Ginseng is grown from seed. At three years of age, the ginseng plant produces a abundant crop of berries each fall, which can be harvested, cleaned and planted or sold. Because the seed is free, many growers prefer to use their own seed for new plantings, rather than buying rootlets from other growers.
You can dry your roots naturally by placing them in a covered area, spread out on a screened rack. At that time your roots should be dried.
First of all, having a healthy, well-drained soil should stop a lot of potential pest and disease problems. If some problems do arise, only use natural pesticides to stop them.
Try yellow sticky traps for most pest problems. Be sure to do regular weeding, but be careful not to harm your roots. Check for proper air circulation, and thin underbrush regularly, as that will keep the air moving and help keep disease under control.
There are three main ways to sell ginseng roots. First is to sell directly to wholesale buyers. This gets you paid right away, and you can sell right out of your backyard nursery. Second is to sell to out-of-state buyers. Take good care in shipping your ginseng. Finally, you can sell to ginseng brokers, who buy ginseng in bulk and then resell it to other people.
You can start your own ginseng business with not much money. Using the wild-simulated method, the experts recommend a seeding rate of twenty pounds per acre. In the Far East, ginseng root is used in toothpaste, soft drinks, tea, candy, chewing gum and cigarettes. It also appears on the market as crystals, extract, powder capsules and is sold as the whole root. In the United States, ginseng and ginseng products are marketed in Asian food and health food stores.
Most of the ginseng used in the United States, however, is imported from Korea. The amount of Asian ginseng that is imported is about equal to the amount of higher-priced American ginseng that is exported. Ginseng seed is also marketed.
Ginseng plants generally begin to produce harvestable seed in the third year of growth. It takes approximately plants to produce 1 lb of seed, which may produce 5, seedlings. American ginseng plants are generally started from seeds. Seedlings or roots for transplanting are available commercially, but are used infrequently. Seeds are planted in the fall and germinate in the spring. Although researchers have examined ways to break this juvenility requirement and hasten germination, it is still not understood.
First-year seedlings produce one compound leaf with three leaflets. This leaf, 1 to 2 in. Underground, the plant develops a thickened root about 1 in. At the top of the root, a small rhizome or "neck" develops with a regeneration bud at the apex of the rhizome. In autumn, the leaf drops, and a stem supporting new leaves emerges from the regeneration bud the following spring. The plant develops more leaves, with more leaflets, each year until the fourth or fifth year.
A mature plant is 12 to 24 in. Leaflets are approximately 5 in. In midsummer, the plant produces inconspicuous greenish-yellow clustered flowers. The mature fruit is a pea-sized crimson berry, generally containing 2 wrinkled seeds.
After three years of growth, the roots begin to attain a marketable size 3 to 8 in. In older plants, the root is usually forked. Wild or high-quality cultivated ginseng root has prominent circular ridges.
Highest quality mature root breaks with a somewhat soft and waxy fracture. Young or undersized roots dry hard and glassy and are less marketable. Ginseng grows best under conditions that simulate its natural habitat. Ginseng thrives in a climate with 40 to 50 in.
It requires several weeks of cold temperatures for adequate dormancy. Ginseng generally prefers a loamy, deep 12 in. Extremely sandy soil tends to produce long, slender roots of inferior quality. Most ginseng crops are started from seed, rather than roots or seedlings. This is the least expensive way to start a plantation and may help prevent the introduction of soil-borne disease to new plantations.
Ginseng requires 3 to 5 years to produce a marketable crop from seed. As there is an 18 month seed dormancy, freshly harvested seed cannot be used for starting a crop. It must be stratified for 18 to 22 months before planting. Seed stratification involves soaking the seed in a formaldehyde solution and in a fungicide, then burying the seed outdoors in moist sand. Most seed is already stratified when it is purchased and needs only to be treated with a fungicide and sown.
Seed should not be allowed to dry out before or after seeding. For planting seeds or seedlings, till the soil to a depth of 8 to 10 in. For root planting, work the beds 12 in. For best results, mix soil 1 to 1 with fiber-free woodland soil.
Make beds 4 ft wide with alleys between them for walkways and for farm equipment. If the bed is on flat ground, mound the center to facilitate good runoff. Slope the walkways so they will drain water from the beds during heavy rains. Shade can be provided by wooden lath sheds or polypropylene fabric. Artificial shade should be placed about 7 ft above the ground to ensure good air circulation.
Do not use burlap or muslin, which can interfere with air circulation. Ginseng seed is generally planted in the fall and covered with mulch until spring. This method is labour intensive but may be suitable for small gardens. Most commercial root is dug by modified potato diggers. The exposed roots are then picked up by hand and put in baskets. The diggers may run over the garden as many as three times to ensure all of the root is removed from the soil. Some growers use fully automated equipment.
With this method the root is dug, passed over a conveyor belt and immediately placed in containers for refrigeration. Growers can buy or lease equipment for harvest or they may choose to have a custom operator harvest the root. Obviously there can be a wide range in the cost of these various operations. Table 3 is a basic outline of costs incurred when root is dug by a custom contract. Table 4 lists post-harvest costs associated with ginseng production. This table does not include the costs of the washing and grading line.
Drying and refrigeration costs are highly dependent on the current energy costs and can vary widely from one year to the next. Revenue from both roots and seed can vary widely from year to year. As with many other crops, the price of ginseng is affected by supply and demand see the OMAFRA website for information on the marketing and export of ginseng. The overall revenue from a garden is affected by root quality. Quality in ginseng involves not only shape but taste, texture and colour.
Shape and taste are primarily properties imparted by the growing environment of the root. For example, a half-acre planted in ginseng will start producing seeds in the third year. Seed production will be small that year, typically around twenty pounds for a half-acre. The fourth year, you can expect around fifty pounds of seed, then one hundred pounds or more in the fifth and sixth year.
For another source of supplemental income, many growers plant a portion of their seed just to grow two or three year old rootlets for resale. As any ginseng grower will tell you, that beats growing potatoes by a country mile!
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