What's New

     The first thing I want to mention is the wonderful price that we saw this past fall for wild and wild simulated ginseng root. In our local area we were seeing prices in mid November of $ 700.00 a dried pound for wild ginseng with some growers receiving wild prices for their wild simulated roots.

Yes if your wild simulated is truly that then there is virtually no difference in their appearance.

     In our area we had quite a dry spell from July through September. Our ginseng season for wild sang starts the first of September and with the dry weather many diggers found the sang had already died down for the season by the time season opened.

     For people interested in growing ginseng it would be a good time to start. Somewhere down the road the US fish and Wildlife Service will probably shut down the digging of wild ginseng. Probably not this year but probably some time in the not too distant future.

     If this happens then we could expect to see wild simulated ginseng prices go up. So if you are already in the business you may be able to cash in on this.

     I do not know about other states but in West Virginia we can go ahead and obtain a ginseng growers permit and get our farms registered ahead of any changes so that if the change comes we will already be registered as wild simulated growers and therefore not subject to the rules of wild ginseng as long as we have some proof of wild simulated growing.

     If anyone in West Virginia would be interested in joining there is an organization here in the state for ginseng growers. The West Virginia Ginseng Growers Association. If you are interested give me a call at 1-888-304-5638 or email me at shadyoaksfarm@aol.com and I can give you a number to call. 

     Another topic is the availability of ginseng seed. Due to some damaging weather in  Wisconson we are seeing a ginseng seed shortage this year and probably into next year as well. We have had over 200 requests for seed that we were unable to fill this past fall into the first of 2011.

     If anyone has any seed left to sell for spring planting 2011 let me know and I will  send the requests for seed your way. It's part of what we do here at Shady Oaks ginseng Farm to connect buyers with suppliers if we cannot fill the order ourselves.

     We have noticed an uptick in requests for bloodroot over the last 2-3 years. Just something to keep in mind if you are looking for a little diversification. I would not bet the farm over bloodroot but it is just another possible way to make some additional income.

     If anyone has a question just give us a call and we will be glad to help you with your problem as bet we can.