Where does ginseng grow? Well, ginseng is
native to
both North America as well as Asia. In
terms of where it grows in the wild, it
prefers to grow in
rather cool, well-drained north or
northeast facing
wooded forestland. In terms of the
nutrient requirements of ginseng,
it really is not
a big feeder in the wild. It doesn't
necessarily need a lot of
fertile soil but it does have a high
demand for calcium
so typically soils that have at least
three to four thousand pounds of calcium
per acre
would be suitable for growing ginseng in
a wooded situation.
Other nutrients not nearly as important
as that.
It requires shade, so obviously it's gotta
be a forested area but it also
requires a cold treatment every winter
so ginseng will only grow as far south as
some places in Georgia...
doesn't grow in Florida or it doesn't
grow in a place that
is the least bit tropical. It has to have
about a thousand hours
temperatures around 40 to 45 degrees
each winter
in order for the plant to break dormancy.
The best place the probably try to grow
ginseng saying would be places where
ginseng probably at one time grew wild
or
maybe still is growing wild and the
northeast the first thing you would look
for would be
a sugar maple forest. Sugar maple is a
species that has probably co-evolved with
ginseng
to the point where it contributes
something that ginseng needs which is
calcium
and the calcium that the ginseng may be
utilizing is coming from the leaves of the
sugar maple trees
which are about 1.75 percent calcium by
dry weight...
so in the Northeast the number one
companion species tree species for
ginseng
would be sugar maple. As you get a little
bit further south in ginseng's range
sugar maple becomes less common and once you get down much south of Pennsylvania
you'll see ginseng growing under things
like tulip popular and black walnut
in some cases Buckeye but a different
forest composition than
we would have in the northeast. I rarely
suggest a soil test unless
the site I consider to be borderline,
because this complete soil analysis as
performed by any
university laboratory, it can pretty much
tell me if ginseng will not grow there
but it certainly cannot tell me if 
ginseng will grow there. So, if I see that
the soil levels of calcium
are let's say two thousand pounds per
acre and that's a little bit low but
it's marginal.
In situations like that I might suggest
that the potential grower add some
gypsum. Gypsum is calcium sulfate but it
does not affect pH of the soil.
Most people who want to add calcium
to soil will add limestone.
Limestone will raise the soil pH...if you
raise the soil pH
you make other nutrients more available
to the plants
and in the case of ginseng, adding
supplemental nutrients is
generally not a good thing. As a matter of fact, people who try to fertilize ginseng
that's growing in a forest situation quite often end up getting diseases...
so nutrients in general seem to
predispose ginseng to diseases.
So I would never recommend adding either
compost or manure
or any nutrients whatsoever to a ginseng
site. Ginseng does not like to be
fertilized...
again, unless you're growing it under artificial
conditions under shade cloth in which
case you're trying to grow big roots in a
hurry
and you're prepared to use a lot of
chemicals to prevent
diseases. Much better to look at the
plants that are growing there
to begin with to determine if it's a
suitable site for ginseng than to
test the soil.
The acid test when it comes to "can I
grow ginseng on the site?" has to do with
the
herbaceous perennials that are growing
on the forest floor.
Even though there may be no ginseng
present at all
the presence of plants such as Baneberry, maidenhair fern
rattlesnake fern, blue cohash,
foam flower and to a certain extent
stinging nettle... these are plants that
indicate that the conditions are just
right for ginseng.
The fact that they're there tells you
number one that there's not too much
deer predation...
because these are the types of plants
that will quickly be wiped out if
there's too many deer.
In general, any population of deer
that's more than 15 or 20 per square
mile
many of these plants are going to drop
that the ecosystem. So if these plants aren't
present there
the deer have probably eaten them or it's
not a good site for ginseng
and if you can grow ginseng there, the deer
are probably going to eat that too.
So, the first thing I look at it in a
forest besides the trees which are
pretty obvious is to look at what plants
growing in the understory....
stinging nettle tells me there's
adequate moisture Bainberry and
maidenhair fern tell me that the
calcium levels are probably pretty high
and all those plants combined tell me
that the shade is correct too.
If I see things like dandelions growing
there...
other sun loving plants, well that might
indicate that the site is a bit too
sunny.
If there's a lot of hemlock trees and
pine trees and there's very little
growing underneath them... well obviously
that indicates that the site's to shady.
Shade-loving herbaceous perennials in
general is what we're looking for.