TOPIC: drying

Hello all


Can someone please tell my how much weight is lost from the root once it is dried out!?


Thank you

Welcome to the forum sengdigger,
Where i am in tennessee my ginseng has almost always dried out about 3 to 3 1/4Lbs fresh to make 1 lb dry. Im kinda a newbie thou ive only been digging ginseng about 40 years and only been growing it about 20 so i could be wrong.
I have heard other wild stories of ginseng drying out at 4 to 1 and in some cases 5 to 1, mainly on this board.

If you do a google search on ginseng wet to dry weight you will find documents from the kentucky dept of agriculture that instructs dealers in that state to record their ginseng in dry weight at the rate of 3 to 1 and if the dealer has descripancie in weight they can bring it in for verification.

Thanks Man!! I'm in Tennessee too.

There are variables at play in how much weight is lost. Some years you get a better average than other years. I've had lots on the racks at the same time and gotten 4:1 with one and 3:1 with another.

Later in the season it doesn't dry away as much.
On average I'd have to say the shrinkage is at least 3.25 to 1
Another factor now is that green seng is being sold with the dirt still attached so it probably is more like 3.5 to 1 ratio.

Like BCastle said, there are many factors that affect how much weight is lost.

In general, you will lose more weight in the beginning of the season as the roots tend to have more moisture in them in early fall. As the season continues, you will usually lose less weight, but your beginning weight will be less due to the moisture that has naturally escaped.

If you're looking for just a rough estimate:

3.25-3.75 lbs fresh = 1 lb dry @ beginning season
3.00-3.40 lbs fresh = 1 lb dry @ end of season

ahershey wrote:

If you're looking for just a rough estimate:

3.25-3.75 lbs fresh = 1 lb dry @ beginning season
3.00-3.40 lbs fresh = 1 lb dry @ end of season

So your average is about 3.35 to 1
That is pretty close to the average that I had at 3.25 to 1
The 3 to 1 is a little on the light side for our paper work.

rootman - your average was solid. I just broke it out between beginning and end of season ratios to show the difference due to the natural change in moisture. And I completely agree - 3 to 1 is too light. 3:1 makes it easy to come up with a rough estimate, but realistically it's slightly more than that - how much more depends on various factors. If I had to choose only one ratio to approximate for the year, it would be around 3.25:1.

ahershey wrote:

rootman - your average was solid. I just broke it out between beginning and end of season ratios to show the difference due to the natural change in moisture. And I completely agree - 3 to 1 is too light. 3:1 makes it easy to come up with a rough estimate, but realistically it's slightly more than that - how much more depends on various factors. If I had to choose only one ratio to approximate for the year, it would be around 3.25:1.

Been digging a couple decades myself but never really paid attention to the wet to dry until last year. Had always just dryed it and sold it previously. I read the 3:1 was it but it ended up more like the 3.25 or closer to 3.5 to 1 for me and it was dug within the first three weeks of season.