Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Ginseng

Does anyone here seriously hunt for it? I'm interested in getting involved. Heck I'm already in the mountains scouting for deer. Is it something a man can legitimately make a few dollars on? Point me in the right direction as to where to start. I'd be in NC, WV mostly. Thanks guys

In Indiana there’s a season for it.
Don’t know about where your at but I’d look into it.

There is a TV show about it. It should have some information.

You can probally google it and find more info than I can recollect . If I remember right , and that is questionable , your best luck will be on southern sides of ridges , 40 years ago it was bringing 80.00 a pound for green roots and a 100.00 for dry . Wait till fall and you can spot easier by the red seeds it gets at the top center of the plant . This is a plus if you find area's with a good bit of growth and roll the dice that it won't be discovered , you can watch weekly till you see some seeds that fall off easily by brushing your hands on them lightly . Collect the seeds too . But leave enough for future growth and keep your mouth shut about finding it , not being a smart ass
just good advise .
If you have personal prosperity with good timber growth you can plant them and harvest the rewards 6 1/2 years later . I used to grow it a long time ago , but cultivated ginseng used to not bring as much as that found wild .
18 months for seed germination then five years for it to reach maturity . That's what I was taught by old timers . They can tell if it is cultivated by growth rings , the uncultivated will have much tighter distance between rings .
When I first started I would work the ground between them thinking I was helping to grow bigger roots , but after getting gouged on the prices I started planting and leaving it alone .
Often thought about going back there and asking the guy I sold the place too if he knew what was in the woods around his place , could be excavated by now , last time I drove through that area years ago I saw that some houses had sprung up back there .
That's about all I can remember , and that may not be dead accurate , just rambling about the old days .
There are a lot of people involved these days looking for it and Morales . Good luck , Kenneth

The last I dug and sold dry roots, it was bringing $500 a pound. Now, before anyone gets excited, it takes a lot of ginseng to weigh a pound. Most states have regulations as to season, and also for the size you can dig. Good ginseng locations are kept secret, as they can last for years and years.

I love hunting it.


www.wildgrown.com

I've considered growing it on my hunting property, as you can buy the seeds for a month or so per year. I'd like to hit the whole property then wait to see where it will grow best and over seed that area. Problem lies with thieves. I have caught shroomers on my property, and they act like property lined don't exist. If they find the plants, I have no doubt they will steal them.

It ain’t easy to grow

it can't really be explained on an internet forum

You do way better going with someone experienced. Even then, you'll worry the piss out of that person asking " is this ginseng...what about this one?...."


You can have the ideal soil conditions, the slopes, the soil types, the shade, the orientation....and it still wont be there. Then even if it is, might be 2 or 3 plants on 50 acres.

Rest assured, some meth head or everyday toothless idiot has already raped it down to the last single 2-pronger. Meth heads wont leave younger plants. They are just like game pig 'brown-downer' deer hunters.

Dug it years ago with my uncle and grandad. Like has been said, people found out about the money and started poaching it. Once the Mexicans found out there was money to be made digging it, it pretty much disappeared in the area we hunted. The Mexicans are now stealing moss off of the rocks. My uncle had some huge boulders on his property that were covered in green moss and they stripped them.

lots o f ' sang' hunters in my area.

Planted 2’pounds of seed. Did it right. Germination rate was horrible. I didn’t pay for my seeds with what was harvested.

lichen tamales?

If mexicans get their way with America...there wont be a stick left to burn and we'll be 3ft deep in shïtty diapers

Dont forget Mars-like landscapes with 184 goats on each 3 acres tract. Simply Gorgeous.

Oops, also forgot obligatory 5 occupied derelict mobile homes on same said tracts.

with no front doors....nekkid little brown toddler pissin out that front door

Laffin my azz off other day on way to town. Passed "house" a bunch converted from a big azz unfinished pole barn. Looks like two story masonite nightmare. Complete with "moonwalk" rentals 4x8 sign in yard. Double front doors open. Goats running thru house!!! Lots of goats running thru house!!!

Also forgot about 1/2 dozen pitbulls on 6’ of chains around kids salvaged playscape.

All potential Liberal Socialist Democrat voters....

I cannot tell you how many ginseng seeds I've replanted from the seeds on plant's I'd dug. If one ever came up, I don't remember seeing it. Now, I've seen patches of it where someone did plant some seeds, so they must have been something differently from me. As slumlord said, everything has to fall in place in order for it to grow successfully. I've been in what I thought were prime places to find it, and never found a plant.

I'd say you're chances of getting rich would be much better if you played the lottery, as opposed to trying to grow ginseng.

And yet Mother Nature has kept it going for a long time. miles