TOPIC: Removing flower beneficial for root growth

after my edward scissorhands imitation

Drying the leaves

Latt

I guess the part that impressed me about what Persons said. Was this:

Quote
\"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.\"

25%-30% during the third and fourth year seemed like a huge increase in root size. I was'nt really looking at harvesting a year earlier. And then from the fifth year on, I will allow the plants to produce seeds.

If its true that a 25-30% increase in root size is possible for that third and four year, that would be great. I do have some 3 and 4 yr olds that I have not clipped the blossoms. So perhapes at the end of this season, I can weigh some of both and see what the difference in weight is.

K_duce

I like your idea. And it's nice that you have a local market for your tops.

I was wondering at what age are your plants that produce a nice seed spike?

classicfur

Classicfur,
I wonder if clipping the blossom makes the roots grow too big thus losing some of the value. 25-30% is a big increase in weight. It will be interesting to see if the root still looks wrinkled and gnarled like wild root, verses smooth white carrot like roots, resembling cultivated root that grows to fast.

If the root grows 25-30% larger per year and the root retains the wild look then you may be on to something.

It's the \"chicken or the egg\" syndrome almost. i might consider clipping the blossom in the early years to get the root bigger if it would help the ginseng grow bigger seed pods earlier. I mean I would suspect a bigger root could produce larger plants with more seeds better and faster than a smaller root and plant.

K_duce,
Classicfur had asked a question in his post above and I wanted to mention that since I jumped his post. Also my wife and I have been drinking Ginseng leaf tea from leaves I had dried out as you had shown in your pics. The leaves stay green if anyone was wondering. I still have some left from last fall.

We both like the tea with a little bit of honey in it.
Latt

Latt

That's an interesting thought. I do think that cultivated roots look like carrots because they till the soil and they fertilize their roots several times a year. My soil has only the top 1\" of soil scratched and I don't fertilize at all.

At the beginning of this thread I quoted Scott saying:

\"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.\"

I am surprised that I have not heard of anyone else clipping blossoms other than reading about it. In time I will know the results. Perhaps I will contact Scott and get a little more info on the effect on appearance of the roots.

Good point!

Thanks,
classicfur

Latt, yep i like the green tea also...as long as i dont make it too strong i will use about the same amount per cup as in 2 tea bags, much more than that and i think it is too strong, I get it to about the same color as the lipton green tea is in the bottles. I had one korean lady put way too many leaves in her tea so i had to show her how to make it.

Classic, In my patch i dont really see any meaningful seed production until the ginseng reaches about seven years, then it is hit or miss alot of times, sometimes they will send up fake stems which look promising but don't really offer much if any seed. In the area that i live, a full seed head is generally the exception and not the average, from what i can tell about seeding and age here you almost have to have ginseng in the 15 to 20 year range to get seeds like on cultivated or woods-grown it is possible that i am in an area that has been senged heavily well not possible \"very likely\". I have heard about snipping the seed blossoms and it makes sense to me that it could increase the weight, i am more geared toward having a ginseng patch that will grow, produce seed, grow more plants, i really want to become self-sufficient in my seed production and maybe one day be able to sell some quality wild-simulated seed. But i do think that snipping is probably good to add weight to anything.....i had my dog snipped and he gained 15lbs...Have a good day

I have farmed pretty much my entire life and I know when we topped tobacco it put more leaf on. So, I guess it's safe to say that if you \"topped\" sang to early it could put more leaf on as well. So I assume it's ok for the plant health wise to clip the blossum and all but 1 prong for several years in a row?

K_duce

Thanks for the info for how old plants are to produce a good seed spike. I have noticed some five and six year olds that look like they are going to produce a nice seed head, and then they just end up producing just a few fully developed berries and the the rest is undeveloped. But some of the 5,6 and 7 yr olds do produce a nice seed head. It's more the exception than the rule on the 5 and 6 yr olds. It will be interesting to see if the roots I clipped in the third and fourth year will produce better berries during the fifth and sixth year.

I busted out laughing about your dog gaining weight after being snipped. We had our female cat fixed six months ago and now she's a Huge Fat Cat. But I don't know how many pounds she gained. Just goes to show that snipping something, does add weight!

Hunter

Interesting thoughts on clipping tops!

Thanks,
classicfur

I would definately be in for the blossom snipping but I wonder if the cost benefit ratio works out to make it profitable. A third to half an acre would take a very, very long time. The only way to know I guess is to try it and keep notes, when it comes to Ginseng farming specifics I think we all are in uncharted waters here.

Hillhopper

Hey classic,
The deadline works awesome. It's a good thing I applied it a few weeks back by the looks of all the snail shells layin around. I bet I could gather a 5 gallon bucket full of em easily. The little bastards dont stand a chance against it.

Hillhopper