Does anyone have a ginseng plant or seen a ginseng plant before ?

Answer 1

How To Grow Ginseng
Info about planting, harvesting, and growing your own herbal garden or Ginseng patch. If it is your 1st time don't start out spending alot of money on a large amount seeds or roots. Start small and plant more and more each year. The most important thing is to START and to plant seeds or roots EVERY year. Each year you will have more and more ginseng roots and seeds and you will become even more interested in it. Also, if you plant every year, when you do begin to harvest, you will have a harvest every year.
GINSENG is a fleshy rooted herb, native to well drained, cool, shaded hardwood forests. Ginseng does not grow in full sunlight, so the natural place to plant it is in hardwood forests, where the trees provide the needed shade. Ginseng is a perennial plant, but unlike other perennials, lies dormant some years and does not grow new tops every year. The root does not die, but lies dormant until the following year. Ginseng is one of the most sought after herbs on the market. The future for growing ginseng looks promising for many years as more and more is being used now in the United States in addition to the Orient. All Health Food stores, Drug stores, and even the small gas stations now sell it in capsules, powdered, etc. The demand keeps going up every year.
Highly prized by Asian cultures as an aphrodisiac and a cure for everything from impotence to lack of concentration. It relieves fatigue, mental and nervous exhaustion. The Chinese have always placed a high value on ginseng and millions have used it for centuries. Western people have remained skeptical of its use because the Chinese people prepare and use this herb in superstitious ways. Carrying a dried root in their pocket for good luck is one of these superstitions. It is said that the use of ginseng will add a decade of years to a human life. The most desired root for this purpose is one in the shape of the human body. These roots have been known to bring their weight in gold. The Chinese put the highest value on ginseng. It's used only by the wealthiest, and will bring several hundred dollars per pound.
One year old plants will have 3 leaflets, looking like a strawberry plant. The 2nd year usually 5 leaflets, and the next years it begins to branch out with two, three, and four prongs with three to five leaflets in each prong. It grows in the wild about 1 foot tall, which blooms in the summer. When it ripens in the fall or late summer with bright red berries, each berry usually having 2 seeds. The seeds may be kept in damp sand for 1 year and used for replanting or sold. In its wild, natural state, it grows in cool, shady, hardwood forest that takes about 6 to 8 years to grow to the point where its roots are large enough to harvest. About 4 or 5 years if it is cultivated using fertilizers and pesticides but wild ginseng gives a much better price.
Growers cannot expect to reap the rich rewards of the harvest overnight. Ginseng is a slow growing plant that takes years to grow. But in a few years you will be well started for a huge profit. It is impossible to get a full picture of growing ginseng in any book. Everyone is different and has different plans. We hope that we can give you some ideals without making too many mistakes. Feel free to ask any question at any time. The most important thing is to START and to plant seeds or roots EVERY year. Each year you will have more and more ginseng roots and seeds and you will become even more interested in it. Also, if you plant every year, when you do begin to harvest, you will have a harvest every year. Its OK to start small to get some experience growing ginseng. That’s the best way and it will not cost you a lot of money. In 4 or 5 years you will start to have your own seeds to plant. Your small hobby or venture will be getting bigger and bigger every year.
How To Straitify Seeds
In the fall when you harvest your seeds. You can leave the pulp on. Dig a hole in a good well drained shady area about 1 foot deep, 3 feet wide, and as long as you want. Line the sides and bottom with brick or large rocks to keep moles and mice out. Their is no need to cement the blocks because you want it to be able to drain. You can even bury a 5 gallon bucket with plenty of drain holes drilled in it if you have a small amount of seeds to stratify. Line the bottom with 1 inch of sand, then a 1 inch layer of seeds, then another layer of sand. Keep adding a layer of sand and a layer of seeds until you get to the top. Make sure the top layer is sand and cover it with a sheet of old plywood.
ginseng crops are started from seed, rather than roots or seedlings. This is the least expensive way to start a plantation and may help prevent the introduction of soil-borne disease to new plantations. Ginseng requires 3 to 5 years to produce a marketable crop from seed.
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Answer 2

Wild or cultivated?

From Wikipedia:

"Wild ginseng
Wild ginseng is ginseng that has not been planted and cultivated domestically, rather it is that which grows naturally and is harvested from wherever it is found to be growing. It is considered to be superior to domestic ginseng by various authorities, and it has been shown to contain higher levels of ginsenoside. Wild ginseng is relatively rare and even increasingly endangered, due in large part to high demand for the product in recent years, which has lead to the wild plants being sought out and harvested faster than new ones can grow (it requires years for a ginseng root to reach maturity)."

"Most North American ginseng is produced in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and British Columbia and the American state of Wisconsin, according to Agri-food Canada."