If you decide to grow ginseng in your backyard, pots, or in the woods keep it in a mostly shady area. Plant the seeds and cover it with about 1 inches of rotten leaves or mulch. Plant the seeds in the fall and they will sprout up in the spring. If you plant seeds in small plastic trays or peat trays you can transplant them when they become a couple of inches high. When planting in pots, use pots that are at least 8 inches deep and use only plastic not the clay pots.
Clay pots seem to dry out more easily than plastic.
Dig roots in the fall as the above-ground parts die back. Ginseng roots do not grow straight down. Their usually at about 45 degrees in the ground. Remember that the taproot may be forked and that it has many diffusely branched rootlets. Expose the whole root and wash as soon as possible but do not scrub.