TOPIC: Removing flower beneficial for root growth

Hillhopper

I had three of my kids do the clipping this past year and paid 2 of them $50 each and the youngest one $15. It cost me , but saved my back.

classicfur

Hey classicfur, I was wondering if you have checked how long it took to clip certain plots or figured how many square feet could be done in an hours time

Hillhopper

If I clip the flowers instead of the kids doing it.
I'm guessing it took me about 10-14 hrs for 4000 plants. And you have to spread it out over several days because of the bending over. I use a mini fiskars pruning scissors. Their only about 4\" long and very sharp. But they are narrow blades and pointed, so it's easy to get in and clip.

Personally, I like paying the kids to do the job. But they take more days to do the job.

classicfur

Hey Guys,

On the subject of clipping ginseng blossoms - - -

I year or so ago I was looking around online at images (found via google image search on ginseng) and found some of these little Chinese looking ladys that had baskets full of ginseng blossoms. They had obviously been doing just what you are talking about and they were collecting those blossoms.

At the time I wondered why someone would do that, but then later on after buying Scotts book read why - to increase root production.

But on this part - they were collecting those blossoms in a nice basket.

I looked around a bit more just now and found this online:

\"The results of a recent 20 year study conducted by the world renowned European LAT Laboratory has shown that the most valuable part of ginseng plant is not the commonly used root but the flower buds. A primary finding of the study is that ginseng flower buds contain more than 500% of the total ginsenosides found in ginseng roots.\"

boundlessearth.com/ginseng_bud_blossom.html

Sounds like there might be a market out there for those blossoms. If you are going to clip them off, would be nice to be able to sell them for a profit.

Classic fur might be able to pay those youngsters and put a little jingle in his pocket too.

Thought you might want to look into that.

It will be several years down the road before I need to.

TNhunter

TNhunter

That's news to me. I will have to do some research to see if their is a market for the flowers. I know when I clip mine, they are just beginning to form. Perhaps I should allow the flower blossom to form, but clip it before the berries form. That would still shoot some energy to the root that would other wise go into the berries. Hmmm

Thanks for that info!

classicfur

I believe I read that same report TNhunter, it was where a man had built a business making super concentrated tinctures from the blossoms if Im not mistaken

TNhunter wrote:

Hey Guys,

On the subject of clipping ginseng blossoms - - -

I looked around a bit more just now and found this online:

\"The results of a recent 20 year study conducted by the world renowned European LAT Laboratory has shown that the most valuable part of ginseng plant is not the commonly used root but the flower buds. A primary finding of the study is that ginseng flower buds contain more than 500% of the total ginsenosides found in ginseng roots.\"
boundlessearth.com/ginseng_bud_blossom.html

Sounds like there might be a market out there for those blossoms.
Thought you might want to look into that.

TNhunter

http://www.lat.upatras.gr/

Im lookin in to it as well...it always throws up a flag with me when something has an fda disclaimer and has been researched by \"European Labrotories\" the LAT is world renowned in the Automotive Industry...this smells fishy.lol

K_duce

I had checked into the market to sell the blossoms back 5 months ago when I started this thread. I could not find anyone that buys the blossoms.

But another point is that when I clip the blossoms they are not developed into a blossom yet. In fact they are just starting to grow and are very small when I clip the blossom. The Idea is to covert what energy it would take to develope the blossom into energy to make the root grow bigger.

As quoted earlier by Scott Persons:

A great deal of energy of the ginseng plant goes toward the development of berries. If the seed spike and the blossoms are snipped in early summer, berry formation is prevented and additional energy is available for root growth. Exactly how much blossom snipping adds to root weight is known only for three- and four-year-old plants in artificial-shade gardens:25%-30% increase in root weight annually. I suspect that in woods-cultivated beds the annual gain would be similar. Since the benefit should be compounded as the growing seasons go by and the beneficial effect of blossom picking is widely known, it is somewhat surprising that more woods growers don't blossom snip. If you are not interested in expanding your production or in selling seeds to a neighbor, then blossom picking is a simple, natural, though highly labor intensive, way to increase root growth.\"

Here's another note from a MO. state page:
\"The majority of plants grown to simulate the wild condition will not reach a desired root size and maturity until 9-10 years after planting. However, you can remove flowers annually from two- and three-prong plants and increase root size and decrease harvest time by a year or so.\"

If I could find a buyer for blossoms, that would pay well for them, I would be willing to let the blossoms develope more fully on my 3-4 yr olds and then clip them.

classicfur

Interesting post guys.
Clssicfur referenced the following:

Here's another note from a MO. state page:
\"The majority of plants grown to simulate the wild condition will not reach a desired root size and maturity until 9-10 years after planting. However, you can remove flowers annually from two- and three-prong plants and increase root size and decrease harvest time by a year or so.\"



I guess if you would only be decreasing harvest time by 1 year it would not be worth it to me to be clipping the seed blossom. I am not sure it is worth it to me even if it decreased the harvest time by 3 years.

Making a profit from my ginseng that I have planted is the end goal. However, it is comforting to me to visit my ginseng beds and I like to think about my ginseng beds producing seed. I am not sure I would want to clip the flower. I like the idea of the seeds coming on someday. I would like to see all those red seed pods growing abundantly presumably in the 5th or 6th year after planting a bed. Collecting the seed to give away, sell or plant is something I look forward to and far outweighs a decreased harvest time for me.

I am not against clipping the blossom, but I think I will wait it out.
Latt

i do my share of clipping but it is usually later in the year, the benifits that i recieve are 1.deters poaching 2.Allows me to harvest any seed and replant to replace plants that didn't survive and increase my acerage. 3. Ive found some interested korean ladies who love to make ginseng tea with the tops. about 25.00 per small walmart bag when dried..(1 fresh bag of leaves will make about 6 dried bags of leaves because of the drying factor. you can put about 2000 fresh average ginseng tops into a walmart bag. yes i have actually counted and averaged lol.It takes about 2 hours to fill a walmart bag.
I think that any benefit in weight that i may not be realizing by snipping the blossoms earlier, i have gained by realizing a profit from the leaves and seed production and overall increased acerage. For me it would be double duty if i snipped the blossoms and then later that year snipped the leaves. Thats my system, it works for me. just wanted to share that.