2017 Ginseng Prices – Diggers and Dealers Information

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• It appears that the market for good quality root with decent bulby content should be close to 2016 prices .With that said, small and/or broken roots will be a hard sell. Diggers need to be selective and dig carefully.

  • Thanks for the update, Terry.

• Any diggers or dealers in Alabama? Please email me () Thx!

  • WHAT ARE YOU HEARING ABOUT THE PLAGUE OF ASIAN HONEYSUCKLE? IN WHAT STATES? IN SOUTHERN ILLINOIS IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO HUNT GINSENG OR ANYTHING WITH THAT CRAP FILLING THE WOODS. EASTERN MO IS COVERED IN IT FROM PIKE COUNTY SOUTH ALONG THE MISSISSIPPI. ONE ASIAN HONEYSUCKLE BUSH CAN HAVE WELL NORTH OF 500,000 BERRIES ON IT. EACH BERRY HAS BETWEEN 2-22 SEEDS IN IT! ONE UNNOTICED MATURE BUSH CAN DESTROY THE WOODS WITHIN 20 YEARS. THE FIRST TIME THAT I SAW IT WAS IN 1994 IN MADISON COUNTY, IL. BY NOV 1999, IN CALHOUN COUNTY I SHOT A DEER AND COULDN'T FIND IT. WHY? BECAUSE THE HONEYSUCKLE WAS SO THICK THAT I COULD NOT WALK INTO IT OR SEE THROUGH IT. IT KEEPS ITS LEAVES ALMOST TILL FEBRUARY. CUTTING IT DOWN DOES NOTHING. IT COMES BACK WITH 8-12 HEADS AND IN TWO WEEKS THEY ARE 3' TALL.BERRIES ARE ALREADY STARTING TO TURN RED ON IT! TREE'S WON'T REPRODUCE IN THAT CRAP AND THE MATURE TREE'S ARE STARVING AND NOT GROWING.

    • Haven't heard anything at all about it, in regards to the ginseng patches being over-run. Yours is the first report I have of that. I grew up in south Louisiana, and it was everywhere but it didn't completely take over and kill out the other things except in sunnier spots like fence rows and such. But I do know a lot of folks who have tried without success to eradicate it from their properties. I haven't even tried. Seems like a losing fight.

      • I DECLARED WAR ON IT IN 1999. AS OF THIS YEAR IT COVERS LESS THAN 2% OF 18.5 ACRES WHICH I HUNT. IN THAT PERIOD OF TIME IT HAS TAKEN OVER HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF ACRES AND LEFT THE GROUND (LOOKING AS THOUGH IT HAD BEEN SALTED). IT IS BARREN AND EROSION IS A PROBLEM. YOU CANNOT PHYSICALLY WALK INTO ANY WOODS WHERE THIS STUFF IS. AFTER THE LEAVES FALL, WHILE YOUR DRIVING, AND YOU SEE PALE GREEN LEAVES IN THE WOODS, THAT IS ASIAN HONEYSUCKLE. EVERYWHERE IN PIKE COUNTY SOUTH IN ILLINOIS IS A SEA OF GREEN IN NOVEMBER! ASK IF OTHERS HAVE THIS PROBLEM. THIS IS THE GREATEST ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER THAT THIS COUNTRY HAS EVER EXPERIENCED, AND FEW ARE EVEN AWARE OF IT! IN TIME, THIS WILL FORCE GINSENG AND TREE'S TO BE (TREATED LIKE ANIMALS IN A ZOO) IF THEY ARE TO BE PRESERVED!

      • I HAVE A NEW PROBLEM AND I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IS RESPONSIBLE. IN 2016 AND 2017, IN MAY/JUNE, SOMETHING CUT OFF THE BERRY PODS ON MY GINSENG. I LOST THOUSANDS OF SEEDS. LATE MAY AND JUNE 2018, THE PRONGS ON MY KNEE HIGH GINSENG ARE BEING CUT OFF. NORTH OF 50 3 AND 4 PRONG PLANTS HAVE A STEM, BERRY POD AND NO LEAVES. THE LEAVES ARE BEING CUT OFF AT A CONSISTENT HEIGHT. I CAN FIND NO LEAVES ON THE GROUND. I HAVE NOT SEEN ANY TRACK OR SIGN OF AN ANIMAL DOING THIS. I SPRAYED IT WITH CAMICIDE AND ONLY MOSQUITOS DIED. I'VE PUT SEVIN DUST ON IT AND I'M AFRAID THAT THE ROOTS WILL DIE. ANYBODY EXPERIENCE THIS BEFORE? THE FEDS SAID IT WASN'T THEIR PROBLEM AND TO CONTACT THE STATE. I'VE NOT HEARD FROM THE STATE.

        • Hi John, it sounds like something is browsing your plants. Deer do this to mine sometimes but not a whole lot, they just eat a few here and there. Hard to explain if you're not seeing tracks of any sort, though. It also sounds like someone could be harvesting your leaves for you... but that too seems like it would show some footprints somewhere sooner or later. I have absolutely no experience with the pesticides and how they affect things (don't use any of it on anything here except for ticks on the dogs), but if it caused your leaves to drop you'd see them on the ground of course. I don't think just having the leaves stripped would cause your roots to die unless it happened year after year, but if it's something else besides manual removal by animal or person, then maybe it could affect the roots. I don't know. Hopefully someone else will have some ideas. p.s. if you write back, try not using ALL CAPS :) It makes it hard to read the sentence and some people feel like it's 'shouting'. But I know some people use ALL CAPS for vision issues and if that's the case no worries just do what you need to do to communicate with us.

        • I HAVE HUNDREDS OF FLOATERS IN MY EYES AND IT IS EASIER TO SEE AND TO READ. HOW CAN ONE SHOUT IN A SILENT MEDIUM? THOSE WHO BELIEVE GAY MEANS SOMETHING OTHER THAN HAPPY AND A HOE IS SOMETHING OTHER THAN A FARM IMPLEMENT ARE AT IT AGAIN.
          I PUT THE SEVIN ON AFTER FOUND THE PRONGS GONE. I BELIEVE SOMETHING SMALL IS RESPONSIBLE, BUT NO PRONGS/LEAVES ARE ON THE GROUND. THE ENDS LOOK LIKE A SMOOTH ICE CREAM CONE/PENCIL SHAPE. IT'S CUT AT THE EDGE AND IS ROUNDED OFF ON TOP.

        • No worries about the CAPS, just thought I'd bring it up in case you just didn't know. There are a couple of others here I know who need to use them too. But just to satisfy your curiosity about how it's possible to shout in a silent medium, people have come up with ways to make the words look to give it emphasis or added meaning. Italics would mean if you were reading out loud that the word in italics should be emphasized as you say it. For example, you'd read "I tell you what," differently than you'd read "I tell you what," and I hear it differently in my head even when reading silently to myself. It works like the accent mark over a syllable in a word by telling you to emphasize the sound in that syllable harder than the rest of the syllables. The all caps is a way to make a loud shout of the words as you're reading them. So that's just a little of how to make a silent medium more audible in your head while reading, lol. Anyway, it does sound like something small may be eating your leaves but still odd that there aren't any leaves left on the ground or tracks to identify what is doing it. If you notice your chimpmunks being super energetic or something, maybe you'll get a clue, ha.

        • MY MOMS CATS HAVE KILLED TWO CHIPMUNKS RECENTLY. IT'S DRIVING ME NUTS! IF IT WERE A BUG, THERE WOULD BE DEBRIS ON THE GROUND. IF IT WERE A BIG ANIMAL THERE WOULD BE TRACKS AND OTHER SIGNS. IT'S BEING EATEN OFF AND NOT CUT WITH A KNIFE. IT IS NOT BEING SQUEEZED OR RIPPED OFF. IT IS THE BIG PLANTS AND NOT THE SMALL ONES. IF I HAD ME A DEER CAMERA I WOULD DEPLOY IT. THE ONLY INSECT THAT COULD BE CUTTING IT AND DRAGGING IT OFF WOULD BE SOME TYPE OF ANT. I WOULD HAVE SEEN THE CONGA LINE THAT THE ANTS WOULD HAVE MADE. THIS IS ONGOING AND NOT A ONE TIME EVENT.

        • probably cut worms they call them hard to kill they like tomatoes too I have had ginseng the same way here

        • Wouldn't the tops be on the ground somewhere to find if it were cutworms, though? Part of the mystery is that he's finding no evidence of anything at all except the nubs left behind.

        • THERE ARE CUT MARKS FROM A TOOTH/TEETH ON THE PRONGS. EARLIER I SAID THINK OF IT LOOKING LIKE AN ICE CREAM CONE. THAT'S NOT RIGHT. THINK ABOUT IT AS PENCIL ERASURE SIZED GOLF BALL, ( ONLY WITH THE TOP THIRD OF THE GOLF BALL), AND PLACED ON THE PRONG (WHERE IT IS CUT OFF). YOU CAN SEE THE INDIVIDUAL BITE MARKS. THE BITE MARKS ARE DONE IN SUCH A MANNER AS ONE LICKING AN ICE CREAM CONE AT THE BOTTOM. WHEN IT'S DONE IT LOOKS LIKE A GOLF BALL ON THE PRONG STILL ATTACHED, TO THE PLANT. AFTER SPRAYING WITH LIQUID SEVIN AND DUSTING WITH SEVIN, IT IS NOT EASY TO MEASURE WHAT EFFECT IT HAS HAD, DUE TO THE MASSIVE DAMAGE ALREADY DONE.
          HOWEVER, IT APPEARS THAT AT BEST NO NEW DAMAGE HAS BEEN DONE. AT WORST, VERY LITTLE DAMAGE HAS BEEN DONE. WHAT I CAN SAY IS THAT THE SMALLER PLANTS REMAIN UNDAMAGED. THE LARGER PLANTS WERE MASSACRED, AND WITHOUT MARKING THE SURVIVORS, I HAVE TO USE MEMORY AND PERCEPTION TO DETERMINE ONGOING DAMAGE TO THE BIG ONES. THAT IS NOT AN ACCURATE MEANS OF MEASUREMENT. STILL NO SIGNS OF ANIMALS, BUGS, OR DEBRIS ON THE GROUND. I'VE SCOPED THE TREE CANOPY NESTS AND NO SIGNS OF THE PRONGS IN THE NESTS. I USED 50X AND I SAW NO GINSENG LEAVES. I COULD SEE THE DETAIL IN THOSE NESTS LIKE YOU CAN THE BACK OF YOUR HAND. THOSE ARE SQUIRREL NESTS AND THEY HAVE NOW BEEN RULED OUT.
          I AM AT A COMPLETE LOSS TO EXPLAIN THIS.
          .NO DEBRIS ON THE GROUND.
          .NO TRACKS OR SIGNS OF ANY ANIMAL ON THE GROUND.
          .THE PRONGS WERE EATEN OFF AND THE ENDS LOOKED LIKE THE TOP OF A GOLF BALL.
          .SEVIN DUST AND SPRAY APPEARS BUT IS YET TO BE PROVEN TO HAVE STOPPED IT.
          .IT IS RAINING AND WLL RAIN TOMORROW. I WILL HAVE SOFT SOIL FOR TRACKS TO BE MADE.
          DOES ANYONE KNOW WHAT A GREEN BEETLE IS? WHERE I HAVE IT THOSE INVADED AROUND 2010? THEY HAVE HAMMERED MY HABBISCUS IN THE PAST, AND FOR THE FIRST TIME THEY ARE HAMMERING WALNUT LEAVES. THEY DON'T EAT IN THE MANNER IN WHICH MY GINSENG IS BEING TAKEN (THEY EAT THE LEAVES FROM THE ENDS TO THE STEM). ANYONE KNOW WHAT WILL KILL THEM?

      • MY WAR WITH ASIAN HONEYSUCKLE BEGAN IN 1999 WITH THE LOSS OF THE DEER. IT TOOK ME UNTIL 2005 TO FIND SOMETHING THAT WOULD KILL IT. CROSSBOW MIXED AT A 2 1/2% SOLUTION WORKED WELL AT FIRST. I SWITCHED TO CROSSROADS (GENERIC CROSSBOW) AND IT WORKED BETTER. NOW I USE A 3% MIX. 3 OZS PER GALLON OF WATER. AT THIS TIME, I WILL CLEAR MY MOMS 18.5 ACRES OF THIS INFESTATION FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE IT BEGAN! HOWEVER, IT WILL NOT REMAIN THAT WAY. MILLIONS OF BUSHES WITH BILLIONS OF SEEDS SURROUND HER PLACE.

• Those Prices that Bill Gave are the same as I am paying for Ohio and WV Ginseng, Except I may Pay a little more on Cert Batch's of =Ginseng But it has to be be unbroken Clean Big Dry Root's. Green can have Dirt on them But Don't try to do like a Couple try'ed last Year on Me they added 1-2 lbs of dirt to there Sack's and any one should know that any Buyer worth his salt can tell within a Oz or 2 by looking at a bag or sack what it should weight. Thanks all and have a Great and Safe year of Senging. Jim Maynard APPALACHIAN GINSENG COMPANY. 4108 Clines Chapel Rd' Waverly OH 45690. Call 740-835-8119

  • that's 2017/18 Prices. TYVM Jim

    • Thank you for the information, Jim.

      • MADISON, I HAVE AN UPDATE ON THE EATING OF MY GINSENG LEAVES. I FOUND A FRESH SHINY HUGE PILE OF DEER DUNG IN MY GINSENG PATCH, ALONG WITH SOME BIG AND DEEP TRACKS. NOW THE SMALLER PLANTS LEAVES ARE BEING EATEN. I AM GOING TO SOLVE THIS PROBLEM THIS THURSDAY OR FRIDAY. THE STEMS ARE PRODUCING BERRIES ON THE LEAFLESS PLANTS. I WOULD NOT HAVE IMAGINED THAT HAPPENING! I DID NOT IMAGINE DEER EATING GINSENG LEAVES EITHER! NOR DID I IMAGINE A DEER DOING THAT LESS THAN 40 YARDS FROM A HOUSE!

        • Hey, well at least now you know what caused it and how to deal with it. Deer do eat the leaves here but not usually a whole patch at a time. They also come quite close to the house here too, but I live in the middle of a lot of woods.

        • IMAGINE A PLACE NAMED PANCAKE HOLLOW. EAST WEST RUNNING RIDGES AND MANY TREE'S. I JUST FINISHED PLANTING IN THE LAST TWO YEARS 275 HICKORY, 75 WHITE OAK, 25 PECAN, 25 RED OAK, AND I HAVE 50 MORE RED OAK THAT I'LL PLANT IN OCTOBER. I'M MAKING A SQUIRREL HUNTERS PARADISE. SHOULD BE GOOD FOR DEER TOO! I COULD PROBABLY PLANT ANOTHER 50 HICKORY TREE'S. CAN'T FIND ANY NOW AND IT'S TOO HOT TO PLANT THEM. THE PATCH CONSISTS OF ABOUT 200 PLANTS. OF THOSE ABOUT 100 ARE BIG THREE AND FOUR PRONG PLANTS. THE REST ARE SEEDLINGS AND TWO PRONGERS. I'M CREATING A NEW BED THIS OCTOBER, WHICH WILL HAVE SEEDLINGS IN 2020, ASSUMING THAT I HAVE ANY SEEDS THIS YEAR.

        • @John, in the areas of our woods where it is mostly oak and hickory I find the ginseng doesn't do well with producing seedlings. They set seeds alright if it's an older plant, but the seedlings never get up through the leaf mat. Have you not had that problem? If not, are there other kinds of trees mixed in with your hardwoods? Where I have a lot of maple, redbud, spicebush, pawpaw, elm, beech, and other thin-leafed trees mixed in with the oak and hickory, it does fine.

        • I ORDERED FROM THE IDNR OF ILLINOIS AND IOWA THE TREES. MAPLE, BLACK OAK, HICKORY, RED BUD, SCRUB OAK, ELM, PAW PAW, ASH, SYCAMORE ARE THE PREDOMINANT TREE'S HERE. I PLANTED THEM IN THE SUN. MOST OF THE GINSENG CAN BE FOUND AROUND HICKORY'S. THAT IS USUALLY THE SHADIEST PART OF A HOLLOW.
          THE DAMN ASIAN HONEYSUCKLE HAS TAKEN OVER HERE AND IT KILLS TREES, GINSENG AND STERILIZES THE SOIL! THE LEAF MAT IS NOT THAT BIG OF A PROBLEM FOR THE GINSENG AND TREES. WHAT IS A PROBLEM ARE THE JUNK TREES:MAPLE, BOX ELDER,CEDAR, AND RED BUD. WHERE BOX ELDER AND CEDAR TREES GROW GINSENG DOES NOT GROW! IT'S GOING TO BE 99 HERE TOMORROW.
          I'M GOING TO CREATE ANOTHER GINSENG BED THIS OCTOBER, WHERE I CAN SEE THE DEER AND SOLVE THE PROBLEM. THAT PATCH IT IS EATING WAS CREATED IN 1987. GINSENG DOES GROW UNDER RED BUDS, BUT THEY TAKE OVER THE WOODS.

• anybody know prices for tn yet and were they best buyers are in tn

  • you will find the best prices paid in tn in carter county. try caleb trivett

    • Any info on buyers in or around Bristol Va?

      • if you are virginia dealler give me email. im a buyer

        • LOGICALLY THEY WOULD SELL IT FOR A HIGHER PRICE AND THE BUYERS WOULD ACCEPT THE PRICE.

• With no disrespect to Billy, I understand what he states as opening prices, but how can he or anyone know where prices will end up? Seems like encouraging diggers and dealers to hold until the end of the season is not smart. Especially when that hasn't worked for several years. Just my opinion, but I know a little.

  • That's especially risky in uncertain years like we've had lately because AR dealers quit buying altogether when the bottom fell out here last year.

  • ALWAYS BEEN THAT WAY. WHO WENT OUT OF BUSINESS? NEVER SAW WHO IT WAS. ASIAN HONEYSUCKLE IS MAKING GINSENG HUNTING IMPOSSIBLE IN ILLINOIS AND MANY PARTS OF MO. ASIAN HONEYSUCKLE IS IMPASSIBLE AND STERILIZES THE SOIL. NOTHING GROWS IN THAT GRAY SOIL. THIS YEAR BERRIES WERE RIPE IN JULY AND MOST HAVE ALREADY FALLEN. PLANTS WERE STARTING TO TURN YELLOW 3 WEEKS AGO. HAS ANYONE ELSE NOTICED THAT THE SUN IS SETTING FARTHER TO THE NW? NEARLY 30 DEGREES IN CALHOUN COUNTY, IL. PROTECTED GINSENG IN THE PAST 8 YEARS HAS TURNED RED FROM SUN EXPOSURE AND SOME DIED. THE REST HAD TO BE DUG UP AND MOVED.

    • We have the honeysuckle here, too, but thankfully I've never found it in the deep woods where the ginseng grows. I never did hear who it was that went out of business, either, and maybe it's just a rumor that something like that happened. Would love to know facts on it if any of you out there have any, though.

• Need a price for IN

  • Justin Kelly, Give me a call. I am listed in the Indiana ginseng buyers list. Thks, Terry

• Is anyone buying tops this year

• How about Wisconsin information?

• Any advice on best buyers in or around Bristol Va?

• Isaac, I will buy tops. $5 per lb. Everybody else, I don't want to use this forum to advertise my business, but I am a SERIOUS buyer of quality roots. I am licensed in Indiana, Ohio, and Ky. and will buy certified root from anywhere. You can google my name and find me. Thanks Madison for the site. I don't need to advertise. I am well known in the fur and ginseng trade. OK. Enough said. Let's all just do what we do.

  • Your post helps the ones that come here for that info, so thanks for sharing it. Please leave a link to your site.

  • Indiana digger hear emai me

  • how to find you?