borrowed time do they make you bring out every top that you dig ?

Yes, supposed to bring out with root, until you get home. I do not know what the heck the difference would be, but most of the people running the show are not really that smart about the plant. A few years ago they were trying to push legislation you could only take four-prong plants, to make sure they were really mature. (this maybe was more than just wi.) When they were informed that the bigger plants would be targeted and wiped out they backed off.

Billy, in checking wi reg. they still want you to just dig 4-prong plants and they do not say when you can dispose of the tops. make tea later, I suppose.

borrowed time I am sure glad that we do not have to bring all the tops out,on a good day I would have a big bag of them,that would be inconvenient for me with my other gear since I am taking a video camera this season along and my back pack and digger.

This is something I've always done as well.

What's really cool is that on some of the hillsides I dig 80% or more of the ginseng will have small roots growing out of the neck. Sadly there are other areas where the necks are almost always bare of any small roots.
I've dug 4 prongs the next year only to realize it was the one I planted back the year before. The other thing I like is it usually only takes two or three years for it to have a decent sized root again.
Concerning the picture posted, I would break that neck off at year 7 instead of year 2. Then the root you harvest still has a neck showing several years on it and the root you plant back will still keep growing as well.

Some of the old-timers in my area used to carry a pocketknife and actually cut the top eighth of an inch or so of the main root off and plant everything back and keep the main root. I have never done this because I would think the dealers and buyers would not like it one bit. But I have dug ginseng roots in the last few years where it was obvious this had been done. I just wonder what the dealers say to them when they bring in a bunch of roots with no neck and the top of the root sliced off.

How you been UKFan,


Most of the dealers in my opinion (just my opinion,im not saying this would be fact to _base_ a descision on) only wory about the root scares if the root is so small that they have to try and descern the age of the root to buy and resale it without suspicion of its age.

I've been out Scouting now for past 2 days i say 60% are more... berries are gone they did not turn red... Not sure i think the heat had something to do with it and no rain... u just see were the berries were but all gone now....

RedDog,man sory to hear that.Maybe there are some deer and turkeys hitting on the berrys also.You think maybe ?

I just got back again today and No u can see were they have fallen off stalk.. u can still see the white green looking hairs were the berries should be..

!!! Man !!!

O.K guys I had told you all that I was going to exsperiment with this and see how it worked.And now that my results are in I will share them with you all.


No# 1
It is a fact that if you start digging at the first of your season and alot of your berries are still green,that you can pinch off the stalk and plant it back in the whole where you dug it and the berries will finsh getting ripe.Just didg a little further down and stick the stalk a good 6 to 8 inches in the ground,go back 2 to 3 weeks later and plant the red berries.This is no longer a theroy It is a fact and it works.

No# 2

It is also true that if you harvest a plant and you remove the curl from it where it is attached to the root,,,or if it is a root that has sevral hair roots sprouting before the main root then you can clip the curl right there and replant the curl and it will begin to grow a new root and that root will send up a new seng bunch and reproduce berries in the years to come and giving enough time it would make a digable root once again......This is a fact.......

I would not tell you these two things unless I had first tryed them and learned my self.But I did and it is very true.

Once again have you ever dug a root that had a very large curl like big as your thumb,but the root was no larger than a decent 3 pronger ? Of course all of us older diggers most likely have...Well that is because someone who new this procedure has senged in the area that you are now senging.

Any way you do not have to worry about the August 15 starting date any more for all the guys who live in the southern areas,because your berries will ripen and fall or you can go back and plant them in a couple of weeks if you use and follow this procedure that I have mentioned.

Now me I love to plant all of my wild seeds and not just let them fall,because you get alot better turn out of plants from planted seeds than you do the natural fall of the seeds and that is something I know by exsperience as well....

Billy.