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  Growing Ginseng

 
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Jenny & John

 

One might say that for John and Jenny Dubois their venture into Ginseng came about by chance when they purchased a small property at Catani, in Victoria on which 1kg of Ginseng seed had been planted.

Having had their interest in Ginseng sparked, John and Jenny decided to plant another 10kg of seed as well as 5000 one year old rootlings.

‘This was the start of a steep learning curve”, says Jenny.

The slugs and floods, say the Dubois’, were a major problem with the ginseng.

Undaunted, they set about to find another property more suited to growing ginseng.

“John’s middle name is stubborn;’ says Jenny. “He was not going to let it beat him.”

Their 12 month search culminated in the purchase of a 40.5 ha property at Gembrook where, having salvaged approximately 800 roots, they set about transplanting their ginseng and Orang Utan Organic Ginseng was born.

The property mainly faces east and is hilly from 5 to 40 degrees. And whilst the property is all bush, only about 8 ha is suitable to grow woods grown ginseng without any extra shade being provided.

“That is unless a tree comes down over existing beds,” states John.

Eucalypts are the main canopy species, with an understorey of hazel pomadarus along with other understorey plants such as tree ferns, tea tree, etc.

The soil varies throughout the farm from loamy sand to heavier clays.

Following a soil test the Dubois’ applied lime, dolomite and gypsum to achieve a soil pH of 5.4.

After the last couple of below average rainfall years (the average being around 1200 mm) they have also now set up a watering system to most of their Ginseng beds.

“We have a small spring fed dam that is always full so we simply pump the water up with our firefighting pump to a sprinkler system.” John said.

“This we feel is good insurance, especially for new plantings, as we believe that older plants will survive, even if they go dormant earlier in a drought year.”

Up until last year the Dubois had used blood and bone fertilisers, This is now prohibited in the organic certifying rules, unless it has been composted.

“While we’ve had excellent results with Dynamic Lifter Longlife. this season we will be using Vitec Combo, which is a Certified Organic liquid fertiliser.

“We used it on the veggie garden last season and had terrific results and would recommend it to anyone.” says Jenny.
Invasions by deer, wallabies, kangaroos, wombats, bush rats, lyre birds, possums and parrots are a constant problem for John and Jenny.

“Our worst nightmare’ was seeing
nearly all our ginseng tops eaten in 10 days by possums and not being able to do much about it,” said John.

“We now have wire igloos over the beds.”

“Although this has meant more work, the peace of mind is well worth it.”

After their trials and tribulations in Catani one is opt to ask why they chose to grow ginseng.

The answer according to the Dubois is simple. “Because it’s a challenge.”

“Our aim is to grow wild simulated and woods grown ginseng,” says Jenny. “Having bought this beautiful property, its like living in a resort. Being in the bush is so calming and peaceful. And because John does very little physical work during the week he really enjoys the work on weekends in the bush.

“Growing Ginseng can be a steep learning curve. We would advise all growers about the importance of sharing information and attending regional growers’ field days. That is after all where the real knowledge is on Australian growing techniques.


 
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