Today, many people rely on medicine to cure a variety of ailments, however; many people do not know that their backyard contains a wide assortment of plants that can help with a range of illnesses. After Kentucky took an economic downturn following the decline of coal, many are out of work and looking to make some additional money. One solution lies in Appalachian tradition and past times. Ginseng is a medicinal plant that grows in the hills and hallows of the Appalachian. Many people have harvested this plant for years to make extra money to pay bills and feed their families. Ginseng could help the businesses and thousands of struggling miners in the Appalachian find renewal in a post coal future.
Medicinal plants can relieve an array of
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Some people use screwdrivers, a sharpened stick, or a short hand grubbing tool (Keith930). Harvest season for ginseng in Kentucky begins on September 1 and ends on December 1. People can beginning selling moist ginseng root on September 1, but cannot sell dried ginseng until September 15. It takes around 300 ginseng roots to make one pound of dried ginseng (Kevin Litman). Ginseng root is the most valuable part of the pant (Kevin Litman). Wild ginseng is more valuable than cultivated. Wild ginseng can fetch anywhere from $300 to $350, while cultivated ginseng goes for $18 to $35 depending on quality (ginseng). Ginseng; however, cannot be picked until it has three prongs and at least five years old. A person also needs to replant berries from the picked plant and replanted fifty feet away. Ginseng takes seven to ten years to mature (Kevin Litman). When to harvest ginseng is important to earning a profit in …show more content…
Harvesting ginseng does not require a lot of money unless you want to grow your own under artificial light, while the lowest investment and production cost are for wild and wild-simulated ginseng For the already cash strapped miners, this could be an easy way to earn a little money. Wild ginseng is the most profitable production of this plant and a person can easily earn $300-$350 per pound of dry ginseng However, it can vary by year. Wild simulated and Woods grown ginseng are the next valuable. While other production methods produce a root that resembles wild roots gets less (ginseng). Ginseng can be a profitable business that rarely requires a lot of money to get