend next weekend hunting for it.

Re: Ginseng -- Can you dig it???
 

The stories about confronting people on your property are hilarious.

Got anymore of those stories? I would love to hear them.

Re: Ginseng -- Can you dig it???
 

stranger,
How deep are you planting it?
If you dig holes in the soil to plant them, they are not likely to grow.
When I "plant" the ginseng berries I only lift the leaves and ground cover and basically drop the seeds on top of the scuffed up soil mimicking what would naturally happen when the berries fall off the plant. Putting them under a bit of leaf cover helps hide them from the mice and squirrels. Slopes that I "planted" several years ago have produced many fresh plants, I will be going back to collect my reward someday. Ginseng is a very fussy plant, it needs ample shade and rich sweet woodland soil. It is rare to find it near pines, and the north slope theory is hogwash, I have found more on south and easterly facing slopes then on Northern slopes.

Tallships, what state are you in? Up here (upstate NY) the season is over rover,
it only takes one or 2 cold nights to kill the plants off. Our legal digging season starts Sep.1, some years opening day is already to late as the cold has done them in.

Re: Ginseng -- Can you dig it???
 

Question: Interested in finding out if there are any differences in the ginseng properties in fresh Vs. dry state. I like using it, but have only found it in the dry form and wonder if any volatile oils that might be missing after drying have beneficial properties. Any experience out there?

- thanks

Re: Ginseng -- Can you dig it???
 

Mtnman, around here, trespassing and poaching puts you in the same league as somebody who'd steal from church.
I got more respect for property rights than you give me credit.
I treat folks' property like I want mine treated, and that means you don't set foot on it without talking to me face to face first.

We hunt the same lands we lease for deer and turkey hunting. IP, Weyerhauser, family and private owner leases, and places where we have written permission.

Zilver, I've "planted" just about like you said. Just disturb the soil and drop the seed. Lightly cover with soil and/or leaves.
The biggest problem on my place is soil and shade. Rolling hills that up until I got the place were for the most part pasture land for cattle and are mostly composed of white clay. The few mature hardwoods I have are on the perimeter and back of my place.
I know deer and other wildlife will bite the leaves, and slugs will cut the stems. That may be one of my problems also.

Re: Ginseng -- Can you dig it???
 

What are the rules about "hunting" on BLM lands?

Re: Ginseng -- Can you dig it???
 

Interesting reaction by the farmers here. If either of you see this I was wondering about what your attitude would be to someone trespassing on your property without any intent to take anything. What if someone was to walk off the road onto your property to get a better look at an animal or a river or something. You guys seem to be very angry and maybe violent. Reminds me a little of guys in the city who don't want any kids on their small front lawns, only without the guns. I always figured farms to be so big and rough that farmers wouldn't take a similar attitude. I wouldn't want to go anywhere near you personally. Do your neighbors think the same way as you? Would it matter if the trespasser were a Yankee? I've only been out of the city once, by coincidence to the Smokey Mountains. Very pretty down there.

Re: Ginseng -- Can you dig it???
 

I'm not one of the farmers, OsJo, but I can see that you're new here. Most of us here have a very Gadsten attitude (look it up) about those who take from us. What this is about is THEFT. It wouldn't even matter if I didn't know about the 'sang (or truffles, or whatever other plant comes to mind). It belongs to me. And for a great many of us, there is very little difference between property theft and violence, because what I own represents X number of hours of my life, my sweat, etc. You're stealing something I can never get back. "Looters will be shot" is a common sign after a hurricane, and few people have any sympathy for someone who will boost your TV or jewelry; ginseng thieves are looters.

Welcome to GIM. I'd recommend reading a bit more, to see if this is really your kind of forum.

Re: Ginseng -- Can you dig it???
 

I grew up in a rural area with a lot of acreage and can tell you this: the ONLY time we found a stranger on our property it was because they were there to: poach on our land or fish our pond, or steal mushrooms, berries, wood, gasoline, etc.

If somebody came to the house and ASKED if they could come on our property to hunt, fish or forage etc we usually didn't have a problem with that. But the other people were thieves. Once you have to deal with it enough, you come to expect the worst.

Edit: And the people that asked were usually polite enough to come to the house and give us some of whatever they "harvested": fish, berries, mushrooms, etc. when they were done.