TOPIC: No questions. Just observations of my hill.

I'll look closer up there. I found seven more plants on a hill yesterday that I overlooked before. Guess you have to develop an eye for it.

Found this one on my hill. No longer have to wonder whether it'll grow there or not. It was in an area that I've been over numerous times. Didn't see it till the berry's were ready, makes me wonder how many more I may be missing.

Those red berries sure to help with finding it...

A little later on, when the leaves turn yellow that makes it even easier to spot... and when you get both yellow leaves and red berries (oh man) it sure is pretty and stands out like a sore thumb.

PS... There are places where ginseng will grow but just not thrive. Conditions are on the edge of being good enough, but not hardly right. I used to own some land that had a hollow like that... I would check it for years and years, and only find a few small 2 prongs and some 3 leafers, but it just never got any bigger.

Then there are places where you only find a few 2 prongs and 3 leafers, because someone has dug the heck out of it, and done that for many years in a row.

I hope neither one of those applies to your place but those are a couple of possibilities you should know about as you go forward with your plantings.

A soil test might help determine if the first one is the case...

If you do happen to find some nice 3 and 4 prongs producing good wads of berries, that is the absolute best sign that you have a good chance of success with growing it there.

Good Luck !

TNHunter

Picture number five is boehmeria cylindrica , false nettle. A plant in the nettle family. It is considered to be a harmless plant. I ate some seeds from this plant once. They had a strange metallic taste so I decided they were not a good food source.

Not really an indicator plant for ginseng. However, it can indicate habitat that is suitable for leatherwood shrubs.

TNhunter thank you. We've lived here for 15 years the guy that had the place before us was here for 5 years and there was an elderly lady that lived here before him there may have been another owner before her. Someone told us that one of the owners had fenced in the hill and had horses on it. I figure the horses probable ate it if there was any there at that time. So it's probable been about 25 or 30 years maybe more since there were any horses up there.

I also live in a very, very popular area for hunters, hikers, campers, and horse back riders. Hikers, riders, and campers stay off the hills they like the nice easy trails. Hunters on the other hand are another story.

I've been over a lot of ground out here. The only place I'm finding any ginseng is along the deer trails. So I really think it was just dug out and the deer are starting to bring it back slowly.

Archon Thank you another one identified to bad it isn't worth anything.

Your suspected ginger is definitely ginger. Can't mistake them heart-shaped leaves. Smell the root and you will know.

Thank you Jimsenger was almost positive that was it but there's another plant up there that looks very similar has a jagged leaf edge instead of smooth and just a bit of a pointed tip.

TNhunter in as aside I'll take the dug out theory over the just won't grow theory.
Anyway time will tell. I'll keep looking.