Goji Berries

[hilary]

Hello John,
No nothing so far from T&M - I did speak to someone on a garden visit the other day about Goji berries and their only comment was to watch if they have an extensive root run if they suckered.
On another note went up to the allotment this morning and see that the tops fo the potatoes have been touched by frost on Monday night. Hopefully they will pull through. My neighbour lost all his squashes. THis is in Wiltshire!
Will keep in touch over Gojis!
Hilary

[John]

Hello Hilary
Goji arrived in the post this morning all the way from the CI. They are strong and healthy but look a bit strange - rather like bare rooted twigs similar to young raspberry canes without the prickles. They have almost no roots just buds where the roots will obviously emerge from! The sort of thing you'd expect to be planting out in early winter rather than now!
The instructions say to plant them in the soil immediately and keep well watered. As we are going away in a few days, I've potted them into 6in pots for next-door to look after till we get back. Managed to split one to get an extra plant.
Anyway so far so good.

John

[hilary]

Hi John,
Mine arrived yesterday as well - were waiting for me when I got in late! So will do as you have done until I can plant out at the weekend. I agree they do look very strange! May be optimistic to expect much fruit this year. Will let you know how I get on .
Regards
Hilary

[Primrose]

We'll all await your growing reports with interest. In the meantime, is anybody trying to soak some dry berries to see if they will germinate?

[Donkey Boy]

I tried my first dried berries yesterday and thought they were really tasty.
I have a lot of spare land to give them a go.
Anybody know how big a crop each plant can produce ? Madasafish mentioned she grew them from seed. Do you just extract them from the berry and sow ? Do they need a cold treatment to germinate them ?

[Primrose]

Although I've been too busy to try it yet it's just occured to me that trying to sow seed from the dried berries might not work as they might possibly have been coated with sulphite solution to preserve them after being dried, prior to being packed ready for eating. After all, nobody tries to plant dried sultanas to produce a grape vine seedling, do they?

[madasafish]

I expect 3kg per plant - or thereabouts from year 3 and more thereafter .
My 18 plants now range from 5cm to 15cm tall with the largest in a pot about 20cm deep - and the roots protruding from the bottom. I'll overwinter in greenhouse and plant out in 2008 - they appear to be frost hardy - when matured .


Slugs love the plants : I have had to place on a raised stand to avoid them (we have wet fields next door = lots of slugs:-(

[John]

Wow, Madasafish, my simple calculator tells me that you could be getting a crop about 120 lbs of berries in a few years time from a row about 100 ft long!!!

John

[madasafish]

>John

if my turkey eggs hatch.. then I will see few of them:-)

[Donkey Boy]

It took me a long time to get round to it but....

A week ago I sowed some seeds, carefully removed from the centre of a dried goji berry. Within a week I have many seedlings !

[madasafish]

Watch out for slugs:-(

[Primrose]

Am afraid I ended up eating all the dried Goji berries from the packet I bought from Julian Graves and forgot to save a few for experimental planting. However, as I believe our local sewage plant sells compost, perhaps I have unwittingly have set in train some anonymous plantings around the district.