hey guys what's going on Justin Williams
here with Sigma 3 survival school and it
is opening day of ginseng season so I'm
out a steep crazy grade I actually was
looking for it and rolled down the hill
and sure enough there it was so it must
be my lucky day so far I found a lot of
to Prager's but stick with me and I'll
show you the tips and tricks to
harvesting ginseng
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so this amazing plant right here is our
American ginseng or what we call a panax
ginseng which panic panax means to heal
all and it looks very similar to a plant
that's growing right next to it called
Virginia Creeper a lot of times this
plant will get misidentified as ginseng
but ginseng is definitely a little more
distinguishable and once again come this
type of season in September when the
berries are going right then you can
definitely see them they stand out
really well and then this one here is a
two Pronger and they have five leaves
and one of the ways that I've always
distinguished them different is they
have each of them have their own stem
going at the base here and then the
three upper leaves are going to be
larger and then the two smaller leaves
below making up the five leaves it's
called a two-prong er because let me
pull back some of this Virginia creeper
here there's tons of it so I don't feel
bad about removing it and it's going to
help this ginseng plant grow but you can
see here it's got two prongs one two and
then the center stem is for the berries
this one here is probably everywhere
from a two to three year old plant we're
needing about a five year old plant
which is going to be our three prongs
so a lot of plants that tend to grow
around ginseng you have to understand
that ginseng grows in a very specific
soil type it requires a lot of calcium
and so a lot of the same plants that
will grow in the general area will be
everything from ginger a lot of ginger
back here we could harvest the ginger
roots this here is a twisted stalk
there's blood root out here three lobes
hepatica over here you'll see ferns they
typically grow around a lot of firms and
then they like poplar trees and pop all
trees they're a good source to help you
identify this here is a three-prong er
but it's a young three prong ER and the
way I can tell it's a young tree Pronger
is because two of the prongs have five
leaves and one of the prongs has three
leaves this is a legal harvest but
because it's probably only a four year
old plant since it has three on this
side we're going to leave it and begin
to look for more mature plants here's
another three if three-prong are here
once again this three-prong has same
thing this one actually is starting to
develop five leaves on all the prongs so
we could harvest that one still I think
on the little immature side little young
and the key to finding more mature
plants is when you start finding a lot
of young ginseng start looking uphill
because what happens is is when this
plant drops its berries these berries
drop to the ground and they roll
downhill and that's where they will lay
here's an another pretty mature
three-prong or this one's probably right
at five years three tall plenty of
berries we may harvest that one
so filming on this steep steep grades
gonna be extremely challenging so
disgusted she has bear with me I want to
talk to you a little bit more about
where to find ginseng I've talked about
a little bit of the identifying
distinguishing features a little bit on
how to locate locating ginseng can be
challenging and doesn't grow in all
locations it does prefer places with
very good drainage a lot of shade it
actually needs about 80% shade it
doesn't require a lot of light something
else is is ginseng prefers to grow on
the north northeast side of the mountain
on the hillsides and I found that I see
videos out there where guys are finding
it on these flat areas and it's like man
I'm just envious cuz the only time I can
find it I was on like super steep grades
I got like probably a not quite a 90
degree angle but every bit of 80
probably I keep slipping so it's very
challenging holding the camera the
biggest thing to on locating he needs
loose fertile soil and that's another
reason I'm slipping and falling
everywhere loose fertile soil is what it
prefers to grow in and then I talked to
already a little bit about some of the
plants that grow around it but the
biggest thing is as the plants may be
different in your area it just needs to
be a calcium and rich nutrients ground
the amazing thing about ginseng is it
has so many medicinal properties there
are other plants out there that can be
used in very similar fashions but
ginseng is definitely one to be you know
making sure that you're being
sustainable in your harvest don't just
butcher it and most people go out and
they'll take it way before it's too
mature so make sure that you do your
research and harvest responsibly your
your prongs need to be at least three
prongs that gives you a good idea that
the plants about 4 to 5 years old
ginseng needs to grow for about five
years before the ginseng asides begins
to develop those are the medicinal
properties of that plant and so we'll go
into further in depth on what ginseng is
used for later in this video
in the second part so I have this pretty
mature probably a five-year-old ginseng
plant right here it's got three prongs
each prong is fully developed with five
leaves on each I've already harvested
the berries when you before you begin to
harvest the plant make sure you collect
the berries first so that way you set
them aside so that you can replant them
that's the key to good sustainability is
replanting
your seeds if you don't replant them
then the population to the plant will
die so what I tend to do is when I find
the ginseng plant be super careful
because you don't want to break off the
stem because that helps you identify
where the root is be sure to dig around
it and clear out the area normally I
clear out a big circumference around the
plant but I have another ginseng right
over here that is growing in some pretty
deep roots so I'm not sure they're both
fully mature but I got to be real
careful because I don't want to break
the root
it's really important to as you harvest
jin-sang that you keep I don't know the
proper term for it if you do please post
it in the comments but there's a little
section that attaches from the root to
the stem and that helps you age it this
here's gonna be a fairly nice little
root and if you can get all the hairs
that's even better
you want to keep this section right here
intact so when you break it off break it
off above that so that is all intact
that helps you age it so we're gonna put
this in our pack I'm gonna get out a
screwdriver to help me dig better easier
so I always store all my herbs in paper
bags
I don't like plastic sacks especially if
you're harvesting leaves roots aren't so
much a problem but definitely want to
make sure you get your leaves in paper
sacks and speaking of leaves people
don't realize it but amateur ginseng
plant when the leaves are still green
it's not gonna have as much of the
medicinal properties in the leaves as it
does in the root but you definitely
should harvest the leaves as well so
this piece is where the stem broke off
but it's still intact the part that ages
it and then you got one little piece
here a piece here and a big piece
growing up underneath this root which is
what I'm struggling to get so let's see
we can make any progress here without
damaging the root
you want these in full intact
and if you can get the hairs attached to
them that's even better
I think I lost the hairs on that one but
that's still a nice little ginseng plant
so before we move on to a new spot real
quick though we need to make sure we go
ahead and bury these new berries I kind
of disturbed the ground pretty good
right here swear I've been walking back
and forth on on this super steep terrain
this is what I'm going to come back in
and plant my berries so creating a
little flat spot here so they don't get
washed downhill any further now I'm
gonna take all my little berries I set
aside so here's the berries I don't fall
down this hill again and so squeeze them
plop them down in there it takes about
two years before these will pop back up
because of they need to go through two
winters and they need to be buried like
I said about six inches apart and then
about two inches deep and this is key to
ginseng sustainability you don't do this
it won't be Jenna sing to come back to
in the future so it's extremely
important that you harvest responsibly
and you take care of this amazing herb
what I do after that is I'll just pull
down some of the excess debris above
kind of help protect it from birds and
other animals so let's find some more
ginseng so I didn't get on near as much
ginseng as I'd hoped
a lot of the patches that I found were
just way too steep to get the camera
around but I did find quite a bit of
ginseng most of it was you know
two-prong 45 year and younger and I was
really looking for mature three-prong
plants so I found you know about 5 or 6
here 1 2 3 4 looks like I harvested 5 a
few things you need to keep in mind
I don't harvest ginseng for commercial
use I harvest just enough for personal
use I don't sell it and I think it's
important that to have a sustainability
of this plant that we harvest it
responsibly
always always always replant the seeds I
cannot emphasize that enough that's the
only way that this species of plant is
going to continue to carry on panax
ginseng its medicinal properties is
called jensen o side and this plant will
not produce the medicinal quality that
you're looking for until it's 5 years or
older and so whenever you take your your
root and you know it's 5 years or older
if it has three prongs with each prong
being mature having five leaves if two
prongs have five leaves and one only has
three and it means it's probably a four
year old plant give it another year but
you can count the number of growth rings
here at the top of the root to help you
identify how old the root is so several
of these are seven eight years old and a
couple of them are five or six and so
the great thing about this plant
medicinally though is that it is an
adaptogen it'll help your body deal and
cope with stress it's also a digestive
and immune system support it's gonna
help support your immune system help
keep you healthy help keep you strong
and then it's also an energy
that's the primarily reason people take
it you'll find in energy drinks it's
just a nice vitalizing tonic that will
help you the last thing I want to talk
about real quick is how to store and dry
the biggest thing I like to do is is
rinse them off with some cool water take
a soft bristle toothbrush and brush off
any of the excess dirt and then I'll
usually just stick them in a cardboard
box and put a fan on them to arrow mount
and dry them out an aerated cool dark
place that's and that's dry is so
important to making sure that you
preserve your your herbs properly well
guys thanks for checking out another
episode and I appreciate you hope you
have the best of luck finding ginseng
once again get permission before you go
off and don't be trespassing this crap
will get you shot this crap will get you
killed especially if you're in the
Appalachians here in the Ozarks I don't
think it's a sought after but it's
definitely a viable herb here in the
Ozark Mountains that I think is
extremely important and you say how did
this isn't self-reliance related it
really is being able to treat yourself
medically and be able to harvest the
herbs that are in your area are
important vital aspect to self-reliance
so encourage you guys to make plant
identification part of your routine when
it comes to developing your skill set so
once again harvest responsibly
make sure you replant the seeds and then
be sure that you always are respectful
of your surroundings in nature so thanks
again I appreciate you please be sure to
share subscribe and until next time I
encourage you keep it practical
primitive and prepared