Guerilla Gardening: Ginseng

[mannytheseacow]

On my rough ground goats have been great for getting things under control. Still there are areas that are just infeasible to fence, or too precarious to bother. These areas are often not only hard to access, but generally so overgrown that virtually no sun hits them. This isn't just my property, there are so many abandoned properties like this. What does one do with land like this? Grow ginseng.

The seed is expensive, and can be a gamble. Wild grown ginseng can fetch as much as $200 or more per root on the Chinese medicinal market, but these roots are 5 years old, at a minimum, and often much, much older. For this reason, nobody talks about it. How could you risk planting something like that and have someone poach it on you 4 years in? Well, small isolated plantings spread out all over is a place to start. Throw enough mud at a wall and some of it will stick.

Here are some first-year seedlings planted in a 6" grid:


For a modest investment, a collective acre or two can be planted like this in waste areas. I've purchased seed from several purveyors over the years, and by far the best stock has been from Wild Grown ().Good luck.

[matt walker]

Cool man, I can do Wasabi here in the same fashion. Tucked into shady, wet forest spots just like that ginseng. Good stuff dude, we should trade in a year or so.

[mannytheseacow]

Wasabi? Really? Wow, that's awesome! Yeah, let me know when it gets mature, I always have ginseng around.

I've never even thought about growing Wasabi. I'll have to look into it.

[DrewInToledo]

You guys intrigue me. I had never bought about either growing or selling either. I'm guessing ginseng grows like a weed?

[mannytheseacow]

I can't speak for wasabi, but ginseng is pretty finicky. It needs a lot of shade, and the right minerals in the soil. Even when conditions are optimum it grows slowly. But if the conditions are right, and that area isn't producing anything anyway...

[Lollykoko]

Thanks for the ideas. I have a lot of forested hillsides that sound like they might qualify as good planting ground.