Lycium barbarum

Goji berry

Common names: Wolfberry, Duke of Argyll's tea tree

At a glance

Light: Full sun
Hardiness: Hardy down to −25 °C
Harvest: Aug–Oct
Spacing: 150 cm, rows 200 cm
Water need: Low

Photo: Sten Porse · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source

Description

The Goji berry is a hardy, trailing shrub that produces bright orange‑red berries with a mild tart flavor from late summer onward. The dried fruit has long been prized in traditional East Asian cuisine. The shrub is low‑maintenance, very frost‑tolerant, and copes well with dry soils.

Care instructions

Plant the hawthorn in full sun on well‑drained, somewhat sandy soil, too rich a soil encourages foliage over fruit. Plant in spring (April, week 15) and provide a trellis or prune bushy. Water sparingly and harvest the berries from August by gently brushing or placing a cloth beneath the plant.

The care notes were machine-translated from German.

Garden year

SowingMar–Apr

HarvestAug–Oct

Germination

Soil temperature: from 12 °C, ideally 20 °C
Days to sprout: 14 to 42 days
Light: Sprouts in light or dark
Sowing depth: 0.5 cm
How to start: Start indoors, then plant out

Soil & site

Soil pH

4.0pH 6–88.0

Soil type

sandy, loamy, well-drained, lime-loving, lean

LightFull sun

Hours of sunat least 6 h a day

HardinessHardy

Water needLow

Goji likes free-draining, loose soils from sandy to loamy. It cannot tolerate waterlogging at all, otherwise root rot threatens. It is tolerant about pH: neutral to alkaline is ideal, slightly acidic is also fine, and as a steppe-adapted species it copes well with lime-rich, poor, dry or moderately saline soils. Preferably do not make the soil too rich when planting, because poor soils encourage fruit set.

Feeding

Light feeder

Months

Mar–Apr

Goji is frugal and hardly needs any fertiliser. If anything, a thin layer of ripe compost around the root zone at bud break in spring is enough; one dose is sufficient for the whole season. Go sparingly with nitrogen: too much of it drives foliage and suppresses flowering and fruiting. Feeding again in summer only makes sense if there is visible deficiency.

Overwintering

Goji berries planted out are fully hardy and come through the Central European winter outdoors without protection; only in the first winter do young plants benefit from a mulch layer of leaves over the root zone. Place container plants sheltered from the wind against the house wall on an insulating base and wrap the pot in horticultural fleece so the root ball does not freeze through.

Propagation

Methods

From seed
Cuttings
Layering
Division

Goji berries can be propagated in four ways, with cuttings being the most reliable in the home garden.

Cuttings (recommended method): From autumn to late winter, cut strong, ripened shoots (about 10 to 20 cm) and insert them into free-draining seed compost. Remove the lower leaves. Keep the pot bright and frost-free; overwintering in a cold frame works well. Rooting takes place over the course of the winter, and you plant out after the Ice Saints in spring. Alternatively, in July/August take semi-ripe shoots with a small heel; these root reliably in a covered cold frame. Softwood cuttings in spring are also possible.

Sowing: Take seeds from ripe berries, clean them thoroughly and soak them overnight in lukewarm water. Sow shallowly in spring in free-draining seed compost and keep them evenly moist; a cover of film keeps the humidity high. At about 18 to 22 °C the seed germinates quickly and generally well. Note: trueness to type is not guaranteed, and it takes three to five years until the first harvest.

Layering: In autumn, bend a flexible, hanging branch in an arc down to the ground, fix it and cover the contact point with soil. After rooting the next spring, separate the layer from the mother plant and plant it in its final position.

Division (root suckers): Goji readily forms root suckers around established plants. In late winter to early spring, dig up strong, already rooted suckers and plant them directly in their new position. This is the quickest method for obtaining plants true to type, but it requires an established mother plant.

Companion planting

Good neighbors

mint family (Lamiaceae)

particularly well established

You will find that basil next to tomato and pepper improves taste and keeps whiteflies and aphids away.

For example LavenderThymeBasilRosemarySageHyssop and 43 more species in the catalogue

Source: classic companion planting (DACH-Gartenpraxis)

borage family (Boraginaceae)

Borage attracts pollinators and is supposed to keep tomato pests away from the nightshade family.

For example BorageCommon comfreyLacy phaceliaForget-me-notLungwortSiberian bugloss and 2 more species in the catalogue

Source: organic greenhouse companion planting practice

Rather not

gourd family (Cucurbitaceae)

You should avoid planting potato and cucumber together because they share disease pathogens such as leaf and brown rot and stand in each other's way as strong feeders.

For example CucumberPumpkinCourgettePickling cucumberButternutHokkaido and 15 more species in the catalogue

Source: basic crop-rotation rule

Companion planting is partly traditional gardening lore. Where the reason is known, it is given.

Some of these explanations were machine-translated.

For your garden