Ginseng: Green Gold

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THE LIFE CYCLE OF GINSENG

American ginseng, Panax quinquefolium, is a rather ordinary-looking little plant about 20 inches high-which grows inconspicuously on the forest floor. It is a deciduous perennial that produces a new top each year and has a slow growing tuberous rootstock.

Ginseng seeds sprout in April or early May, approximately 18 months after they drop from the plant-within bright red berries-during early autumn. Throughout its first summer of growth, the plant develops a small, skinny root and atop that consists of three leaflets. It stands only a few inches high and greatly resembles the wild strawberry. After the first fall frost, the top turns a rich ocher yellow and soon dies . . . but below ground level, the root survives the winter, freezing as the ground freezes.

The second-year plant is either a single palmate cluster of five leaflets, or two prongs with three to five leaflets radiating from each prong. In succeeding years, the top has two, three, and-in time four prongs, with three to five leaflets on each fork. From the center of this whorl of prongs and leaflets, a small cluster of yellow green blossoms arises in May or dune, followed by a clump of kidney shaped crimson berries in early autumn. At the three-pronged stage, a plant will produce 15 to 40 berries annually, each of which usually contains two hard, flat seeds.

The root may triple in size during each of the first few growing seasons, but the growth rate soon tapers off until only about a 20% increase in root weight is achieved during each succeeding year after the fourth season. The raw root looks something like a small, off white, distorted carrot that has had a long and bitter life . . . and it tastes pretty nearly as unappetizing, as it looks. (A root occasionally branches in such a way that it imitates the form of a man. Such a specimen is said to be worth many thousands of dollars in China. In fact, the name "ginseng" is derived from the Chinese term for "man shaped" .)

When the top dies off each fall, it leaves a scar on the neck of the root. The next year's bud forms on the opposite side of the neck, and this habit leaves the root neck bearing a series of alternating, ascending scars, which tell the age of the ginseng. Twenty-year-old plants are common in the wild, and `geriatrics" more than 90 years old have been documented.

ESTIMATING COSTS AND PROFITS

Raising ginseng is occasionally advertised as a get-nick-quick scheme. Be assured that this is not the case! Rather, cultivating the plant is an undertaking that a prudent, patient person who likes to grow things can find interesting and profitable.

COST
(As of printing - July 1983)

Starting up a ginseng business entails a modest or moderate initial capital investment, few operating expenses, and a goodly amount of time and labor (which in themselves have considerable value). Each person will choose to do things differently, and thus expenses will vary. Yet you should be able to project your costs fairly accurately . . . if you consider the factors I'm about to mention.

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