Goji Berries

[Jon Munday]

Has anyone any experience of growing Goji Berries ?
I am getting many enquiries for the new so called super food.
I have them in stock for this Spring but have no personal experience of growing.
Welcome all comments
Regards
Jon
Blackmoor Nurseries

[Jon Munday]

[veggiepatch]

No experience Jon but have just seen them on Ready Steady Cook, apparently they can withstand -15 degrees - amazing!

[Jon Munday]

Veggie, what were they doing with them on ready steady cook ?.
We have tried them in the office this week, dryed fruit, a bit like a raisen. Quite sweet in taste.
Jon

[jennym]

I think I read somewhere that they are growing Goji at Kew, might be worth looking into.

[STHLMgreen]

Well this was an interesting post!

I recently found some organic dried goji berries and a shop and bought them to add to granola bars as they are good for you. 

I loved the idea to grow them, especially as they are so cold hardy! Maybe they could do well in Stockholm.

Even though mosts sites say it isn't best to grow from dried berries I think I'll give these a try. Each berry has about 25-30 seeds, so even if they don't grow I will have only lost three berries   :D

[Doris_Pinks]

Froglegs sent me some seeds in a swap, with this message:-

" will send you a few in the post tomorrow, the person who sent me the berries gave me these instructions, soaked the berries in a wine glass full of water overnight, then extracted the seeds and rinsed them under the tap in a tea strainer,let them dry for a couple of days and then sowed them in a plastic baggie on damp paper, and theywill start to germinate in about five or six days, and transpanted them into pots of seedling compost."
What we do with them after that, who knows!

[flowerlady]

Jon I found this link thaI though was useful ... I also have a mate who grows them so can ask her for feedback too ....

http://www.youneedtoreadthis.com/articledetail.php?artid=4439&catid=87&title=Growing+Goji+Berries

Flo  ;)

[STHLMgreen]

I have lots of very tiny seedlings from the dried berries (soaked them in wet paper towel for about 5 hours before planting)

I searched 'goji plant' and 'goji bush' on flickr for photos and there are some. 

Thanks for the link with the growing info.

Now it's just to decide where on the allotment I want a few large bushes...

[artichoke]

I bought three bushes for price of  2 (£20 ish pounds) a few months ago partly because I was entranced by all the claims made for them, partly because I want something thorny yet productive at allotment to discourage dogs/children. They are very small, so this isn't vey interesting for you, but they are leafing up very well at the moment and I am about to take cuttings off them. I've tried bought berries, and like them.

Thai daughter-in-law's Chinese mother and all her friends have been eating them as a matter of course for decades, and I must say that for people in their 70s they are very lively and youthful looking. Or maybe it's the daily tai chi in local park.

I have read that they need not grow into big untidy bushes, but are ideal for topiary, which makes them neater and fruit better. This is very difficult to believe......

[Old bird]

Hi - Last year I bought some ridiculously expensive seed off ebay!  Then I decided to try the dried berries from the health food store to see what they were like!

Inside the dried berries were loads and loads of seeds - I planted the bought ones and the ones from the health food shop - they both came up really quickly and established into little shrubs really quickly - unfortunately then I forgot them in the greenhouse and I think most of them died - but that was my fault!

I will be trying again this year!