If you want to dry the leaves for tea, then pick them at the last moment before they start to drop. The berries should be replanted but it takes 2 years longer for them to mature and sprouting is unreliable. Mature beds should be dug after 4 or 5 years, as the main roots start to rot after that. The runners will continue on and will reseed the bed. Check out this site to find out how the rumors got started from a novel.
Many experts feel that goldenseal is overused and offer advice on other herbal remedies.
The Honest HerbalistColumn, Varro E. Tyler. Below are a number of references about goldenseal both on the web and in book form. Prescription for Nutritional Healing, by James F. Balch, M.D. and Phyllis A. Balch, C.N.C., pp. An Instant Guide to Medicinal Plants, by Pamela Forey and Ruth Lindsay, pp. Puyallup, WA Future Medicine Pub., 1993.