One more thing...

The most ginseng me and my partner ever dug on a single days hunt (about 5 hours digging time) was 6 lbs 3 oz (green).

The name of the hollw was "Rocky Hollow".

We have searched the topo maps of our county and found a few other hollows named "Rocky Hollow" or "Rock Branch" and are basically looking for any hollows with "Rock" in the name.

Hope we can get permission to hunt for seng in a few more of those rocky hollows. We are sure going to try.

PS - those seng seeds only need to be planted about 1/2 inch deep so as long as you can get down that far to plant them they will be Ok.

You should get a soil test and specifically look at the calcium content. Per Scotts book the best stands of seng grow in soil where the calcium content is in the 4000-5000 lbs per acre range.

You may well have that in very rocky soil.

THhunter

Ben wrote:
Hi,
Thanks to Wildgrown for this place to "meet". I'm new here and new to ginseng after our local county extension agent told us we had a site that should be ideal for growing ginseng -- north-facing wooded slope, mostly maple, ash, and hickory, lots of cohosh and trillium growing there, etc. But this is New Hampshire. When I went to take soil samples, I could dig more than an inch or two without running into stones, from pebble- to fist-size, and a webwork of stringy roots from other plants. This litter runs to at least four or five inches deep under the ground surface. Assuming I can pry this litter aside and plant ginseng seeds, will they grow marketable roots in this kind of setting? Would appreciate any insights or experience.
Thanks!
Ben

Ben

You said that you live in New Hampshire. I live in Maine.

Up here the snow on the North side of hills stays the longest. It does not melt away until late April and sometimes as late as May. Also the the Sun Light does not come far enough north to allow good growth on the North side of hills. And then around June 21 the sun starts it's way south which starts making the North side of hills darker. As Far north as you live I think you would be better to plant on East or West side of hills in order to get enough light to have marketable roots within 10 years.

All of my roots are planted on west sloped hills and are growing quite large. 2-4 year olds

Check out this _link_. on pages 9-11 http://www.wildgrown.com/growing_ginseng_instructions.pdf

Also check out what TNhunter had to say about north facing hills.

http://www.wildgrown.com/index.php/Ginseng-Forum/Growing-Ginseng/5152-Location-Light-Exposure-Soil-Type-can-make-a-HUGE-difference.html

I'm over in Vt. Classicfur is right don't be afraid of western slopes this far north. I just dug some nice roots yesterday that were on a west facing sugarbush. However, make sure it's not too dry. I've got quite a few western slope patches and all but one are alongside a moist drainage, where it is a little cooler and more moist. If you have some maidenhair growing on a western slope you should be ok.

Thanks to Classicfur and Maya for the great information and to Classicfur for the _link_ to the booklet -- one of the best I've seen yet. We have a lot of maidenhair on our north-facing slope, so maybe it'll be good enough. The north-facing slope is the only slope we've got, so we'll plant some seed and see what happens over the next year or two.