Cultivated ginseng is grown intensely under artificial shade and is usually fertilized. It is usually harvested in 4 to 6 years.
From my research in the past, if my memory is correct, there are two main reasons the cultivated ginseng is not worth as much.
The first reason is that the Chinese feel that the older slower growing roots, grown naturally in the woods without any fertilization, have more healing powers than the cultivated ginseng. Might be ancient Chinese folklore but they are the folks buying it.
The second reason is that there are more (I HOPE I REMEMBERED THIS WORD CORRECTLY) ginsenocides in the wild ginseng versus the cultivated. These ?ginsenocides? are basically the good stuff that the ginseng provides to help balance and maintain one's health. This was discovered through research by various scientific groups.
As time passes and more and more research is done on ginseng, there have been some amazing findings as to what ginseng can do for the human body.
There are basically 4 types of ginseng. The types of ginseng are wild, wild simulated, woods cultivated, and field cultivated grown under artificial shade and heavily fertilized. The wild ginseng and the wild simulated ginseng brings the most money. The woods cultivated brings the next most and the field cultivated is at the bottom of the list.
Most health supplements that contain ginseng are made with the cheaper field cultivated ginseng.
Last edited by Computer Hater; 09/28/22 07:01 AM.