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Growing Goji Berries

Hey all, I thought it would be cool to have a goji berry bush/tree in my backyard so that I can eat them fresh instead of dried. I tried to plant the seeds of the dried goji berries I had bought from the store with no sprouts yet (it's been about 1.5 weeks).

Do they require a certain season or climate to grow? I live in upper Los Angeles. Does anyone have experience with this? Thanks in advance!

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Bill Murphy on July 24, 2011 at 4:46am

Hey there Kevin. I am not sure how they will grow in LA as I am in Australia. My climate is in between warm temperate and sub tropical so they should grow here well.

I grew some seedlings from the berries a couple of years ago. I tried two methods at the same time with varying results. The first method was to soak the berries and then remove the seeds, planting just the small seeds in tiny pots. This method produced sprouts within the week and lots of them, but they did not grow very big and eventually died.

The other method was to soak the berries and then just plant them in small pots. This method was a little slower in the beginning, but then these ones grew larger and lasted a year or so before my neglect finished them off.

My problem was that I planted in late January, which is middle to the end of our summer. Similar to your season right now. I believe that they would have prospered if I had planted them in early spring here as they like the warm humid climate to grow in. Everything grows like crazy here in spring time. I don't think that they had enough chance to grow strong by the time winter rolled around. I do want to try growing them again though. I might try again this coming spring in September.

Permalink Reply by Lisa Paulson on July 24, 2011 at 8:58am

Goji berry bushes are hardy enough to grow in many parts of Canada and I have started them from seeds of dried berries that I had bit in half and pushed down into wet peat pots . That resulted in many sprouts in each pot after about three weeks in our coolish climate.

Permalink Reply by Kevin Healy on July 29, 2011 at 9:30pm

Thanks for the feedback. I still have yet to see any sprouts. I have one pot of them removed from the berries and another pot still in the berries. I think that I planted them too late. I'll keep trying!

Permalink Reply by Tanya Davis on August 11, 2011 at 11:44am

Hi Kevin, I bought a couple goji plants this spring from a gentleman on Kijiji. I gave one plant to my mom (so my kids and I can benefit from it when we visit) and kept one for myself. My mom planted hers right away and I waited a couple of weeks. Both plants are doing very well and mom's has already produced 2 berries! The instructions given to me was to mound up the dirt around the bottom of the plant and then make sure there is a ring around the bottom to help collect water (goji berries like lots of water) whether you dig the ring or use edging, either works well. He said I could water it at least twice a day in the beginning and then keep up with once a day.

He did tell me a little about his starting the plants. He started them in doors, but that bugs became a problem, so he did't like to start growing to soon before spring so that he could get them outside as soon as possible still in their pots. I did notice that none of his pots had holes in them and he even used empty 2 liter pop bottles for pots with just the tops cut off.

Hope this helps, even if it's just a little...

Permalink Reply by Tanya Davis on August 11, 2011 at 12:39pm

Oh, I forgot to mention that I live in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Our summers are quite hot and our winters can have some drastically cold bouts. The gentleman I bought from also lives in Edmonton and he has had his bush for quite a few years already.

Permalink Reply by Edelweiss on October 15, 2011 at 8:12pm

Really glad you posted this. I live in New York City and have been interested in growing my own goji berries. I do have a balcony with a lot of sun for the summer months. I'm glad to hear the plant can make it through a Canadian winter. NYC should be no problem for it. Thank you!

Permalink Reply by Tanya Davis on October 16, 2011 at 12:07am

No problem! I was just going to post today too that we've already had a few frosts and my goji berry plant has continued to produce berries! They are getting redder every day, I've already had some and there are lots more coming!!

Permalink Reply by Kathleen Kelly on October 16, 2011 at 8:37am

I'm getting on the goji berry plant band wagon so I was happy to come a crossed this thread. So I guess I'll wait a few mouths before I plant my goji berry seeds.

Permalink Reply by Lisa Paulson on October 17, 2011 at 11:01am

My experiments to sprout them will have to resume next planting season as well but at least i know I can sprout them from teh dried berries from the healthfood store. Now I have to get better systems in place to nurture small seedlings and plants in a nursery section of my garden , preferably by constructing a cold frame .

Permalink Reply by Bill Murphy on October 17, 2011 at 7:16pm

Two weeks ago I planted some dried Goji Berries once more to see if I could have more success this time. Last time I made the mistake of planting them too late in the summer as in my post above, but this time I am more confident. Some of them have already sprouted growth that has broken the surface. Hopefully planting at the start of spring will mean success! :-)

Permalink Reply by Kathleen Kelly on October 18, 2011 at 6:53am

That's great to hear about your Goji Berries success. You'll have to keep us updated on them. I'm wanting so much to start mine but I'll have to wait about 5 mounts. Maybe I'll start some now just for an experiment

Permalink Reply by jennifer morris on October 21, 2011 at 9:20pm

this is really exciting. i've just recently fallen in love with goji berries. are you guys growing the goji bushes (trees?) in pots or in the ground? it rains so much here in the northwest, and rarely freezes, so i think they'll do well.