History Channel is coming out with a show about ginseng hunting in Appalachia. Until now I had no idea that ginseng was so hard to come by- I figured you planted it and harvested it like any other crop.
What are some crops that defy easy cultivation? I’m to understand that cultivating truffles is a bit of a fool’s game as well. What else?
Many species of Honeybush are not able to be cultivated at the moment, according to the article because it’s not know what else in the ecosystem causes the seeds to germinate.
Morel mushrooms (Morchella esculenta) have never been cultivated successfully. They are so highly prized by gourmets that it is said whoever learns to grow them commercially will become wealthy overnight.
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Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja sp.) is a North American wildflower that is coveted by rock gardeners and xeriscapers. Some seed is available on the gardeners market, but it is all harvested from the wild…efforts to cultivate a seed-producing crop have not been successful. Chromosa, the type I’m most familiar with is hemiparasitic and seems to enjoy a particular symbiosis with sagebrush (artimesia) but the precise conditions under which it may thrive have so far eluded gardners.
Well, people do plant Ginseng, but it’s an involved process and it takes a very long time to be ready to harvest.
Yes, it’s a bad way to get rich quick. Look at it as thwarting a simple business model, not defying cultivation. Similarly, you can start your own Paulownia plantation; just don’t expect rapid wealth selling the wood to eager Japanese customers.
Orchid raising used to be a slow and unprofitable process. Now with modern tissue culture techniques, mass production has succeeded and I don’t know of any varieties where such culture would be technically impossible.
Sushi afficionadoes may be surprised to learn that most of the “wasabi” served in restaurants is artificial, being composed of a mix of horseradish and mustard. Real wasabi is extremely difficult to cultivate, and is grown in relatively small quantities; the largest wasabi farm in the world is only 37 acres. I have seen real wasabi selling for $99 per pound, and I’ve only been to one restaurant that served it with their sushi - for a $5 surcharge.
Many fungus grow in close association to the roots/rootless of associated trees in symbiosis. People wanting to increase the chances of finding truffles on their property plant desire able trees and inoculate the surrounding ground, often waiting decades before throwing in the towel.
There are still some fiercely protected wild patches of ginseng (or 'sang as the old locals call it) in the woods around here but the majority was harvested decades ago. It sells for a pretty penny in town. I have heard prices are between $500 and $600 per pound.
It apparently is cultivatable, but the process is (as noted upthread by Chimera) years long before roots are ready to harvest. Also, the price for cultivated ginseng is apparently considerably less than wild grown.
I was going to say truffles. But “ramp” qualifies (I think). It is an odorous, pungent wild onion that is gathered in Spring. Some people love it, most do not. I have never heard of it being cultivated.
Do these plants count as crops if they are gathered from the wild instead of being cultivated and harvested? Oh, and I was going to mention dulse, although I don’t know if that is a “can’t be cultivated” or a “nobody has bothered to try” situation.
And there you go. If there was big-time demand for ramps, I have no doubt that it would be commercially raised like other members of the Allium tribe.
Fiddlehead ferns are not commercially cultivated, although apparently grown by some gardeners.
All Brazil nuts are harvested from wild trees - cultivated trees do not bear nuts.
Rooibos(a south African plant that is brewed into a tea and sold all over the world) has defied efforts to cultivate it in. Apparently it relies on something in the fynbos area of the cape.
The difficulty of cultivation in that case would be keeping it under control. The forest-carpeting species of wild onion (such as Allium tricoccum, ursinum and triquetrum) are vigorously invasive - once introduced to a cultivated environment, they are very, very difficult to eradicate.
Not to be pedantic or anything, but the correct answer to the OP’s question is None. By definition, if it isn’t “cultivated” it doesn’t yield a “crop.” Gathered foods are not crops.
To be pedantic ;), this is not strictly true. A “crop” can be any product gathered on a seasonal basis, for example a crop of wild mushrooms, or a crop of acorns.
<Pedant Fight! Pedant Fight!>
I grew up picking “Sang” in East Tennessee. The location of the plants was a well guarded family secret and I think still is as my younger brother still sells a few pounds a year.
Per Wiki: Plants which have not been cultivated but whose product are harvested, are not really classified as crops.
I have many levels in meaningless pedantry, I have. 