TOPIC: Root and vine issues

We will soon be planting our ginseng seeds and while we were picking out a good spot we noticed that just beneath the dirt there are roots and vines running every where. Will this be an issue for us planting our seeds? I appreciate any help. Thanks in advance.

Bamadigger3856 wrote:

We will soon be planting our ginseng seeds and while we were picking out a good spot we noticed that just beneath the dirt there are roots and vines running every where. Will this be an issue for us planting our seeds? I appreciate any help. Thanks in advance.

Bamadigger3856,

First, since I had not had a chance to welcome you to the Wildgrown forums, I wanted to do so! I hope you will stay with us, share some stories of planting, hunting and digging Ginseng and wish you luck on your planting!

It sounds like you may have Virginia Creeper, Poison Ivy or both as well as possibly other tubular vine growing species growing where you want to plant! Yes, these can be a problem from not only preparing the ground for planting as they can sometimes make it hard to really score the ground but these vine growing plants can also choke out the Ginseng if they are not controlled in some manner. Also, these viney plants can rob Ginseng of needed water and nutrients. If you have no other place to plant, then controlling these viney plants with herbicides is probably not an option as you would need to spray them this Spring and Summer and it would not be a good idea to plant Ginseng in this location until next year when most if not all of the herbicides have washed out of the soil. If you have no other place to plant, then you will want to start early, digging and cutting out as much of the viney plants as possible. Once your' Ginseng seeds emerge and have fully leafed out and if the viney plants are still a problem, continue to dig and cut these out as necessary but be careful to not injure or upset the Ginseng. While you may not rid this location of the pesky viney plants, you may be a able to control them by starting now and by staying ahead of any futher spread of these viney plants.

Good luck!


Frank

I agree. They are not all that desirable to leave in a newly planted bed of ginseng. After the plants are a little older, I wouldn't worry about them much, however.

Glyphosate (Roundup and a few off brands much cheaper) is a good choice. If I'm going to spray off an area, I generally do so in June and again in early August. That generally leaves a mostly weed free area to plant and gives the small ginseng seedlings a head start before they get choked out.

Hi \"Bamadigger\" and welcome. If you can spray early in the spring, immediately after green up, you may be able to use glyphosate (Roundup). Glyphosate is not soil active, so it will only kill plants that are green and growing. If you wanted to start before green up you could use something that is a pre-emergent/soil active. If you go to your county University extension office they can help you pick out the exact right herbicide for the job. There should be an office in each county in the state. They can also help you with free soil testing to help you ensure your soil nutrients and Ph are optimum for growing ginseng.

I thinkI would pick a different spot. If at all possible, getting an area that does not have these competors for your fledgling crop will be to your advantage.

I am planting in an area where there are intense competitors for my 'sang, and we prepare the area in a big way. we reduce the competing rhodendron to nubs, remove the overhang, and all of this is very labor intensive.

I do not have the problem of vine roots under the soil, my competing plants were above ground, and could be removed. their roots are sorta like tree roots, localized and do't grow everywhere like you describe.

TNHunter has produced a video where you can see the planting process, please do a search here in the search engine above and you can see how a great way to plant is. I would also recommend seeing this as you can get an idea of what a really great area to plant looks like.

Here's the title of that thread, scrolld down to TNHunter's posting where he puts a link to his youtube videos...
\"Re:Techniques for planting and growing wild ginseng\"


BTW, if those vine roots are kudsu, you will have a real problem removing that stuff. It's pretty aggressive...