TOPIC: when does ginsang grow berries in western pa

i went out and looked for ginsang for a few hours this evening and couldnt find any. my question is when does it generally grow berries.

fitterbradley wrote:

i went out and looked for ginsang for a few hours this evening and couldnt find any. my question is when does it generally grow berries.

Ginseng begins to grow seed berries just after the flowers die and fall off after flowering. Having lived in the Northern Mountains of West Virginia and trying to consider the harsh winters that it and Western Pennsylvania have, I would guess that this generally between late May to as late as late June for your area. Now, as far as the berries ripening (turning red) before falling off each year there, considering my previous statement and having dug Ginseng in WV, I would guess that the berries begin to ripen in your area on some years as early as late July to probably no later that mid to late August for other years. Either of the above could be a little earlier or later depending upon late cold snaps or warmer weather in the Spring into early Summer and early cold snaps or warmer weather in the late Summer into early Fall. Also, based on the posts here on Wildgrown of the ripening of the seed berries elsewhere and especially futher South this year, I would imagine that the ripening of the berries on Ginseng in Western PA should be peaking right now or coming to an end, so you may need to hit the ground hard to find some plants still aglow with red berries.


Frank

I live in north western PA. Last year my first day of hunting was on Sept 1, and 3/4 of all the plants had already dropped their berries. This year I've seen some in the woods right now with red berries, but I don't think they'll be sticking on very much longer.

I saw a few plants that still had green berries

I dig in northern and western pa. the answer to your question is that it all depends on the weather!! as this yr. pa has been VERY cool at night and has been a very cool summer in pa over all this yr. Frank is right with his answer, but it really all depends on the weather.... I am at my sons home in pa right now and we are scouting with our G.P.S. and i am finding that on the really big plants 50% have already fallen off and the plants are already turning very yellow in a lot of places...the indicator plants are all yellowing back as well all the blood root, black, blue cohosh may apple ect ect. this is the earliest i have ever seen here in pa. in over 40 yrs!! hi Frank

ginseng and companion plants are holding up pretty well here, some have fallen over due to the weight of the ripe berries. I don't believe I've seen any yellow ginseng plants yet and I've seen quite a few. I think it's thanks to the timely rains although it has been a cool summer