Ginseng Book Available in Time for the Planting Season

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.

 

Who to take advice from on growing ginseng, or any crop, for that matter

The ginseng berries are ripening and that means it is about time to reserve seeds for your own ginseng gardens. Every year there are more and more people selling ginseng seeds and giving out advice on how to grow this very special plant. I have no doubt that some of these people are quite knowledgeable, but before taking advice from folks, be sure to check their credentials. They might not be quite as "expert" as you would like them to be.

Let me give you an example. Earlier this summer I was at a book signing sitting next to the author of a new book on another crop that I work with (I am going to protect her identity and not share what that crop is). It was a beautiful book with great photographs and an impressive layout. The author was very enthusiastic about the crop but as we got deeper into our discussion about it I was puzzled at some of the questions she couldn't answer. So I asked her how long she had been growing the crop, and she said two years. She had a total of two years of experience growing this crop and she wrote a book about it and was promoting herself on the speaking circuit as an expert! I was shocked to say the least.

The lesson is, anyone can call themselves an expert and anyone can write a book. So, before you go taking advice from someone on a crop as long-lived and valuable as ginseng, check them out. What is their background with ginseng? How long have they been growing it? Is there evidence to support their claims? What is their reputation? Do they have a website or a blog? How long have they been posting about it?

The same goes for ginseng seeds. Where did they come from? What region of the country are they from? Are they from artificial shade gardens or plants that grew in the woods? How were the seeds handled? Who stratified them? How have they been stored? Do they come with planting instructions? What is the expected germination percentage? What if none of them come up? Will you get a credit or a refund? Will the seller answer any questions you might have now, in a few weeks, or in a few months?

There are folks selling ginseng seed who have never grown or wild-harvested a ginseng plant in their life. They find a great deal on some ginseng seed "seconds" from a large producer somewhere, break it up into hundreds of packages, and sell them online. Many of these packages are bought by home gardeners who are thrilled if a few seeds germinate. But if you are a serious grower, you want a high germination rate and confidence that the seed are disease free and are the genus and species you ordered.

Here is an example of the kind of person I suggest you seek out for advice. My coauthor, Scott Persons, has been growing ginseng since 1979. He has supported his family all these years from his ginseng business. His seeds are shipped all over the world, he is considered by many to be the father of the wild-simulated ginseng growing method, and he is a popular speaker and consultant to growers in many countries. His first book, American Ginseng: Green Gold is a classic and highly prized by people who own an author signed copy. Without hesitation, I can say that few people know as much about ginseng as Scott Persons. Those are the kinds of credentials you should be looking for.

The Extension Service, university ginseng researchers, native plant and herb focused non-profits can also be great sources of information on how to grow ginseng. But they vary in their level and quality of expertise, too. Once in awhile I find a very authoratative looking ginseng bulletin online that was clearly written by someone who had never grown the plant before. They cut and pasted information from a variety of sources that they weren't qualified to evaluate. So even there, take a few minutes to look up the authors and see if they have grown ginseng in test plots or on-farm studies, or at least worked with ginseng growers for many years.

So, as we head into ginseng planting season and you start looking for seeds and someone to get growing advice from, take the time to check people out. Be suspicious if someone is selling seeds for much less than everyone else. And watch for those who advertise that you will make hundreds of thousands of dollars if you follow their advice, which they will gladly bill your credit card for.

I hope you all do plant some ginseng seeds this fall. Plant some for yourself to harvest in the future and some to give back to forest. Happy ginseng growing!!

Ginseng Wild-Harvesters are Growing their Own 'Sang, Too!

 

David Coates studying how to grow ginseng and other botanicals. Photo taken by Charity Hope Coates.

Ginseng harvest season opens in a few days and wild-harvesters are excited about getting out into the woods to harvest this valuable native herb. But the popularity of ginseng could soon lead to its demise and a possible ban to wild-harvesting if we don't make greater efforts to protect this plant. This means only harvesting mature plants that have had a chance to produce seeds, carefully planting the seeds from the plants you harvest, and growing more ginseng on our wooded lands.

One long-time harvester of wild-ginseng who has embraced growing his own ginseng is David Coates. David LIVES for ginseng. His business is Coates and Taylor's Roots and Herbs in Bluefield, WV. He buys ginseng and other roots from wild-harvesters and growers. He fills Facebook with posts about hunting ginseng, reminding readers to stay legal and only harvest mature roots in season. He also sells ginseng seeds and encourages his harvesters to grow some of their own.

I love this photo of David reading our book. Of course it is great free advertising for our book, but it supports what I always tell potential growers. If you want to be successful growing these plants, you need to learn everything you can about how to do it. Read our book, attend workshops and presentations by people who are actually doing it (beware "the expert" who never gets their hands dirty), and visit other growers (most are willing to share, especially if you offer to help or pay a consultation fee).

If you want to grow your own ginseng, now is an excellent time to get started. I am offering two specials right now :

• One special is 2 oz of high quality ginseng seed from Green Gold Enterprises with a copy of our book Growing and Marketing Ginseng, Goldenseal and Other Woodland Medicinals signed by Scott Persons. 

• The other special is 25 one-year-old ginseng rootlets from High Valley Ginseng with a copy of our book Growing and Marketing Ginseng, Goldenseal and Other Woodland Medicinals signed by me.  UPDATE ON 9/1/2015: JOHNNY IS SOLD OUT OF ONE YEAR OLD ROOTLETS. I  MODIFIED THE OFFER TO INCLUDE A SMALLER NUMBER OF THREE YEAR OLD ROOTLETS HERE.

 

 A wild-simulated ginseng root from Avery County, NC.

Here is a short excerpt from our book about wild-simulated planting as written by Scott Persons:

"The wild-simulated approach takes the longest time from planting to harvest, but it is by far the simplest method, the least expensive and time consuming, the most compatible with the natural ecology of your land, and it can be implemented on steep hillsides where nothing else is practical. Seeds are planted thinly with minimal disturbance to the forest floor and left to grow naturally so that extremely desirable roots, indistinguishable from truly wild roots, are harvested. In effect, the grower develops a naturalized population of wild ginseng within his woodlot. Wild-simulated growing requires only a modest investment in seed and labor, and the bulk of the labor is in the digging, which is not done until profit is nearly assured. It can be profitable on either a small or large scale. One person can plant and maintain many acres without mechanized equipment. In my opinion, it is the method of choice, if you have the right spot to do it, especially if that spot encompasses multiple acres. (If your woodlot is not ideally suited for ginseng, there is an alternative, more labor-intensive variation-see The Hankins Method at the end of this chapter)."

I would be remiss, however, if I did not point out that theft is going to be your major production problem. Do not take this lightly. Security should be a major component of your ginseng growing plan.