I feel as if I have just stumbled into a doctorate area, and I'm trying to catch up with a H.S educational equivalent. I hope I am not too elementary for words! I do have some questions, though, not exactly following any current threads. 

I live in South Central Iowa, and have an interest in repopulating the area with at risk natives. Am not exactly following traditional ways of doing so, however. 

I live on a hunting preserve, and there is almost every type of soil and environment found in the prairie I know of, on the property. Straight prairie, wetlands, hardwood and mixed woods, (both dense and open), my gosh, about everything. Although I need to stick with the wishes of my bosses who own the property, I do have permission to grow what I refer to as "wild gardens". These are areas I know are not visited by people often, and those who do get in the vicinity of these areas are looking for pheasant, chukar, turkey, quail, or other upland game birds. In other words, they don't really look at the flora, unless they are checking it for a bird. 

To explain what I mean by "wild garden", it's a place where I try to grow native medicinal or useful plants, especially those overharvested or with loss of habitat. My usual means of doing this is to propagate as I can, by seed or transplant, but for the most part leave it alone once the plants are established. 

Because this is a small town area, and because I am the local, infamous "tree hugger", it is generally known what I do, and I have (honest) been followed around by herb-of-the-hour profiteers. You don't want me to get started on my feelings about those. I have had the experience of having some of these idiots try to dig up a yucca plant, thinking it was black cohosh. I am not kidding. Perhaps I could make excuses for them by saying this is a poor area, but I sure wouldn't have my heart in it. I say this, to perhaps help explain why I do not go back to the wild gardens very often at all.  

After plenty of background yak, I will finally get to my questions: I do hope you will humor me, or perhaps direct me somewhere more appropriate for my knowledge and experience if I am just too unknowledgeable here.

I have a few small plots of American Ginseng- Panax Quinquefolium- growing around the property. As I understand, it needs 60-70% shade in a hardwood area, moist, not saturated soil, with good drainage. I use small plots, for the idea that if one plot gets infected with a pathogen or pest, it will not take the whole out. 

In visiting some plots that are now about a year old, after our first killing frost, I am seeing some sort of whitish-mold? fungi?- over all of the plots in one area.  The plots are separated by at least 10 feet, most are closer to 20-25 feet, and the plants were looking healthy, if a bit slow in growth, before now. It has been a very dry year here, with an occasional period- no more than 3 days each time, and only 3-4 incidents- of intense rain along with 75*F+ temps. The whitish stuff is on the soil, and the plants look as if leaf and stem damage was done before nature did the frost. Please understand, I just don't go to these plots often, I am hoping for no more than the absolute necessary human intervention. I also prefer not to leave much sign of their location. The last time I checked on them before the other day, it was about the middle of September. Temps were high 70's or low 80's at the time, with no appreciable precipitation within quite a while.

With stem damage, it is in the same plots as with leaf damage, but not necessarily with the same plants. The stems look as if they had a type of borer damage, but I don't know of that happening so late in the growing season around here. The leaves present with a rolling, curling, as if it were getting some sort of insect damage, but I find no evidence of the actual insect. No nodes or such, no actual critters.

Is there some sort of disease or pest I can be looking for? I almost thought the soil was covered with a type of mold, because of it's appearance: but this is already after killing frost, the soil is not warm, I just don't see anything that would support mold growth as I know it. 

And, here's the question that hurts: Do I need to pull the plots? Is there anything I can do, rather than yank it up, heal the soil from zero, and start over? I will, absolutely, if needed, but.... ARGH. Would love to have options, if possible. 

Any information you can supply, I would be very grateful. polly





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