# ginseng hunters



## saugeyeslayer1 (Oct 9, 2004)

just wondering how everyone is doing ginseng hunting. i havent been able to go as much as i would like too but i have been out a few times and i have gotten about ten nice sized roots also wondering if anyone has found any 5 prongers before i have only found 2 4prongers in the 4 years i have been going .


----------



## Rednek (Nov 6, 2006)

Haven't dug a root in over 10 years but I still pull the tops off of thousands of plants each August and plant berries and stratified seed every year.

I always used to think that 5 prongers were a big line of bull because those telling me that they have found them could never show proof. But I'm here to tell you that I have found one 5 pronger in 30 years in the woods and still have the dried plant to proof it. I found it 13 years ago and the same plant has never reproduced another 5 pronger.

Do yourself and the natural resource a favor. Spend a little bit of your dig money and buy some stratified seed each year. With all the homes being built in wooded lots today, it easy to plant small plots that always have eyes on it.


----------



## Fish-N-Fool (Apr 12, 2004)

I don't dig, but I found some last weekend while scouting for deer.
Never seen a 5 prong before, but seen truck loads of root in KY.
Have a buddy down in KY with family all over Paintsville area and they are all root diggers.


----------



## Weekender#1 (Mar 25, 2006)

Strange that this popped up as I am currently staying in the Terre Haute, IN area for the week (business) and I called one of my old buddies to see if I could buy him dinner. Hell no he is on the roots and has over 4 pounds drying out he believes it will be well over 3 pounds dried. Signs up on poles of people buying the roots and shops that also buy. It is going for over $600.00 per pound here, but must be 2 prong or better. All I know is I am going to start looking around my guy says look for little palm trees 2 or so inches from the ground. Do we have the stuff growing in North West Ohio.


----------



## icefisherman4life (Aug 5, 2007)

could someone post what ginseng looks like? so i know what to look for haaa. thanks


----------



## Rednek (Nov 6, 2006)

A ginseng plant MUST be a 3-pronger for legal harvest. A young 3 prong plant, approx 5 years old, would be about 6-8" tall and might have 2-3 red berries and should be left grow some more. Mature 3 prongers, 10 years old +, with a small cluster of 6-10 red berries would be 10-16" tall. Large 3-4 prongers, 20+ years old with a golfball size cluster of red berries would be 16-24" tall. On average, it takes about 300 roots to make dried pound.

Years back when I used to dig a lot of sang, I would pinch off the top portion of the root that contained the bud, age rings and small hair roots and transplant them. Those transplants would continue to produce berries each year that I would stratify myself and the small hair roots would continue to grow into harvestable roots.

Check out the ginseng regulations from ODNR regarding legal harvesting.

No person shall dig, harvest, or otherwise collect wild ginseng from its natural habitat except during the season of September 1 through December 31 of each year. Ginseng plants with unripened berries, or which have less than three-leaf stems (prongs) cannot be harvested. Seeds from wild ginseng plants shall be immediately replanted at the place where the plants were collected. Any person collecting ginseng is required to keep accurate records showing the number of pounds and ounces of ginseng, both green and/or dry weight, collected in each Ohio county by date of collection. Dealers and buyers shall acquire a state dealer&#8217;s registration permit each year prior to purchasing or otherwise acquiring Ohio ginseng. No person shall harvest wild or cultivated ginseng from private or public property without first obtaining written permission from the landowner or his agent.

My only 5 pronger from 1995









4 pronger from 1984









Very large 3 pronger from 1994 with a golfball for comparison of the size of the berry cluster.


----------



## saugeyeslayer1 (Oct 9, 2004)

WOW!thats a huge ginseng plant you got there *******.do you just break off this years age bud cuz I thought that you have to have the neck to prove age? and do you just break off the hair roots and plant them back in the ground for more to come up?I have talked to alot of people about ginseng and no one has said anything to me about this.If anyone else knows any tricks to help make more ginseng without the berries please pass it on. thanks


----------



## Rednek (Nov 6, 2006)

I would snap it off just below the last part of the root that I wanted to transplant. On a mature root there might be 5 age rings between the bud and the transplant root. If you dried the part that you are transplanting, you are not going to be missing very much weight plus you get the added benefit of producing a few berries and re-growing the small roots.


----------



## icefisherman4life (Aug 5, 2007)

thanks for the pics. and info red.


----------



## Procraft180 (Apr 10, 2008)

I tried to go over to a place I normally look at and was out there for four and a half hours and did not find a single root. Well me and my uncle was getting irritated and figured the windstorm blew everything over and covered it all up, Well i get out of the woods and call my other uncle and asked him if it had finally turned and disappeared and told him where we went and he was like oh well i already dug everything up out there. It was quite comical. Anywayz when he was out there he said he found one 5 prong while he was out there and showed it to me it was quite a neat looking plant. Have personally never gotten out after it up until this year.


----------



## saugeyeslayer1 (Oct 9, 2004)

well i went out again and found only two of them but i found another 4 pronger that makes three of them now and red i did what you said to do i guess it will be a few years before i see if i did it right or not or does it come up the following year?


----------



## Rednek (Nov 6, 2006)

It will come up next spring, as long as the bud didn't get injured or dried out. Don't be suprised if it comes back up a s 4 pronger but only about 6-8" tall with a big stem. The small root system cannot support the normal plant growth for a bud that big thus the shorter plant.


----------

