Hey friend...story i got from a vendor online as they sell these is the Chinese Immigrants that help build the railroads when they started doing that in this country brought Goji Berries with them to eat and they planted seeds in places out west, those are the Phoenix Tears variety...i don't know much about the other patented varieties that grow in u.s but if you have the room, plant all of em and keep track of which is which and compare growth, size, health and habits but most importantly TASTE...i wish i had a bigger yard to grow these as i buy them every 2 weeks and they r pricey.

any feedback is welcome

tc

Greenhorn2

That is the story, I'm told. True or not.

Goji is mainly grown as dried product, huge amount. I do not know what to expect for the fresh ones. I do not think the dried Goji costs that much....

Somehow Goji is more popular in Europe than in US... So the naming is confusing.

Supposedly the Sweet Lifeberry is supposed to be a sweeter selection and the Big Lifeberry a bigger selection. I have a Big Lifeberry I impulse bought since it was on clearance. I don't know if I'd call the berries I got "big", but I did just plop my plant into a 5 gallon bucket and mostly ignored it other than watering it.

From my whopping sample size of 1, I'm not convinced there's much value in the fruit for fresh eating. The few berries I got were definitely sweet, but they were also noticeable bitter notes in the skin. I wonder if drying or processing the berries does away with those bitter flavors.

From what I know, Goji is planted in a remote region, large plantation. They are machine harvested, then dried. Fresh berries were almost never sold to market. So it is almost impossible to get fresh berry other than your own backyard.

Can the dried berries be opened and seeds germinated?

chilehead58,
Yes they can.Here is a video that shows how.To skip to the part where he talks about propagating them,move to about 7 minutes into the video. Brady

Here is a link that might be useful: Growing Goji from Seeds

Just a comment on the space for growing goji berries.
I just bought a Crimson Star. It was cascading hugely so the only place to plant it was in a pot - a pedestal and jardinière where it could drape down the sides. I have 2 others (don't know the names) in the ground, but I had no idea that they cascaded to such an extent or I would have put them in pots.
Carol in Houston

I have one running up and tied at different points to a fan shaped wooden trellis that is screwed to a wall. Brady

I have 2 crimson star bushes, one in each end or this raised garden plot. Next spring will be their 3rd spring.

Here are two photos from some Goji farms. They are trailing plants, particularly when bearing berries. It is just too much work to trellis them. Have to train them to grow more upright if possible.

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RedSun:

If you don't want to build a trellis. you can just sink a tall support pole and tie them up like a tomato plant, allowing the limbs to droop down.

I think this is what the farms do in China. They grow many hectares of Goji. I think for that size, machines have to be used to harvest.

I think I'll just let the long branches trail down. I can always train it to grow more upright by pruning it.

RedSun - My goji branches were very thin this year, so during initial growth they will probably need support.

How far north have any of you successfully grown them?
Northwoodswis