Ginseng seeds truly are one of those really unique ones coming from the American native plants. This is a partial reason why American ginseng is included in the list of endangered plants list. That besides the fact ginseng being very rare plant.
Now you are thinking to grow your own ginseng to enjoy your self grown healthy herb, but you are still hesitating what kind of seeds to buy. Stratified or fresh green seeds? How to stratify them? Here is a small briefing which might give you a better idea what to choose for your growing plans and needs.
Many professionals are recommending to use stratified ginseng seeds. “Stratified” basically means that human being has imitated the seasoning process that the seeds would have gone through in wild nature.
Practically this means the seeds are being harvested from plants and then placed into moist sand for 12 months and are given hot and cold treatment to encourage germination. After that, the seeds are stratified and ready to be planted. However, the hot and cold treatment poses a high risk catching the fungus infection. Hot and cold combined with damp is really ideal for fungus to start growing. So better be really careful if doing the stratifying process by yourself. Its not so nice to spend loads of time on growing procedures and end up with fungus infection which destroyed most of the plants.
Ginseng seeds in wild nature normally remain to be dormant for a 1.5 year time period and then sprout after second spring since dropping from the mother plant.
It is a bit tricky question if you should get stratified seeds or not. Getting stratified ones will save you a lot of time but in other hand the ginseng will reach the ideal maturity level in 6 years. So one extra year spent in growing process is not that bad, right?
Other positive feature: planting freshly harvested seeds might give you a better results.
But there is still a change your fresh green seeds will catch fungus infection. Sellers who are offering stratified ones normally make their merchandise go through process where the nasty fungus will be eliminated. Some don’t have to do the fungus eliminating process since their high experience and knowledge how to maintain the ideal temperature and dampness resulting in high quality stratification with no fungus.
So it is totally up to you which way you wanna go after, fresh or stratified ones.
We can still highly recommend buying stratified ginseng seeds, especially for the beginners. Stratified are slightly more expensive compared to fresh green ones.
Remember, it is important to plant the seeds as soon as possible after you receive them. If you can not do so, keep in mind that you need to keep the seeds moist. Best idea would be to keep them in a fridge inside plastic bag until you are able to plant them. Use a spray bottle once a week to mist them out. Never let them to dry out or they will die.
