CHARLESTON, W.VA. — Ginseng harvest season opens Wednesday, Sept. 1, and continues through Tuesday, Nov. 30.
Observing the legal season and regulations helps preserve Appalachia’s endangered wild ginseng.
Harvesting pulls up the ginseng root, ending the plant’s ability to replace itself with new generations. To help the herb’s last seeds grow, the hunter must by law plant them at the site where the root was taken.
Before the plant can be legally harvested, ginseng must be at least five years old and its seed-bearing berries bright red. The slow-growing plant needs to mature for at least five years to reproduce. The plant’s age can be determined by looking at the base of the plant stem, where bud scars occur. A five-year-old ginseng root will have at least four scars.
The diggers must have written permission to dig on private property.
No ginseng may be taken from West Virginia state forests, state parks or other state-owned land.
Ginseng diggers must have a current forest service permit to dig and collect from national forest lands. Hunters should contact the national forest office in their area regarding ginseng permits and regulations.
At present, national forests based in West Virginia still allow ginseng hunters who have purchased current permits to dig on designated national forest lands.
This year, other national forests have found their ginseng populations too depleted to allow sustainable harvesting. The U.S. Forest Service announced that in 2021, no ginseng permits will be issued for North Carolina’s Nantahala and Pisgah National Forests and the Cherokee National Forest. The herb’s decline is attributed to poaching, overharvesting, and harvesting without planting seeds to produce a new crop.
Diggers have until March 31, 2022, to sell their ginseng to a registered West Virginia ginseng dealer or
