GROWING GINSENG IN THE FOREST:
(10) Seeds

by Hsuan H. Huang

1. Ginseng in a woodland garden does not produce any decent amount of seeds for the first three years. After that, if you are lucky, may produce enough for your own use and event surplus for sale. Squirrels, chipmunks, deer, raccoons and wild turkeys they all after ginseng seeds. I have troubles to produce enough seeds for my own use most of the time. Scarecrows, baits, poisons, none of them works. The cost of baits is more than the cost purchased from other growers, plus the time wasted.
   
   
2. Deer not only eat the seeds but also eats the newly emerging plant in the early spring and usually the better growing plants. It must be tastier. They eat the whole section of the beds even by the scarecrows.
   
   
3. Most ginseng seeds need 18 months to germinate. Stratification is necessary with green seeds to keep them safely for the first year. This is done simply by laying seeds in sand in an enclosed wired box, and place in it a layer of fine sand one inch thick then a layer of green seeds. Then another layer of sand and so on. The box should be kept outdoors (indoor basement wont work, temperature not cold enough to promote germination).
   
   
4. I prefer them half buried in a high spot, which provide good drainage and yet will not dry out during the winter. On the top of the box places a thick layer of several inches of sand to prevent it from drying out or some plastic sheet on top of it.
   
   
5. I prefer to depulp the berry before stratifying them. This will produce nice clean looking seeds instead of black moldy spots. Before stratification, mixed seeds with a bit of fungicide this will help preserve the seeds from fungal attack.
   
   
6. The seed burial site should be away from sunlight or under the shade and away from tree root encroachment. Tree roots will suck up all the moisture and you end up with dead dried seeds. The key is to keep the seeds moist all the time from harvest to the time of planting.
   
   
7. In the spring the seeds should be dug out, shifted and checked then re-stratified until fall or late summer when you are ready to plant.
   
   
8. There are about 7000 to 8000 seeds per pound depending on the size.
   
   
9. One acre of bed needs about 60 to 80 pounds of seeds, more will be wasted since ginseng seems to automatically thinning it self.