In order to successfully grow and raise American Ginseng you need to have a respect for the plant and a strong desire for your plants to succeed. Before you think about planting, make sure that you have a good knowledge of ginseng's growing conditions.

Evaluating Your Planting Site

Your planting area should be predominately populated by mature hardwood trees that give 70% to 80% shade. Your site should have a minimum of shrubby plants. Shrubby plants and small immature trees can restrict airflow and allow harmful fungus multiply and destroy your plants. I prefer to plant on a northern slope. Northern slopes and Eastern slopes offer a greater amount of shade than Southern and Western slopes. If you must plant on an western or southern slope don't worry about it too much. The important thing to remember here is that ginseng needs lots of shade and good drainage. Have soil sample done too. This is the most important thing you can do. It's cheap and it can save you a lot of money and time. Have your soil evaluated by someone familiar with growing ginseng. I have my tests done through Penn State University. They have experience growing ginseng and they will recommend what treatments should be done to your soil before planting. Your soil should be a humus loamy type of soil rich in organic matter. Your soil must have good drainage too. Ginseng does not like wet soil but it requires moist soil. The types of plants and trees growing in a given site can give you a good idea of weather or not your soil will support American Ginseng. These plants are known as "sang signs" or "indicator plants". Some sang signs are Dutchman's Breeches, Mayapple, Bethroot, Wild Ginger, Wild Sarsparilla, Maidenhair Fern, False Solomon's Seal, Solomon's Seal, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Blue Cohosh, and Blood Root. Pictures of several of these plants can be found here on this site back on the main page.

Planting Seeds and Roots

American Ginseng seeds and roots should be planted in the fall of the year. Seeds and roots can be planted in the spring but you will have much better results with fall plantings. I like to plant before the leaf fall anytime from early September to mid October here in Pennsylvania. Some growers like to start planting in August and some plant all the way into December. It depends on your local climate and preference. Below I go through the steps that I take when planting ginseng.

1. Locate a suitable site as discussed earlier, preferably with a gradual slope and good drainage. Put out some rodent traps to get rid of the mouse and chipmunk population. Just because you don't see many rodents does not mean that they are not there. I made this mistake when I began planting. I had hundreds of tunnels running through my beds from chipmunks and mice that dug through my mulch. They destroyed many of my plants. Chupmunks will eat the flowers off of your other botanicals too. So start trapping first. You will be amazed at how many mice you catch. 

2. Look for natural lanes in between trees to put your beds. You beds do not have to be in a perfect line. You will want to make your beds about five feet wide and six feet apart. You can make your beds as long as you want and make sure that they run up and down the slope of your land. I try not to make my beds any longer than 75 feet so I have room to work around my beds. It's Ok if there are small trees and saplings in your lane they are easy enough to remove with either a pick axe or you can pull them out with a tractor. I use a pick axe to cut the stumps out of the ground. This minimizes compaction of the soil. A tractor or other vehicle will likely compact the ground. When making your beds, try to have them done before the trees drop their seeds. I made beds last year in October and planted several hundred acorns as well as ginseng seed. I spent several hours weeding Oak trees from my ginseng beds this year. It's a good ideal to make your beds early, let the ground settle and plant a few weeks later.

3. Measure and record the length and width if each of your proposed beds. You will need this information later when you are planting seeds or adding amendments to your soil. Length x Width will give you total square feet of a bed. After your bed dimensions are measured place stakes on the sides of the bed and at each end to mark the area. I make stakes from saplings that I have cut down around my bed area.

4. Remove brush and dead logs from your bed area. Do not stack the brush near the beds. Seed eating vermin like to live in brush piles. Rake all of the leaves out of the area that you have your beds in. If your land is predominantly populated by Maples, Populars, Beech and Cherry trees you can just rake the leaves to the side of the bed and cover the bed back up later after your seed is planted. If your trees are predominately Oak (like mine) you will need to shred the leaves with leaf shredder before adding them back to the bed.

5. After the leaves and brush have removed you need to loosen up the soil a little bit. I use an old rototiller for this because there are millions of small roots throughout my soil from Red Maple trees that make raking impossible. But if your soil is rakable, you can use a rake. Either way try not to go down further than an inch or two. If you are planting roots you may want to till a little deeper so your roots will be well covered. If your soil is low in organic matter you may want to add some well composted leaves. I collect rotten wood from fallen trees and cultivate it into by beds as well.

6a. This section is on planting seed. If you are planting rootlets you can skip to 6b. Scatter your seed in your beds. Try to get about five or six seeds per square foot. One pound of seed will easily cover an area of one thousand square feet. After your seed is scattered take a garden rake and stir the seeds into the soil about three quarters of an inch deep.

6b. This section is on planting rootlets. With a garden rake make a small trench up the length of your bed and about three or four inches deep. Put the rootlets in the trench at a forty five degree angle and about five inches apart. Make sure that the root is laid out straight or it will grow in a curled unnatural way. Cover your rootlets with about three quarters of an inch of dirt.

7. Cover your beds back up with the leaves that you originally removed. If your leaves are shredded try not to go over two inch. If your leaves are whole they tend to not compact as much as shredded leaves and you should add up to three or four inches of whole leaf mulch.

8. Sit back and let your ginseng mature for at least six years. Keep wildlife and Ginseng poachers away from your beds and make sure your soil stays within ginseng's requirements.