HOW: 1.28.10 Ginseng

[coppice]

Ginseng Panax quinquefolium. Gets press every couple years, or at least dried root sales do.

Like any good woodland understory plant, seeds need time to vernalise. IE your going to plant seed in autumn and it won't pop till the spring (or the spring after). Seed is commercially available from domesticly grown plants. Grow in at least part shade.

Just about any woodlot space will support this hearty small plant. I like it as an understory planting beneath grape trellis. It tolerates weeding if you can tell it apart from sanqfoil, virginia creeper, or poison oak

This is supposed to be good for whatever ails a person. Chewing on dried root will let you know if it has matured enough. When its too little its bitter, sweeter as the years pass.

How long can ginseng sit inna bed and grow up? I dunno, more than five years I can say for sure. Maybe hundreds of years...

Seeing as it takes up NO row space suitable for other plants, let it do its small woodland thing at its leisure.

Dig roots after seed has set and berrys drop off.

[mogarden]

"Just about any woodlot..." might be a bit disappointing for ginseng growing. It really needs 78% shade so it does better in the woods (hardwoods) on a northern or eastern slope. It likes "high shade" like you get under trees, it doesn't favor low shrubs.

[coppice]

Tell that to the poison ivy and poison oak that snuggled up to mine when ever I planted...

[Pharmer Phil]

there's a couple farms here that raise ginseng, even a outlet to purchase and sell the roots.
these farms use a lattice type set up, I haven't taken a close look, but it appears to be like snow fence.
Back where I was in Missouri, most the wild had been hunted out.
there's actually quite a bit here in the woods (what woods there are left )