Ginseng Harvesting In WV. (Beckley, Logan: home, high school, live)

[x1x]

Can anyone tell me if they harvest or grow ginseng in WV, And what counties have they harvested or grew it in? Do you find it profitable or do you just do it to enjoy the outside.

[David Kennedy]

'Sang Hunters' are one of the most peculiar breeds found here...Everyone of them carries a 'Crypto Security Clearance'. They won't tell you anything about 'Sang' except that its in the bag and its the biggest root and the best quality.
Sang grows wild on a hill that faces north. It is found at a certain elevation. In high school we would find it at about 1200' above sea level in this area.
We would start in September, dig the root that was split or forked and re-plant the red berry. Grandpa would really chew us out if we didn't do that correctly.
Usually, a person who gathers ramps (Wild Leeks/ Allium Tricoccum) will gather Sang and Yellow Root.
The pros use a cute little mattock...custom made and is used as a walking aid on steep ground.
They find patches of the stuff and will not give out their secret. They will sneek onto private land to satisfy their mania.
If you could dress a 'Sang Hunter' in buckskin and moccasins, he/she would look just like our ancestors...
We have so much public land here, I would invite anyone to take up the hobby and get out into the rich atmosphere of these sacred mountains.
Me...I get my 'Sang' at CVS...comes in a small bottle...easier that the risk of snakebite, as the copperheads and timber rattlers have not gone under by September/October.

[x1x]

Thanks for your input on ginseng in WV. I have heard that it's locations are very secretive and if one should tell ya" then ya" gots to be shot!! LOL

[pining4wv]

Your information is highly interesting. I would love to see some ginseng in the wild someday. I am not in-state so can't look for it.

[homesickhillbilly]

Had a friend,Frank, near Joetown, who took me sang huntn when I was 14 or so. He had an uncanny knack of findin it or ramps. DK, you rule! He used to make 4 , 500 bucks a year sellin it. I know that dont sound like much money but if yer needs are few, 4 or 500 will git ya through! I also got snake bit and he had me chew baccer and put it on the bite....turned out to be non poisonous but I did get bit. Dont know what bit me but it did bite me. Got worked up about that. Long time ago.I need to look him up when I go home next year. Hope he is still livin. He is the tops.

[Troy.Carter1]

Ginsengin' is one of my favorite hobbies, it brings a high price too. I dig ginseng in Wyoming, Boone, and Logan counties. The best place to find ginseng is under old loggin' roads or strip benches. The biggest and oldest ginseng I find is on points and ridges around rock clifts. Many people think that counting the rings on the curl tells you the age of the plant. This is'nt true. The rings only show how many times the root sprouted a plant. Some roots will lay dormant for three or four years before sprouting a top. I've found plants with 50 rings. The plant coud have been 70 or 80 years old. The amount and exact location I can't say, but I'll take anyone with me who will promise not to tell my hot spots.

[x1x]

Originally Posted by Troy.Carter1

Ginsengin' is one of my favorite hobbies, it brings a high price too. I dig ginseng in Wyoming, Boone, and Logan counties. The best place to find ginseng is under old loggin' roads or strip benches. The biggest and oldest ginseng I find is on points and ridges around rock clifts. Many people think that counting the rings on the curl tells you the age of the plant. This is'nt true. The rings only show how many times the root sprouted a plant. Some roots will lay dormant for three or four years before sprouting a top. I've found plants with 50 rings. The plant coud have been 70 or 80 years old. The amount and exact location I can't say, but I'll take anyone with me who will promise not to tell my hot spots.

Thanks for the interesting facts about ginseng,!!!

[vec101]

Got me curious to see what it looks like. Found info at Division of Forestry

Will have to keep an eye out when hiking but shoot, I can never tell which plant is poison ivy so doubt it I would recognize ginseng - especially the number of prongs can vary by maturity of the plant.. Are there other plants that look similar to it? Does it grow around Canaan Valley?

[Troy.Carter1]

Originally Posted by vec101

Got me curious to see what it looks like. Found info at Division of Forestry

Will have to keep an eye out when hiking but shoot, I can never tell which plant is poison ivy so doubt it I would recognize ginseng - especially the number of prongs can vary by maturity of the plant.. Are there other plants that look similar to it? Does it grow around Canaan Valley?

It does grow in the Canaan Valley.

[wv_seng]

My husband and I live around Beckley, and he and I love to ginseng. He gets the chance to go more than I do. We have done wonderful this season, My husband dug 2 1/2 pounds of wet seng today (some of the roots weighed several ounces), and the 3 days before that he has dug over 3 pounds wet. We dug a couple of pounds wet the first 2-3 weeks of September. He went to a new spot today, (sorry will never tell where lol) we are going back there tomorrow because he dug in a place that has like 8 swags, and he only managed to dig in one swag today, we are hitting it wide open tomorrow. I CAN'T WAIT!!!! We are orginally from Wyoming County, and he has family that lives in Man, WV, and we dig seng out of Logan, Wyoming, Boone, Raleigh, and Fayette Counties. We have found several hot spots, today was a great find because he could tell that it hadn't been ginsenged in a long while. If anyone has any recent prices on what seng is going for we would appreciate it!!