TOPIC: My first big planting of seng - Hankins Method used

TNhunter

From what your seller said, sounds like the bleach treatment does'nt really harm seeds that are cracked.

It also sounds like he would be a good source for seeds that have little or no disease problems. I remember seeing a seng garden area in Hollandale MN. driving through there several times yrs ago.

I would be interested in buying seeds from him next year.

Sorry to get you excited over nothing.

classicfur

Classicfur,

No problem and I do hope the seed works out OK.

On a side note - I remember you saying you were from Main.

I have a nephew that lives up there now - very small town named Cooper. I think the larger town near by is Callis - it is over on the east cost.

He is a Boarder Patrol Agent and just moved up there about a year ago (was previously stationed in Arizona - Talk about a Change) !!!

Anyway his Mom - My sister was going up there to see him this fall and I told her that she should ask him if he has hunted any seng up there and when she came back he told her it was not legal to hunt wild seng in Main.

I guess that makes your wild-simulated plantings a bit safer from poaching.

I hope you do well there.

TNhunter

I tried posting this earlier, but I was having problems for some reason. I hope I don't post the same thing ten times. Anyway, I want to thank you, Classicfur, for the heads up about moisture levels. I may have screwed up on my first planting. The day I planted, they were calling for an 80% chance of rain. We ended up getting 15 minutes worth of sprinkles. Technically, it did rain, but not the quantities they were calling for. Maybe I'll get lucky and that little bit of rain plus what were supposed to get tomorrow will cause some germination.

TNhunter, I need to thank you as well. You did all of my homework for me. I ended up buying some seeds from the same gentleman you did, and you asked all the questions I had. It's nice to know he's already treated the seeds. Now I just need him to come and plant them for me.

On a side note, I checked A LOT of places for seeds, and most were sold out. In fact, some places up North didn't anticipate having any seed for sale next year. Sounds like if you want to plant seed next year, locking up your order early would be wise. Thanks again guys!!!

TNhunter

Calais and Cooper is about 3.5 hrs southeast of me. Theres not alot of people living in that part of the state. That is a big change for your nephew moving from Arizona to here. From no winter to 5 months of snow and Cold!

When I applied for my Ginseng Cultivation license, the head lady from the state Ag. dept had to come out and inspect my property to make sure there was no wild seng growing here. there is none, but they say it used to grow in my area many years ago.

My 30 acres are next to 100 acres thats not posted, so its gets some traffic from hunters but mostly during Nov.(deer season) when there is no seng plants visible. I told the lady from the state that I was a little concerned about my plantings being poached. She felt that they would be very safe from that. She said that no one even knows what ginseng is around here. She also told me that If someone tried to sell my seng, they would have to sell it out of state since there are no seng dealers in the state. She also said they would need a seng cult. lic. in order for the state to certify it. There are only 8 licensed growers in the state.

I hope it is safe! Time will tell.

Thanks for your encouragement.

classicfur

Like Jacquo said. Order your seeds early.

I usually order mine in July, but I think I will order mine in May this coming year. Usually the longer you wait the more chance of not getting your seeds and you might get seeds from the bottom of the barrel.

And normally when you order early, they do not require payment until their ready to ship your seeds.

I would be totaly bummed if I waited a whole year and found out that all the seeds where sold out!!!

classicfur

Hey Guys,

We got another good rain last night and looks like it may rain quite a bit more today - still a bit stormy and windy outside.

I asked that hardwoodginseng seed supplier another question or two about the cracked (smiling) seeds and about treatment and below is his reply.

\"The next batch of seed I will be sending is not cracked open quite as much. But they will crack open very soon. They are cracking open, but not quite as much as my last batch. My last batch I took the seed and float tested it and placed it in fairly damp sand, which sped up the cracking stage. This batch is freshly dug and will follow the same pattern as the last batch. Now if you notice in the Ginseng book, I believe root treatment of bleach is the same amount of bleach as the seed. And my guess is if it does not hurt a root, it should not hurt a seed that is cracked open.\"

I ordered another pound of seed from him yesterday.

Looks like many/most suppliers are short, I checked on wildgrown but they no longer have larger quantities for sale (2 & 4 oz packages is all they are shipping now).

If you are going to get some seed, you better get it soon.

Best of Luck to All !

TNhunter

TNhunter

Good point about the rootlets being treated the same as seeds. You may be right. But a rootlet no longer has an embryo. I don't know if the embryo in a seed is more delicate or sensitive to the treatment compared to a rootlet that has no embryo any more.

Good thought.

classicfur

Hey,
I just wanted to chime in about hardwoodginseng. I bought seed from him last year, I go to college fairly close to where he lives so I decided to pick my seed up and got to talk to him. He is a very nice guy willing to aswerer any questions you have. I e-mail him on a regular basis with my ideas and always get very good responses. Also the seed I planted from him germinated very well. Just thought I would let you guys know that he is a good reputable dealer.

Kyle,

Thanks for the info - very glad to hear that.

All - I got off work today at 3:30 and ate a quick bite and headed off to the woods again to plant more seed.

It rained good hear last night and some more this morning and sprinkled a bit on and off thru the evening.

I went back down to the same spot, and just moved over about 10' from my first big planting strip and cleared another strip up the same hill.

This time I thought I would try the rake and scatter method and have two plantings side by side, Hankins in one, Rake/Scatter in the other.

I cleared a strip up the hill 4' wide and 90' long - raking back all of the leaves and as much of that leaf compost as I could with my leaf rake, then garden rake.

Then I took my garden weasel and garden rake (used both) and scratched up the soil top best I could. It actually worked up nicely and I would say on average it was 1/2 to 3/4 inch deep but mostly just fluffed up good.

I then took the rest of my original 3000 seed order (estimate around 1300-1500 seed, and started at the bottom and dropped them on the bed doing my best to space them out every 6 inches or so. I did not do rows this time, just tried to drop one every 6 inches all over the bed.

I actually ran out of seed before I reached the top of the bed, at the 80' mark. So I ended up with a 4'x 80' bed with seed dropped every 6\" or so. When finished with that I marked it off good with the marker flags.

I then scattered bone meal and gypsum on top, and then raked all of that leaf compost and leaves back on, then walked up and down the bed (probably 10-12 times) doing my best to step on every inch.

This time I got started right at 4:00 and finished at 5:45.

Much less labor intensive, and much easier on the old back.

So now side by side I have two methods used and will be able to compare the results next spring and over the next few years.

I now have all of those first 3000 seed order planted, and waiting on that next pound of seed to arrive.

Overall the experience this evening was much better, hope the results pan out. We'll see with time.

TNhunter

i scattered all of my seeds last year. They done really good and much easier so i think yours will do the same