Last edited on 3 Feb 2024. View history
Goji Berry
Goji Berry
How to sow goji berry: Transplant bare-root plants or cuttings
Sun requirement for goji berry: Plant in Full Sun
Goji is a deciduous, woody, perennial plant native to Asia that is grown for it's fruit, which is known as the Goji, Gojiberry, or Wolfberry. Goji can be one of two closely related species: Lycium barbarum or Lycium chinense. Both are Boxthorns in the Solanaceae family along with tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers. The plant is a viney bush with long, rambling canes that can be grown as a hedge and benefit from being staked or trellised. Goji are self-pollinating but benefit from another variety nearby. Plants may develop thorns, which can be pruned off, as they age. Goji can survive winter temperatures as low as -40°C and summer temperatures up to 38°C. They will go dormant at temperatures below 10°C. In hotter climates, they benefit from afternoon shade. Once they are well established (usually by their third year), the plants are quite drought-tolerant. Goji can be grown in containers: the plants will be smaller but they may produce in their first season, whereas plants in the ground take 2-3 seasons to produce. Goji berries are slightly elongated and about the size of a raisin. They will be fully red and slightly soft when ripe, and will become sweeter the longer they are left on the plant. Plants should be netted to protect the berries from birds. Goji are used to reduce inflammation because they are high in antioxidants, amino acids, and essential fatty acids. They can be eaten fresh or dried.
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Goji berry facts
What are growing degree days?
A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.
Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.
For goji berry, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 8°C and a shortest growing cycle of 60 days at its best temperature, about 660 growing degree days to a first harvest.
Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your goji berry will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.
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Who's planted goji berry
- nodosa Budding food garden · Mayenne, France
- travelledguy Garden · Sterling, Colorado, USA
- abbz Sandy bed · Sydney
Goji berry harvests
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Ecological requirements
Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Lycium chinense Miller
| Family / Taxonomy | Magnoliopsida Asteridae Solanales Solanaceae |
|---|---|
| Optimal temperature | 13 - 25 °C |
| Absolute temperature | 8 - 32 °C |
| Optimal rainfall | 700 - 1500 mm/year |
| Absolute rainfall | 300 - 2200 mm/year |
| Optimal soil pH | 5.5 - 7.5 |
| Absolute soil pH | 5.0 - 8.0 |
| Crop cycle | 60 - 365 days |
| Max altitude | 2000 m |
| Life form | shrub |
| Life span | perennial |
| Habit | erect |
| Optimal soil depth | medium (50-150 cm) |
| Optimal soil texture | heavy, medium, light |
| Optimal soil fertility | moderate |
| Optimal soil drainage | well (dry spells) |
| Optimal soil salinity | low (<4 dS/m) |
| Photoperiod | short day (<12 hours) |
| Optimal light | very bright |
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