TOPIC: First time ginseng hunting

This morning is the first time that I have ever went ginseng hunting. I've come across it before while in the woods scouting for deer but I've never put forth the effort in digging it, untill this year. I went this morning and had a pretty good day. I found some and dug some. I left more than I found. I found a bunch of three prongers, but only dug a couple of the bigger ones. Found a few four prongers and one five prong. I also planted all the berrys I found even on the plants I didn't dig. With all the smaller plants I found the future looks bright the next year or two if nothing don't happen. Looks like I might have a new hobby..like I really need another one. LOL:laugh: When my legs rest up I'll be ready to go again. I have one question for you more experianced hunters. How much effort should you put forth in cleaning your roots before drying? Can you just rinse of the loose dirt real good or do you need to brush it with a soft bristle brush of some kind to get down in the crevices? Thanks.

You can use a soft bristled brush if you want to, but just use it very lightly, and dont try to get every last bit of dirt out of the crevices and be careful not to abraid the \"skin\" of the root. I use a brush sometimes, especially helpful in cleaning up the ones dug from heavy clay. If the roots came from nice soft loamy soil you probably wont need any brush just wipe them with your hands under running water.

Oh yeh, by the way congrats on a great hunt! If this was your first, then you probably don't realize what a special find that 5 prong was (They are pretty hard to come by) least ways around here.

Congrats thats realy good

I know five prongs are rare. I almost overlooked this one. I spotted the big bunch of berries a ways off, when I got closer I looked and it didn't have any leaves. A deer or somthing must have eat them, but there were five prongs around the berries just no leaves on the end of them. It had a good size root on it also.