Growing Wild Ginseng

By W. Scott Persons
Published on September 1, 1984
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The bright red berries of organic ginseng.
The bright red berries of organic ginseng.
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Healthy organic ginseng plants.
Healthy organic ginseng plants.
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A bee pollinates a ginseng flower head.
A bee pollinates a ginseng flower head.
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A handful of seeds.
A handful of seeds.
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Buyers insist that roots be bone-dry when shipped, so it's important to get rid of all the moisture in your crop. Oscar places his harvest on racks in a room heated by a wood stove, and dries the roots, slowly, keeping an eye out for signs of mold.
Buyers insist that roots be bone-dry when shipped, so it's important to get rid of all the moisture in your crop. Oscar places his harvest on racks in a room heated by a wood stove, and dries the roots, slowly, keeping an eye out for signs of mold.
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Oscar works a planting bed.
Oscar works a planting bed.
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A healthy ginseng root.
A healthy ginseng root.

My friend Oscar Wood has grown wild ginseng for ten years on a steep, wooded hillside near the top of Balsam Mountain in western North Carolina. This past season Oscar sold his organic ‘sang for $60 a pound, while most everyone else (including me) was pleased to get $50. He estimates that his good beds produce about 30 pounds (or $1,800 worth) per 1,000 square feet.

I work hard all through the growing season to nurture my plants and to protect them from potential problems. But Oscar just sits back (well, he does pluck some weeds from his beds once in a while) and lets his ‘sang grow naturally. He tolerates some crop damage from disease and therefore may harvest a few pounds less per acre; but on the other hand, he avoids the considerable expense of chemical fertilizers, fungicides, and insecticides — and he gets a premium price for his organically grown roots.

I asked Oscar to explain how he does it. Once he’d settled himself deep in his favorite recliner, he freely shared his knowledge and experience.

Oscar’s Start

“After I got crippled up and couldn’t work reg’lar, I had to find somethin’ to do,” explained Mr. Wood. “I was lyin’ in bed one morning, and like a vision, I pictured the whole hilltop back of the house covered up with ginseng! I got up, and my wife asked me what I was goin’ to do. I said I was fixin’ to go ‘sang diggin’, replant it, and start growin’ it on our mountain.

“I ate my breakfast and took off. Hunted till noon and hadn’t found one bunch. I was restin’ on top of a ridge when I spied a black snake coiled by the side of a stump. I reached down with my hoe to move the critter, and right there stood a four-pronged bunch of ginseng. I looked again, and there stood another big bunch.

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