Hello – I’m a relatively new gardener. I grew some black goji berry plants from seed this year. The two plants have grown about a foot tall/long with a few offshoots as well. Both have outgrown their 1 gallon black buckets I have them in. I am wondering if I can plant them in the ground now considering it’s September or if I need to keep them out of the ground until next year. It gets down to -5 degrees Fahrenheit where I live in the winters. Black goji berries are supposed to be cold hardy to -15 degrees F, but I don’t know if that is true for a less than 1 year old plant. Can I plant the 2 black gojis into the ground now which are only ~6 months old, later this year, or wait until next year? They seem to be quite vigorous. However, is it normal to plant plants that were grown from seed into the ground the same year and expect them to survive the cold winters?
I would think they would do just fine planting them now. I wouldn’t be too worried of them freezing off.
I have my all of my goji in tall pots I got at Lowes. I leave them out over winter and they do fine. Here is STL is gets down to -15F at least for a few hours every winter.
I call them poysenberries because the varieties I got don’t taste very good. But, I might be married to them now like the invasive matrimony vines which are spreading weeds with much better tasting, but microscopic fruit.
@snowflake I read there are actually 97 species in the Lycium (wolfberry/russian box thorn) family – though there are 4 species in particular that I come across commonly in discussions. I assume the majority of them are not very tasty, assuming any are! The two types I’m growing haven’t produced berries yet so I haven’t had a chance to try them.
Lycium chinense (red goji berry but not as tasty or popular as barbarum, from China)
Lycium barbarum (red goji berry, usually this is what’s sold in stores dried, from China)
Lycium ruthenicum Murray (black goji berry, from Himalayas/Russia/Asia)
Lycium fremontii (aka Mexican Wolfberry/Wolfberry/tomatillo, from the Sonoran Desert).
When I was purchasing my two varieties, Lycium ruthenicum Murray and Lycium barbarum “Golden”, I noticed some sites seemed to not note or even know if they were actually selling Lycium barbarum or Lycium chinense. Apparently they look similar but Lycium barbarum is supposedly slightly better tasting. I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of people got a goji of a different variety and dismissed them because they got a not-very-good-tasting one.
Source about there being 97 species of Goji: Nutrients | Free Full-Text | Black Goji Berry (Lycium ruthenicum Murray): A Review of Its Pharmacological Activity
Thank you for letting me know! Do they get snowed on or do you keep them under a roof of some sort during the winter? I’ve got one of mine in a tall pot.
Yes, I am aware of the differences. I got plants from a variety of sources, some of which were from growers who “claimed” they tasted great. Perhaps “great” is subjective. My feeling on them at this point is that if I want something that tastes vaguely like a sweet pepper (with an aftertaste), I will grow a pepper rather than something that makes tiny berries and invasive spreading roots… 
I’ve had dried ones in packaging that seemed good, but who knows, they could been soaked in sugar or something else to make them edible. Maybe you will get lucky with your varieties!
They are out in the wide open. I trim them down to about 16” tall in late winter so each plant only produces a 1/2 cup or so for me but I am sure my pots are big enough to support 3x the size I keep them at.
I have:
Lycinium ruthenicum
Lycinium barbarum “Crimson Star”
Lycinium barbarum “Imperial”
Lycinium barbarum “Starburst”
Lycinium barbarum “Golden”
Lycinium barbarum unknown, possibly “Phoenix Tears”
The ruthenicum is super thorny, the berries are super small but very sweet. I would get rid of it if I ever do a redesign and no longer have room. But for now it is ornamental.
I’m on my 2nd “Golden”. The first I grew from a cutting and it looked healthy but I think a late freeze the next spring killed it. I did get some fruit from it and it tasted so good I figured I would give it another shot.
“Imperial” is my favorite. It has no bitter aftertaste but all of the sweetness.
“Crimson Star” is very productive, less sweet, and very bitter aftertaste. I’ve never intentionally killed a plant before but this might be the one I murder. I don’t want to transplant it in the wild because it is not native.
“Stardust” has big, pretty fruit but they have no taste other than sweet, so it is mostly ornamental.
The unknown variety I have was due to an Etsy seller sending me their red variety and not their “Golden” and I didn’t find out and now their store is closed so I can’t even reference it to see what their red was…but anyway, it is super sweet but has juuust the right amount of bitter aftertaste to not be off-putting. After comparing photos online I am fairly certain it is the popular “Phoenix Tears” variety.
I have phoenix tears from OGW and I don’t like them at all really. But for all intents and purposes they are really hardy. If I had it to do over again I likely wouldn’t plant them. However I enjoy trying new fruits so it was the best way to try them. Perhaps they will get better in years to come, they are a tiny bit sweet but almost like a pepper spice to them. It’s not awful just not something I’d ever want to eat a lot of
I’m wondering if it’d be best to use the berries to make a tea or juice/smoothie since they’re supposed to be pretty healthy. If they don’t taste all that great, maybe that’s the way to go about consuming them rather than eating them fresh. Has anyone cooked with them in a dessert or something? I wonder how that would taste.
I have grown them at the last couple houses I had in the PNW. I was introduced to them by eating them dried after I bought them from a natural health store. I recommend doing the same as they often irritate the mouth if eaten fresh. The traditional Chinese medicine community uses them. Google is your friend.
I’m struggling to find any references to “Imperial goji berry” aside from dried tea mixes. Are you sure that’s the correct cultivar name? Is it just an obscure release from someone that hasn’t been well documented?
Yes, it is a person who was breeding them and selling them on eBay. Imperial is a cross of a “Golden” goji and a red goji.
It looks like he is currently not active, but here is an old listing I could find for his “Stardust” purple goji. Goji Berry "Stardust" Unique Fruit *Novel Variety*4-inch pot* | eBay
Yes, I’ve eaten them often dried in trail mixes and whatnot. I know about the traditional medicine uses as well though don’t plan to use them in that way. I was wondering if anyone had more experience with eating them fresh, using them in smoothies or juices, or even baking them.
I’ve got a golden goji and a black goji that I’m growing…I wonder if they could cross and how it would turn out. Perhaps I’ll have to see if I can do that down the line.
If I am not mistaken, “Stardust” is a cross between “Golden” and a black goji. The berries start off looking like a yellow variety and then gradually turn that translucent white/purple. They are super sweet, no complexity to the flavor, and then the faintest bitter note at the end.