Role call- ginseng prices and how its holding up

Here in NE Iowa plants are starting to yellow. Some of them falling over. LOOKING GOOD! wiebke running 400-450 a dry lb. 150-170 green root.

i'm not finding any seng here in my neck of the woods of central il........our seng was wilted and down a few weeks ago...then we got heavy rains last that i think finished it off.

last quote i got here last week was $400 per dried pound.

I found 12 5/8th ounces this morning. Most of it came from one patch. Found a log that had about a 10 ft. area in front of it full of seng.

Love those old rotted logs Don. What a great find!

Headed out today to a big draw I've done well in before. Theres a big, flat, timber on the way with mostly regrowth timber maybe 25-30 years old. Seldom have I ever found much root in this timber over the last 10 years or so. Today there were big 4s all over the place in this stretch of regrowth. Dug 4.25 lbs on a stretch about 300 yds long by 100 yds wide. Just proves that there may be far more 'seng out there than most think. Its obvious that there are a lot of roots that lay dormant until conditions are right for that root to throw up a stalk. It sure is an incredibly interesting plant to say the least.

Dave that reminds me of a small woods about 2 miles from my house. Been about 15 years ago and late one afternoon I was just wanting to go on a small hunt. This woods is only about 10 acres. Well I always hunted this woods and it was good for around a pound or a little less of seng. That afternoon I walked into the woods and hunted my usual places and probably had found 25 roots. There was a big flat on top of a hill that was nothing but Oaks. Mind you I don't normally waste a lot of times in heavy oak but I had found a couple nice pieces in years past on this flat. I walked up to the flat and what I seen in front of me made my eyes just about pop out of my head. All I could see for I don't know how many feet was nothing but lots of knee high seng plants with balls of red berries like little golf balls in top of the plants. Well I started digging roots and planting seeds and when I got done in that spot , I had dug a little over 6 lbs of big seng./ Funny part of it all is this. I had walked that same flat for years and as I said, I had found a very few big nice plants on the flat. To make the story more weird is that, I have checked that spot for several seasons since then and have never found anything like what I dug. Another thing that bothers me is as far as I can tell, the seeds never did grow.
Seng is a very funny plant. You never know where your next mega patch might come from.

AWESOME Don and Dave, When I am out hunting seng I often think of finding the FIELD OF DREAMS!!

i havn't found any monster patches or plants this year..........but last year i found alot of knee high plants in 1 patch...not sure how much i dug in it though.




heres a pic of one of knee high plants


nice 4 pronger

Nice plants foxkidd. Those mega patches is what drives us to go the extra mile.

you betcha don.....just when you think that big stuff don't exist anymore,,,,,,something gets found.

WTH foxkidd UNREAL!!! U would have to drag my dead but out of there bc I would have the bigone!!!

Foxkidd is that cranesbill below the ginseng?

naw remi...not cranesbill........can't rcall the name of it.......my dad called it junkweed though.

Looks a lot like American Ivy I think is the name for it. I have it growing in my yard.

Thanks guys!!!

Me and a friend got permission to dig on a 640 acre parcel of land back in the 90's in 3 days digging we dug 24 pounds of green root.

Great reading Don and Dave.Gives a guy a little more hope in those marginal spots one hasn't had the best luck in the past.

The way I look at seng is this. Any time you find a few pieces of seng, you have the chance of finding a mega patch. I have hunted woods for several years and all of a sudden, one seng season, there will be a mega patch just pop up out of no where. I could not count the amt. of times I have had 4 to 6 lb. digs. I have had a few times that I have reached just about 10 lbs. in one dig.
My son had a real good dig 3 years ago. He had a 12 pound day.
My old hunting buddy has had 3 days this season that he has dug around 7 lbs. One thing you all need to know is that when I talk about getting these big digs, we are not keeping small 3 prong seng or 2 prong seng. We keep the nice 3 prong stuff and all 4 prong seng.

I want a BIG DIG someday. Everytime I come over a hill I think is this going to be it.

The pic of the plants on this page is that ginseng the one with berrys on it of so is there an other plants with that kind of berrys on it like that I'm trying to find out if I've seen them here thanks for your time

The picture on here is Ginseng shown in it's summer color or early fall color and showing it's yellow fall color. The berries don't ripen like that untill september.

Is there any other plant that looks like that or has berrys on the top and how tall do they get thanks

Another plant that looks close to seng is sassparilla, but it has a somewhat woody stem from what I remember of it. On one of my first fishing trips to Canada, I thought I had found the mother load of seng only to look at it much closer and find out it was sassparilla.

Yep Don, Sarsaparilla still fools me every now and than. The gold/yellow is just a little different than 'seng, and no berry prong. Young Hickory's can make a guy look twice too, but also have a slightly different gold color. A rule of thumb I go by is, if I question what I'm seeing it ain't 'seng. Theres seldom any doubt when our eyes see that unmistakable leaf structure and color, whether gold or green of 'seng. I don't now how many times I've gone to bed and see nothing but 'seng when I close my eyes. I'm convinced that good diggers can see 'seng sub consciously. Their minds are hot wired to notice 'seng. I've hunted with guys that didn't know how to scan. Scanning with the eyes is an art form in itself.

I have went to bed seeing seng a many a time. And yes, if you can't scan, you will never be able to dig big bunches of seng. Funny how the eyes can scan an area and see nothing but the seng plant. I can see seng a long distance from where I am standing. I have been driveing down the road and scanning a woods and picked out seng. Not going real fast but probably 10 miles an hour.
Dave to listen to your ideas and thoughts I know a lot about your seng hunting ability. You are a true senger.

yepper,,,the seng eye.

i've taken several folks with me thruout the years on a seng hunt....i could see seng on a ridge that was still green...about 40 yards out{ was the berrys that helped} aND i pointed out and say,,,see the seng? they say were? i say right there!!!!..........so we walk over and i say "here"............" how did you see that from way back there" they ask.........i say................" how could you not" lol!



and yep.......layin down at night close your eyes and see that beautiful yellow seng,,,that pattern just sticks in your brain.


i've often wonderd why it's the yellow that stays in my mind instead of the green...lol.


my dad always had a saying.......hunting seng is like driving a car.......you keep drivin til you see the yellow......slowwwwwwww down,,,,,,,,,when you see the red...STOP!.

I love it. I thought i was the only nutcase that dreamed of the yellow seng when I slept. It DOES take a trained eye! Glad I have the trained eye!!! Haven't missed a day of senging since it opened. At least 4 hours a day. I LOVE IT! Problem is the seng eyes get tired!

At my age , 66, it ain't the eyes that start to fail. I can only do about 4-5 hrs in the woods now. My poor old back makes my legs feel like lead. I have arthur in my back and I am afraid it is just a matter of a very few short years, that my days in the woods will be comming to a close. Not a pleasant thought , but, no use lieing to myself.

Foxkidd from all you typ about and the experiences you share with us, I would also say that I would be proud to run the woods with you any day of the year. Matter of fact several of you fellas on this site are excellent woodsman. Another that I am proud to call a friend is Ohio buyer. He is one more tough woodsman. There ain't much that fella don't know about herbs.

At least your out there,keeping on keeping on.A lot of guys much younger than you are sitting at home.This stuff gets in your blood and come heck or high water a guy keeps plugging along.

Your still doing pretty darn good for 66 Don. Theres days that 5 hrs. of hard hunting is all I can handle and I'm only 46. I hope I can still go at 66. My hats off to ya, and I hope your able to enjoy many more seasons in the back woods.

well ty don.......i really appreciate the comment.......i'll agree with you in saying there are some top notch fellas on here. fellas that have prob forgot more stuff than i'll ever know.

Don, IMPRESSIVE!! Keep it up. I have learned alot on the wildcrafting forum from everyone and STILL learning. It is exciting to know that there is other GEEKS like myself that run the woods at all seasons with a bow, trap or something to dig with. AND at 66 good for you Don. If any of you guys get up to Northeast Iowa and wanna run around the woods let me know!