Ginseng harvest season starts Sept 1 here in TN.
I got out today and found a few… nothing impressive but a good couple hours in the woods.
Most of what was harvested today… I put the seed in the ground 10-12 years ago.
Pic 2 above sassafras… have lots of that here.
Pic 3 - one of the best plants that can be used to help locate ginseng. Maiden hair fern. Where you find it ginseng is usually near by.
Todays harvest…
Anyone else here dig or harvest wild stuff ?
Hey @Barkslip … found a rather scrubby post oak today 3 trunks about 6-8 inch diameter… (while hunting ginseng) with acorns on. Looks to me like they are not fully developed yet. I will keep an eye on this one and get you some acorns from it.
The ones in my yard and field… near the house… I have checked several and no acorns.
That’s a strange-looking possible hybrid with lyrata. Is overcup in your area as well? Whatever! I WANT!!! 
Been many years since I hunted wild Ginseng. I did get seeds and plant some a few years back. Whomever came into my woods and stole most of it did miss a few at least… Your berries are definitely further along than here.
A brilliant, oak specialist says, this:
Certainly could be. Would he be willing to send better pics of the leaves? Would he send scion? I would not think that hybrid would be a scrubby tree
I asked or said to him…
This fellow in TN has stellata on his property. I saw some scrubby oaks and asked for photos. Then I asked for acorns.
He shows this picture today of a “scrubby oak” he called it while hunting ginseng.
What do you think?"
btw, can you send scions, Trev?
It is a beautiful morning here. I walked down the road about 500 yards to where that tree is located and got more pics…
It is in the edge of the woods (on my property) on the bank of the old logging roadway.
I bet it is somewhat scrubby and multi trunked because it was at least partially damaged when the old roadway was improved some about 15 years ago.
A few close ups of leaves/branches from that tree.
Acorns from that tree above.
Just up the road about 20 yards there is this single trunk tree… above… looks the same to me.
And in my back yard… i have this one… it is 16-18inches at the base… same leaves and acorns. I did find some acorns on it this morning.
And all around my front field i have several of these single trunk post oaks that are good sized trees… 14 -20 inch diameter at the base.
@noogy …
This book was considered the ginseng growers bible over at wildgrown… where lots of ginseng growers communicated and shared experiences and years of growing results.
A ph of 4.5 to 5.5 is more like ideal for sang.
I know some guys in alaska and maine growing ph of 4.0 and doing very well.
Yes… it will grow in higher ph soil…but you can get seeds to sprout and produce 3 leafers in just about any location.
The higher the soil ph the more disease issues you have… so those 3 leafers may get the yellow spot and die with leaves and stems looking like they melted. I have seen that happen plenty here at my place.
My ph in the woods runs 5.5 on average… which is borderline ok. My problem is calcium runs 750-1500…
If your calcium is less than 2000… and your ph 5.5 to 6.5… do not add lime. Use gypsum instead… it will give the ca you need but will not raise your ph.
Your ph really needs to be lowered… to around 5 to have a healthy ginseng crop.
One other caution to mention… planting density… the more densly you plant it the more disease issus you have.
In a low ph soil 5.0… with Ca levels in the 4000 range… they recommend 4 to 5 seeds per sq ft at initial planting… and to expect 1 or 2 mature plants at year 7-10.
With a ph of 6.5 and less than ideal CA levels… your planting density should be much thinner. Perhaps 1 or 2 seeds per sq yard and some space between plantings.
Here at my place i did all my initial plantings in 5 x 50 ft (or longer… up to 100 ft) beds… and 4 to 5 seeds per sq ft… and had massive die off in the first 3 years. Very wet springs… yellow spots on leaves initally… then the leaves and stems melt… dead.
The techinal term… Alternaria blight.
I over time learned that my best bet on planting density was about a dozen seeds in a 4 ft sq… skipping 4 ft… and doing it again.
Small beds planted with less seed and spaced out well worked much better for me with my 5.5 ph and 1500 ca levels (supplemented with gypsum).
Good luck to you.
Ginseng- people of the Applachias risking life and limb to sell to Asians due to their belief that it increases their libido and cures impotence. I think shark fins are in the same category… both are based on 2000 year old medicine.
As far as other medicinal plants in the woods-
Stinging Nettle… it seems to cure just about everything. Allergies, arthritis, gout, prostate, diabetes, i think it even stimulates hair growth.
Blackberries- The leaves, roots and berries each have medicinial properties. diarrhea, fluid retention, diabetes, gout, and pain and swelling and for preventing cancer and heart disease.
Elderberries- another thing that cures everything.
Green Walnut Husks- drink a tea of this every day for 7 days and every thing that lives inside of you that isnt supposed to will come out.
Jewelweed- better than calamine lotion against itching.
A nice patch of jewelweed… it grows in wet areas along a creek or otherwise very damp areas…has small pretty orangish/yellow flowers… the Stems are easily crushed with your fingers releasing a jell that is very good for all things itchey… bug bites, stings, chiggars, skeeter, poison ivy, etc
When Sang hunting…the first jewell weed patch I find I collect several pices of lower stem and put them in my pack… for use later on. Like any time I accidentally touch some Poison Ivy… I immediately press the goo out of jewelweed and scrub the area with it.
PS… Yesterday I walked some of my deepest hollows looking for sang… I checked several large Hickories, mockernuts, and found several persimmon trees — a few with fruit on and ripening.
But forgot completely to look for PawPaw… until I was nearly back home.
I need to make another trip and focus on PawPaw… I may have some and just never noticed them.
Mine is pure orange… it grows all along my creeks, and really likes to grow under the eves of my house and all along my decks.
If you want a really good show around the house plant or get a stand started for hummingbirds.
I grow a few things for hummingbirds such as trumpet creeper and cardinal climber… they want jewelweed the most and are currently favoring jewelweed over the sugarwater feeders that i have.
Thanks for the info. I’m in a 4.9 ph area. I might have to thin some. Ill look for gypsum.
@noogy… 4.9 would work great with Ca levels 2000+ 4000+ is excellent.
Here in TN, around the bottom and on flats up on river and creek bluffs (limestone bluffs)… the soil is filled with rock chips of limestone and there is lots of organic matter too… Lots of organic matter in limestone rock chip filled soil ---- on East to North East facing blufs (mostly morning sun)… Ginseng grows like crazy, huge tops and roots in 4-5-6 years.
Many years ago I created in my woods a Seed Producing bed… and to help my low Ca issue out, I brought in 6 - 5 gal buckets of limestone rock chip filled soil and added it to the bed… and I also cut gypsum board strips and put it in the bed… my soil there was amended with lots of composted peat.
I put 44 nice mature sang roots in that bed and produced 400-500 berries a year for many years from that bed.
The sang loved it there and did very well. So with some work, you can turn a less than ideal location in to one that will grow it well… but there is some work to it.
Real beauties brother!
When I started that seed producing bed… a friend from the KY state… sent me 5 very nice Mountain sang roots which I planted down the center of the bed. The hope was to mix with sang from other areas to bump up my genetics. Mountain sang (most anyway) has long berry stems… the berry pods will stick up much higher than the leaves… where my native southern TN sang, has rather short berry stems (berries usually below the leaf canopy on the plant).
Billy, my friend there… went on to become somewhat famous in the Ginseng world… He was one of the guys that made the TV series “Filthy Riches”… about folks that made money doing dirty jobs basically.
When he collected those roots for me, he posted the YT vid link above…
TNHunter
@barkslip — Yes… I will be glad to send you acorns and scion wood.
I only have experience with collecting apple scion wood so far, did some of that last spring for the first time… and traded with others here.
Is that done the same for oak trees ?
I collected my Apple scion wood in early Feb… pencil size, last years growth. Included 3-4 buds.
I have some wild American persimmon seedlings I plan to graft to next spring… could use some scion wood for those…
Would you happen to be able to supply a few sticks of any of these… WS 8-10, H63A, 100-46, Prok ?
I have read a post here that you contributed to on American persimmon flavor… and those were mentioned a lot.
I understand that Prok is earlier than most… but perhaps a bit less flavorful than the other 3 mentioned ? but still a very good persimmon.
But most in that post agreed that WS 8-10 and H63A were flavor winners.
PS… I am going to add a Ichi-Ki-Kei-Jiro next spring as well for a Asian variety.
Dennis D and Jrd51 here have spoken highly of it… so I am going to give it a try.
Thanks
TNHunter
The spotted/orange variety is quite plentiful here. We also have some pale jewelweed with the solid yellow flowers. Knew both of 'em as a kid as “touch me not”. Lightly squeeze the mature seed pods and away they go…
Hadn’t heard that one before… I have to wonder if some things which should remain might exit as well though 
What’s the good time to replant the sang? I guess it must be in the Fall, like now. I only saw many sangs popping up in spring but very few in Fall. I know deers are very fond of the leaves and that could be the reason why my sangs had disappeared. Also my backyard is invaded by lady ferns and sangs could be killed by the very thick ferns. Anyway, I just plant it for fun so no big deal.
@Shuimitao … best time to plant either berries or stratified seed is in the fall.
Sang berries in most States where it grows ripen in September… here a few will be red ripe in mid august… but many more will be red ripe by Sept 1… with peak ripeness mid Sept. Early October here most red berries have dropped already but a few will still be on some plants. When you find it in Oct the leaves are often yellowed at that point and red berries on… georgious… and much easier to spot.
If you plant red berries in the fall… they will not sprout the next spring… but will the second spring.
If you purchase stratified seed and plant it in the fall… it will come up in the spring.
Most will anyway… but not all do the same… I have seen stratified seed that had low germination rate the first spring… and then the second and even third spring more of it germinated and sent up new 3 leafers.
A bit more on ginseng seed (stratified seed)… most stratified seed that you can buy online comes from a (artificial shade grown, cultivated ground, operation) where they use fungicides, pesticides, chemical fertilizers, etc on it to produce a harvest quicker. Usually 4 years and they are harvesting. But… the berries and seed are subjected to lots of fungal disease issues, since they are growing it thick and spraying it to keep the foliage issues under control.
When you purchase that seed… it is best to purchase it early in the fall… not long after the supplier takes the seed out of their stratification process and gets it ready for sale. So you purchase it not long after they pull it up from stratification… and when you get it, you plant it asap.
Anytime that stratified seed is pulled up from stratification process… then stored (for example in the fridge)… for longer periods of time, that can mess up the germination rates. IMO it does not matter if the seed supplier is storing it, or if you are storing it… sure they may do a better job of that than you, but either way, the longer that seed stays in artificial storage (refrigerated) after stratification… the more likely you will have germination issues.
Order early, plant it asap after you get it… to get best germination rates.
If your seed supplier does not properly treat the seeds, you should.
10% Clorox / water solution for 5 minutes.
Any seed that floats needs to be discarded, it is bad, and most likely diseased.
You don’t want to plant those in your beds.
Properly stratified seed will look like this…
You will be able to see the embryo inside if it is properly stratified. If not it will be just clear white. Some shady vendors (several years back) were selling green seeds (not stratified) as stratified seeds.
If it is not stratified, there will be no sign of a embryo inside.
TNHunter
Thanks so much! We’ll get it grafted. Yes, collect 3/8ths or 1/4". I have all those persimmons, yes.
I want the acorns very much still!
Thanks Trev.
