What happens when a ginseng seed sprouts? The first year ginseng seedling.

Many of us planted ginseng seeds last fall and are anxiously awaiting the first signs of germination this spring. How does a ginseng seed germinate and what does a ginseng seedling look like?

Ginseng expert, Scott Persons, explains in our book, Growing and Marketing Ginseng, Goldenseal and Other Woodland Botanicals:
"The First-year Seedling: When it sprouts between late April and early June, a ginseng seedling has a small, short stem supporting three tiny furled leaflets. Within four or five weeks of sprouting, the herb is about three inches tall and leaflets are unfurled and fully developed. At this point, the seedling looks something like a wild strawberry plant. No further foliar growth occurs after midsummer, even if leaflets are damaged or lost. This is true in subsequent growing seasons as well. In autumn, the foliage turns a rich yellow ocher and soon dies off, often hastened by the frost.
"When the ginseng seed germinates in the spring, it is the young root, or radicle, that first emerges through the seed husk. However, the root does not develop to any appreciable extent until mid-summer, after the leaflets have unfurled and completed their season's growth. The small skinny root then grows from midsummer through the fall and develops a solitary bud at its top, below the ground. The root survives the winter, freezing as the ground freezes. It is from the bud that the single stem and leaves will grow and unfurl the following spring. Interestingly, examination of the bud under magnification reveals the configuration of the next year's foliar top (that is, the number of prongs and leaflets)."

Learn about the entire ginseng life cycle in chapter one of the book Growing and Marketing Ginseng, Goldenseal and Other Woodland Medicinals. 

If you are serious about growing woodland medicinal herbs, whether for a business or your own personal enjoyment, this is the book to have. Written by two well-know authorities, the book is chock full of information and hundreds of pictures on how to grow ginseng, goldenseal, ramps, black cohosh, and many other native herbs.

How to Get a Copy of the Book: We suggest you order the book through the publisher, New Society Publishers, or your favorite local book store; that way the authors can receive their full royalties. It is available in bookstores where native plant gardening is popular. You can order the book through all the big on-line discount book sellers. Many sellers offer the book on Ebay. The book is also available as an ebook through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, New Society Publishers, and elsewhere.

The book is a high-quality soft cover book with 508 pages. It has a center color photo section and black and white photos throughout. Here is detailed information about the book and a link to the table of contents.

Ginseng Expert, Scott Persons, Explains Why and How to Grow Ginseng

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Photo from Accem Scott's video (link provided in text below)

Scott Persons is my coauthor for the book Growing and Marketing Ginseng, Goldenseal and Other Woodland Medicinals. He is the undisputed expert on growing wild-simulated ginseng and his books on the topic are treasured by ginseng growers around the world. For those of you who are new to growing ginseng, I thought you might be interested in reading the beginning of the American Ginseng section of our latest book where Scott introduces you to the section and provides a little advice for future growers to heed (from pages 3 and 5 of the 2014 edition):

     "For 33 years now, I have grown American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) in the woods not 30 yards from my front door. It allows me a healthy, comfortable, low-stress life that is a treasure to find in our hectic culture. An individual can cultivate a forest garden of this revered herb just to have the fascinating plant around or for his (or her) own consumption, but ginseng also has great potential as a small-scale cash crop with a ready market. With little capital investment, the small farmer can net a greater profit growing ginseng on a rugged, otherwise idle, woodlot than he can net raising just about any other legal crop on an equal area of cleared land. Of course, you have to be willing to bend your back and get your hands dirty, and to take a risk and persevere when the payoff is years in the future [Author's note: A non-commercial home gardening approach to growing ginseng is discussed in chapter 32, but the home gardener will certainly learn from the material covered in the first half of this book].
     "To guide the reader in growing ginseng, I have drawn from my own hands-on experience, from discussions with other experienced growers and agriculture professionals, and from my own observations of ginseng operations throughout the United States, Canada, and Australia."
     "As this revised edition of Growing & Marketing Ginseng, Goldenseal & Other Woodland Medicinals is about to go to press, the prices being paid for wild ginseng are higher than ever before. While this certainly makes woodland ginseng growing even more attractive, should roots continue to bring such high value in the future, wild populations could be threatened by overharvesting, and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service might well feel compelled to prohibit the export of wild ginseng in order to protect the plant. Growers are therefore advised to proactively document their purchases of planting stock and their growing operation in order to be able to prove that their roots were not foraged from wild populations. Increased production of high-grade roots by woodland growers is the best way to keep supply in balance with demand, thereby keeping prices down and protecting the still widespread populations of wild ginseng." 

The picture at the top of this post was taken from a video of an interview of Scott Persons by Accem Scott. I think you might find it interesting: Link to Video. 

If you are serious about growing woodland medicinal herbs, whether for a business or your own personal enjoyment, this is the book to have. Written by two well-know authorities, the book is chock full of information and hundreds of pictures on how to grow ginseng, goldenseal, ramps, black cohosh, and many other native herbs.

How to Get a Copy of the Book: We suggest you order the book through the publisher, New Society Publishers, or your favorite local book store; that way the authors can receive their full royalties. It is available in bookstores where native plant gardening is popular. You can order the book through all the big on-line discount book sellers. Many sellers offer the book on Ebay. The book is also available as an ebook through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, New Society Publishers, and elsewhere.

The book is a high-quality soft cover book with 508 pages. It has a center color photo section and black and white photos throughout. Here is detailed information about the book and a link to the table of contents.

How Scott Persons, Wild-Simulated Ginseng Expert, and I Became Co-authors

Scott Persons is known around the world as THE expert on growing ginseng in the woods. His book, American Ginseng Green Gold is a classic book on the topic.

Scott was good friends with my predecessor in my faculty position at NC State University. That is Dr. Tom Konsler. Tom did research on growing ginseng and some of that work is highlighted in the book. Tom retired in 1987 and I took over his position in 1988. I picked up research and extension responsibilities for ginseng and added other herbs, both medicinal and culinary. Scott and I became acquainted and were on several educational programs together. When it came time for him to revise the book, he asked me to read it over and help edit it. When it came time to revise the book again, he suggested to his publisher, Bright Mountain Books, that they change the format somewhat and include other woodland herbs. Scott approached me about doing that and our book, Growing and Marketing Ginseng, Goldenseal, and Other Woodland Botanicals, was born.

I will always be grateful to Scott for inviting me to coauthor that book with him. What an opportunity it was for a first time author! He helped me make the transition from being a technical writer to a more personal one fairly easy. The folks at Bright Mountain Books were also incredibly helpful.  After that book was published, it too quickly developed a reputation for being the go-to authorative source for information on growing the most popular forest botanicals used in the medicinal herb industry.

When it came time to revise that book, we had some big decisions to make. Our publisher was retiring and shutting down her business. So we began the search for a new publisher. I was also interested in expanding the book to serve the growing home gardener interest in woodland botanicals. I started approaching publishers that I thought might be interested in our book and was very excited when New Society Publishers in British Columbia said they wanted it. I LOVE their books and their philosophy; they are all about sustainable, green living. What a great fit! And so, the revised, updated expanded version of Growing and Marketing Ginseng, Goldenseal, and Other Woodland Medicinals was created.

Working with New Society Publishers has been a delight. They have a great team of people to help authors through the long and complicated process of writing, editing, and marketing a book. And they make it fun. So, the book is just out now and Scott and I are both very proud of it. The book is beautiful, the format is easy to read, and it feels good in your hands. It is a big book, over 500 pages, chock full of iniformation on how to grow, harvest, dry, sell, and enjoy these wonderful plants. So, if this topic is of interest to you, pick up a book. You can order one signed by me, Jeanine Davis, right here on this blog. You can order one signed by Scott Persons by contacting him at Tuckasegee Valley Ginseng, P.O. Box 236, Tuckasegee, NC 28783, (828) 293-5189. Some of your local, independent booksellers will carry it, and they all can order it for you. And the big online discount booksellers carry it, too. The suggested retail price for the book is $39.95, but it is available for a WIDE range of prices already. Hope you enjoy it!