Goldenseal is the most powerful medicinal herb in North America.
It's known by names
such as in the Indian tumeric, ground raspberry
yellow root and ginseng's little brother by the Cherokee. Its environmental status
is endangered...threatened to endangered
and it's been exterminated from some places.
Habitat destruction is a huge problem and the global demand - the worldwide
demand is huge for it...
so there's a lot of pressure which is all the more reason to grow it.
I think at one point here in the past 10 years there were only 140 acres in
the entire world under cultivation of goldenseal, which really isn't that many.
It's starting to pick up in the southeast - interest in growing goldenseal.
Yeah, there are numerous small farms like mine around that are small-scale
producers that have probably have half acre to an acre.
I've got mine growing in very intensive, closely spaced plots which I have to
to divide up. So basically mine are in holding beds now and
acreage is going to be expanding here, simply because they're
they're getting crowded.
The wild simulated, simply would be you just go out and just take a divil
or a little spade and just make a small slit in the earth and plant it with minimal disturbance -
that way wild animals won't notice it as much.
Whereas, and you wouldn't add limestone in that case in your alkaloid
content wouldn't be as high but also your labor input would be a lot lower.
Whereas the way I'm doing it is to cultivate the beds, rototill them,
add lime... it's more labor intensive but you get a
you get higher alkaloid - a better product and you get more yield per
square foot.
So there really are two different approaches
both of which work. If your going to sell this to
a company, they're going to have it tested at an independent laboratory. It's got to have
a minimum alkaloid content
have 2.5 and it can be as high as 10. I've had mine tested. It's 4.9.
I know people that have up to seven percent alkaloid... they are adding
limestone to their soil.
I'm just starting to add limestone to my soil so my alkaloid content
should go up in the future. As far as the price you would get...if you're certified organic,
for every percentage point of alkaloid higher, you can actually get ten dollars a
pound more. So what that means is
a guy with a 7.1 alkaloid is going to get a whole lot more than me with 4.9 alkaloid.
I believe that Europe is the main consumer, and I've
got a friend who is in the business and he had a man from Germany call-up
and say he want to 12,000 pounds of goldenseal
not from the wild, and my friend said, "I can't do that for you because
we don't grow that much." So, but that kinda got
everybody going. They realize that, yeah, there's definitely a market for it.
There is a huge demand because the medicinal properties are very potent.
It is, indeed, the most potent medicinal herb
in North America. It can kill germs on contact,
particularly in mucous membranes and not get absorbed by the bloodstream
which can be advantageous. It's anti-microbial,
anti-fungal. It's used for acne in a topical situation.
The three main chemicals are berberine, hydrastine
and canadine. It's used as a dye plant
traditionally by the Indians. There's extensive cancer research going on for
goldenseal now.
It's use for digestive aid,
diarrhea...just any number elements
and it's definitely a very serious drug. You could have blood pressure issues
with it.
It can make your blood pressure fluctuate, so I would say
anybody using goldenseal should probably consult a practitioner
before they use it, and I think also extended use is discouraged.
Yeah, toxicity can be an issue. It can be an issue in large doses
because it's a very powerful plant.