I’ve seen multiple sources saying different things. Even people saying that they don’t taste good in certain soils. Wanted to know if we’ve got a goji expert among us…
not an expert on goji. But goji will tolerate the hostile weather(outdoors year round) and soil conditions(>8pH, hard caliche earth) of the mojave desert AND will bear fruits.
The native land is relatively dry and it needs dry heat during the day to ripen the berries. If the soil is too rich, it promotes more vegetative growth at the expense of the berry quality.
Somehow similar to jujube type of soil.
Yes. That is because there are different species sold as “Goji Berry”. Some are from China et al and one is from the southwestern U.S.
The Southwestern US Goji was originally brought from China.
There are only two types of Goji, one is the standard Goji and one is Tibetan Goji. I forget their scientific names. Tibetan Goji is more cold hardy. Even the regular Goji has different types, some produce almost no berries and folks grow the plants for leaves.
There is at least one Lycium species that is native to semi-arid mountainous portions of southern California which are sold as Goji berry.
I’ll be curious to see what variety you are talking about. Never heard of any US native Goji plant. The Goji in California was reported to be brought in by Chinese railroad worker(s) a long time ago.
It’s not a variety – it’s a species. You’ll find it in the Lycium link above.
There are many kinds of Lycium. But the only kinds of Lycium called as Goji (a Chinese name) are L. barbarum and L. chinense. If it is native American Lycium, then it can’t be called as Goji since Goji is a Chinese name and is only used to describe the Chinese Lycium.
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I agree it shouldn’t be sold as Goji, but the fact is there are sellers that do.
It is ok. Folks do not know much about Goji anyway. Very few of the Goji berries taste well and most of them are just garbage. I planted a few and have only one I like now. The berries taste sweet fresh off the plant. The rest has no taste. Maybe good to be used as dried berry. But you can buy better dried Goji at cheaper price.
Goji berry has slightly sweet taste. Mostly the berry is red but there is black goji berry as well. I heard the black one has higher antioxidant. I usually grow in dry soil.
@Richard I ordered Sweet Lifeberry from Starkbros & a Crimson Star from Indiana Berry.
I wonder what varieties are the better ones. The purpose of my thread was to straighten out some growing issues I’ve had with the Sweet Lifeberry. I definitely scorched the leaves, but now I’m thinking I need a better draining soil. It rained a hell of a lot up north last week, so it really wasn’t doing well. I pruned it back and it’s spitting out new leaves now, so I think I’m on the right track. Soil PH is my other concern. There are mixed reviews on that front.
The goji I grow are DNA identified as Lycium barbarum, the variety is Phoenix Tears.
They are not at all difficult to grow, requiring similar conditions to other berries. In other parts of the world they are grown for their leaves - which make a DELICIOUS tea. More recently US marketing companies have pushed the berries as a high anti-oxidant (aka anti-aging) drink. The berries are not tasty but I make a medicinal syrup from them. The leaves are also high in antioxidants.
Some ‘sources’ recommend growing them as a low growing single-stem tree. Not their preferred max yield form. I whack them off at ~ 6" in the fall and they come back like gang busters.
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Thanks @ross, I don’t know of their sources. If the berries they produce are orange that turn orange-red as they ripen then you likely have cultivars of Lycium barbarum. Knowing a bit about Stark Bros., I think the name they’re using is a come-on for generic Lycium barbarum.
The species is invasive, both by root sprouts and seed. A well draining soil is advised but perhaps under control somewhere – much like you’d do to contain raspberries. I grow mine as a bush and whack it back severely in the late fall – in my climate.
There are many sources of anti-oxidants among plants, some are fatal when ingested by humans and others range from little to significant effect. The major ones of health benefit are a group of anthocyanins which are found in Lycium, both traditional Goji (L. barbarum) and Torrey’s Wolfberry (L. torreyi).
There is no connection between anti-aging and anthocyanins other than humans with a life-long poor diet tend to have shorter lifespans.
Googling the above phrase will yield info that supports a different point of view.
I’m not a “google researcher”. I choose sources of information carefully and primarily depend upon peer-reviewed research. There are plenty of non-peer-reviewed publications paid for by various suppliers and marketers. I have friends and colleagues who have suffered temporary discomforts to life-long maiming and worse due to well-meaning certified herbalists. Medicine is not an amatuer sport. You either studied biology, chemistry, physiology in a four-year program or you didn’t.
goji has more characteristics of a vegetable than a fruit(in terms of palatability), which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
My goji’s have finally turned around!
I’ve got a few suckers coming up. How many should I keep if I’m growing them up a stake?