Anyone know how to harvest/plant/identify and sell genseng? We have a friend here in VA that has it on their land. Any ideas?

-- Dottie Shafer (shaferd@msn.com), October 09, 2001

Answers

From by book:

GROW GINSENG:

If you have property on which wild ginseng grows naturally, periodic harvesting of it may be possible. The method used by experienced harvesters is to wait until the plant produces seeds, then harvesting the root and replanting the seeds at the same spot to ensure a future supply. However, ginseng poachers and other may take it at any stage, which will eventually lead to a severe reduction in the wild population.

The market price for wild ginseng fluctuates wildly for top quality dried roots and is normally eight to ten times the price of cultivated root. I have seen reports of it selling for as high as $550 a pound.

Some 90 percent of the cultivated ginseng in the U.S. is produced in raised beds under artificial shade by 1,500 growers in Wisconsin. Frequently advertising appear in magazines saying up to $50,000 (but doesn’t say if it is gross or net) of cultivated ginseng can be harvested from one-half acre, and they are technically right. However, that would be after about seven years of work, with top- quality roots, a very good market for cultivated roots and a lot of luck. At the time of this update the price for most common cultivated ginseng is $16 per pound, which is below the cost of production for most growers, due to the downturn in the Asian economies.

Establishing a commercial plot of artificially-shaded ginseng may run as high as $30,000 per acre, requiring up to eight years of average markets to re-turn investment costs.

Wild ginseng is an endangered species in most of the states in which it grows naturally so be sure to check with the proper state authority on guidelines for harvesting wild ginseng.

The organization for research on and the growing of ginseng is the Ginseng Research Institute of America, 500 3rd Street, Suite 208-2, Wausau, WI 54401. Extensive work on growing ginseng, either commer- cially or in the home garden, has been done by the Cornell Cooperative Extension Service, Route 3, Box 906, Cairo, NY 12413-9503 and Virginia Ex-tension Service, Virginia State University, P.O. Box 9081, Petersburg, VA 23806-9081.

In addition to ginseng, dried goldenseal roots bring up to $40 per pound. They are used by pharmaceu-tical companies for toothpaste and mouthwash products.

For further information see:

 American Ginseng – Green Gold: A Grower’s Guide, Including Ginseng’s History and Use by Scott Persons, $14 postpaid from Tuckasegee Valley Ginseng, Box 236, Tuckasegee, NC 28783-0236.

 American Ginseng Trends newsletter, Fu-ture Concepts, Inc., P.O. Box 1982, Wausau, WI 54402-1982.

 The Complete Ginseng Grower’s Manual by David Curran, D. F. Curran Productions, P.O. Box 3141, Missoula, MT 59806-3141.

 Ginseng: A Concise Handbook by James Duke, available from agAccess, P.O. Box 2008, Davis, CA 95617-2008.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), October 10, 2001.

We've got wild ginseng here in Wisconsin also. I won't say where, because, yes the wildcrafters and ginseng poachers will come looking. The time to identify it is now in the fall when you can see the bright red berries. It grows 8-15 inches high and usually bearing 3 sprigs of leaves at its summit, each consisting of 5 oval leaflets, with toothed edges. In July-Aug they grow from 6-10 small greenish yellow flowers, followed later in the season by the bright crimson colored berries. The berries shoot up from the summit where the 3 leaf sprigs shoot from. The root is spindle shaped, about 2-3 inches long, or longer, and about 1/2 to 1 inch thick. The outside (bark of the root) is marked with circles or wrinkles, is pale yellowish white or brownish, it is somewhat fleshy and flexible. After the second year it usually becomes forked and it is the branched root, that if it resembles the human form, is especially favorable in the eyes of the Chinese purchasers. The root should be aromatic and taste sweet. The time for digging the root is in the fall, carefully wash and dry it. If gathered at any other time, it will shrink too much and not maintain it's prime, plump appearance. If not thoroughly dried, it will mold and be useless. Indians gather the root only after the fruit has ripened, and it is generally their practice to bend down and cover the stem and unripened berries to provide for continued propagation. A large percentage of the seeds treated this way do germinate. Good Luck! Go for a nice fall walk in the woods and look for those bright red berries. This is the best description I can give over the forum, go to the library and see if you can get a picture from a book.

-- Rose Marie Wild (wintersongfarm@yahoo.com), October 11, 2001.