Fall Root Give-Away
Fall Root Giveaway 2010!
This Fall’s Giveaway is a special opportunity to order 3 Goldenseal plants! We are very excited to once again offer plants wild cultivated at a neighboring Sanctuary in UpS’s newly named “Goldenseal Sanctuary” community of Rutland, Ohio. They will be robust, good-sized roots ready to thrive in a fertile, shady location. These plants have been growing on the once Frontier, once Rural Action lands, now owned and stewarded by the Paul Neidhardt family.
You must be a current UpS member to be eligible for this give-away. One order per member please. Orders must be received by September 1st!!
Special note to our Canadian members: We are unable to export goldenseal due to its CITES status, so we will send you stoneroot (Collinsonia canadensis).
Please send your name, address and $10 check or money order to our Vermont office address below. Plants are sent US Postal Service, so if you have a post office box, please be sure to check it daily so you receive the plants when they arrive!
UpS, P.O. Box 400, East Barre VT 05649
Planting instructions will be included with your shipment. Live plants will arrive in late September, so be ready for them!
Planting Your Goldenseal Roots
From “Growing At Risk Medicinal Plants” by Richo Cech
In nature, Goldenseal grows in communal patches, usually on gently sloping land, often on a northern or northeastern exposure, under the shade of the mixed hardwood forest. In the East, its preferred community includes trees like beech, hickory, locust, maple, white oak and tulip poplar, and other herbaceous plants like black cohosh, blue cohosh, bloodroot and trillium. In the West, ideal soils for woodland cultivation of goldenseal are found under mixed alder and big leaf maple forests. Understory plants that are indicators of good ground for goldenseal cultivation in the West include sword fern, Oregon grape and trillium. The plant is generally considered to require about 70% shade, best received in the form of dappled sunlight. Full morning sun may be tolerated, but the plants definitely need protection from perpendicular sun.
In cultivation, it is preferable to include goldenseal’s companions to approximate the natural forest community of plants to promote balanced soil ecology, where plants sequester certain fungal symbionts in order to assist in nutrient assimilation and to protect against pathogenic organisms.
The soil most preferred by goldenseal is a rich, forest-derived humus with a slightly acid pH (5.5 to 6.5). The presence of copious quantities of leaf mold and a thick mulch of decomposing hardwood leaves is essential. It is worth it to add a considerable amount of compost to the soil if it is not already quite rich. Although the plant is water-loving, good drainage is a prerequisite to healthy growth. Goldenseal does not occur in marshy ground. Regular summer rainfall is required and high humidity is relished.
The mature goldenseal rhizome has the potential to be divided into several viable transplants. Even unbudded pieces of the rhizome are covered with tiny, dormant eyes (adventive buds) that will produce new buds when planted under the right conditions. The rhizome is typically broken or cut apart into sections of approximately ½ inch (1.2 cm) length, complete with any attached rootlets. The section containing the dormant bud produces the most vigorous plants, and may even give rise to flowers and fruits in the first season.
The transplants are best spaced between 6 inches (14 cm) and 1 foot (28 cm) apart, planted just below the soil surface, with the buds pointing up. The fibrous rootlets that hang down from the transplant may be spread out and dug in as deeply as possible in the underlying soil. Alternatively, long rootlets can be trimmed back to 2 inches (5 cm), thereby stimulating root growth and simplifying planting. Firm the soil around the transplant, and cover with mulch. Mark the area well and keep wild animals, people and pets from walking on it. The plant will reemerge in the spring, and given the right conditions will become rapidly established.
