Hi Steve, welcome to permies. Thanks for taking the time to answer questions!
I am planning on planting some ginseng seed in a few wooded areas on my property. Any recommendations for planting? I have heard people clearing sections of ground cover to plant ginseng seed. My idea was to kind of broadcast seed in a few different areas and let nature do the rest. Any suggestions? I have never planted ginseng before but my neighbor is getting a bunch of seed and I said I would go in on it with him. I am in the hills of western NJ.
My next question is on Paw Paw trees. I got a few bare root Paw Paws a few years ago and didn't get good results. I was thinking about trying to grow from seed. Do you recommend planting Paw Paw from seed or bare root? Depending on your answer do you have a recommended source? I was hoping to plant them on the edges of my tree lines so they get enough sun to eventually fruit.
Last question, I grew a bunch of red oak from seed last year. I wanted to transplant them into some spots where a few mature oaks recently fell in and around the forest edge. They are about 2-3 feet tall right now. Should I wait until they get a little bigger or transplant this fall! I was thinking about putting some in the woods where there is an open canopy. The others will probably go on the edge of the tree line where the road borders my property and get full sun.
Any advice/insights would be appreciated. Thanks.
Dave

For the pawpaws, see if you can get seed from already selected trees - apparently some of the wild ones will have a green pepper after-taste. Selected ones are grafted by some companies, so you could buy a few, and use them for your seed source, or try and get out to one of the nurseries that sells them to buy fresh pawpaw fruit, and use that seed. Any opportunity to consume a pawpaw should be well and truly taken immediately. When I tried my first one last fall, it was amazing: vanilla pudding. That said - I had tried a wild one before, and it had the green peppery taste. Might have been underripe too though.

Transplanting with pawpaw is hard - I've lost a few too. The ones I got this past spring were bigger, which seems to have helped. The grower needs to be using very deep pots to retain the tap root. I've not seen them shipped bare-root before, so they may be more sensitive to having their roots dry out than other fruit trees. The ones I order for my nursery are always in deep pots. They are a twitchy, not very domesticated tree, but so good!

A great source for paw paw and just about any other tree that crops is Oikostreecrops.com. I have purchased quite a few trees from them and am very happy with the trees and speed of getting my trees.

I am curious about these answers too! During a walk recently with a few knowledgeable people in my woods one of them commented that maidenhair fern is an indicator species for ginseng so planting ginseng next to those plants in my woods was my plan. I still need to look into seed sources.

I have planted pawpaw seeds in my woods. I chose to plant them in areas where I have trillium patches theorizing that they'd be good companions since I believe they have the same pollinators. I'm not sure how much sun they'll get though!

Oak saplings will come from my in-laws woods to be transplanted at our home, two towns over.

Thanks for the info guys. I have been checking out Oikos but haven't pulled the trigger on ordering anything from there yet. Do you know if they have Paw Paw seeds? I might try to find someone local who is selling fresh paw paw and try to plant from those seeds.

I forget where my neighbor said he was getting the ginseng seed. I will have to ask him. He said he did a lot of research into his whole ginseng venture but I am starting to question it. So I figured I would try to get some info from an expert like Steve.

Dave Hunt wrote:Thanks for the info guys. I have been checking out Oikos but haven't pulled the trigger on ordering anything from there yet. Do you know if they have Paw Paw seeds? I might try to find someone local who is selling fresh paw paw and try to plant from those seeds.

I forget where my neighbor said he was getting the ginseng seed. I will have to ask him. He said he did a lot of research into his whole ginseng venture but I am starting to question it. So I figured I would try to get some info from an expert like Steve.

I do know Oikos sells a lot of different tree seeds. I did not see paw paw but would bet if you emailed them that something could be worked out. Lucky for me a friend ordered too many trees and gifted me with 2 of them. They are only 2 years old so not producing yet. Kim

Hi Dave and all:

It's really exciting for me to see these questions, because we tackled so many of them in the book. We cover in detail ginseng, and paw paw cultivation.

In addition to the book, our buddy Bob "Mr Ginseng" Beyfuss discussed Ginseng cultivation in a video series through the national extension network: http://www.extension.org/pages/70054/youtube-channel-ginseng-series#.VBjeEUhRFSQ

With paw paw, both bareroot and seeds can be successfully grown. When you say you "didn't get good results," its hard to know why. Paw Paw needs well drained and uncompacted soil to do well. It also is a shade loving species, and young seedlings really need to be introduced to full sun environments slowly. Best is to plant on edges or where you get half day sun.

Both paw paw and Oak are tap-rooted species. Generally, tap-rooted trees are harder to transplant, especially when older than 2 years.

cheers
Steve