Wolf Berries

Greg says...
Certainly a good question. I am sure there would be envirements in Australia that would be ideal for them. Early trials in the subtropics indicate that they are not easy to grow, seem to like very well drained soils. Would be interesting to get some feedback on growing Goji Berries in Australia.

Ed says...
The wolf berry is also called the Goji berry and they seem to be the rage at the moment, supposed to be full of amazing amounts of anti oxidants, minerals, proteins you name it. Maybe you can find more info on the net under that name.One seller told me they grow like weeds in Tibet too but didn't mention if they were attractive to birds etc.

Gourd says...
http://www.herbalistics.com.au sell wolfberry seeds, but there closed for a couple weeks, woof woof!

Julie says...
What conditions do gogi need? We have hot summers and quite cold, wet winters where I am. Would this climate be suitable?

Julie

Jethro says...
I bought seeds and planted then out . They germinated quickly but my dear wife stuck then out in the direct sunlight and ......
I then had some bought dried fruit and scraped out the seeds ,planted then and had again very good strick rate. So far very slow growth but they are doing fine. We are in the tropics,I think the direct sun up here is too much for them and so Im growing them under shade cloth. So far so good but it is winter up here at the moment (Cooktown QLD)???

Cornucopia says...

Actually I think a web search will turn up that Lycium barbarum is already a weed in Vic and established to a small degree more southern NSW, and maybe Tas.
Brought here by an English army guy after admiring it during service in India and Afghanistan, in the 1870's. Apparently, as a garden plant.
Wouldn't surprise me the large Chinese population that has been in Victoria since those times also contributed to it's spread. It is as much a food as a medicine.

Myra Richardson says...
Rain tree Nursery has them. They are on the net. They are in Washington State.

Rev says...
Being a lycium i think they would definitely have weed potential

small red berries give it away every time ;)

i guess the question is how bad??

they are not spiny like their definite weedy cousins - african boxthorn (lycium ferocissum?)
they are major weeds near geraldton WA, and in the york peninsular SA

ive been growing the tetraploid form for years. it rarely fruits and is propagated vegetatively for its large rounder leaves which are a healthy vegetable

the wild type is by contrast narrow leaved and silver green

both forms tolerate cold (-6) and the ubiquitous aussie summer heat
during times of either extremes they go deciduous so are hard to kill once established

also the fella from richters who should know reckons the tibetan goji claims are BS. i agree
the goji juice sold is mostly grape juice and sugar

dry fruit is cheaply available from asian grocers. to make a tonic wine soak berries in a drinkable red for a week and have 1/2 to 1 glass a day

be aware some people react unfavourably to goji ( which is actually in chinese Gou zi)

juanita says...
This is my healthy looking goji plant w/c i bought from our local nursery...What fertiliser to use to keep it thriving & bears fruits.

Pictures - Click to enlarge
Picture: 1	Picture: 2

Anonymous says...
Are any nurseries in Brisbane selling them? I started growing them but this is going to take forever.

Diny says...
Someone at our local market was selling Goji juice at $80 a bottle!

Shaun says...
Tass-1-Tree in Baskerville (WA) has stock of Goji berry plants.
Selling for $20.00 a tube of plant.

Julie says...
Ellen, I also tried growing from seed, bought online. Some germinated, some were eaten by slugs, and four are still alive, but not growing much.

I will repot and see what happens, but meanwhile, I hope Bunnings in WA have the same plants you bought - I am getting impatient!

Eve says...
Does anyone know if these bushes/trees need to be grown against a support. They look quite soft stemmed and the ones in the pot in our neighbourhood nursery seem to lean over. Thanks.

peter says...
some of mine are nearly 10 feet tall
and are getting quite heavy and breaking
the tomato stakes they are tied to.
i have now changed to star droppers.

Eve says...
Thanks Jantina. Mine are still in pots too and that will be the job for the weekend - putting in a frame for support and then planting.

If they are anything like Peter's maybe I will tie them to a wrought iron archway.

Jantina says...
Thanks Peter.

Mark says...
Juanita of Melbourne.... PLEEEZE, What Nursery did You get Your GOJI At?? My Dear Wife would really love to get a plant!! Thanks in Advance. Mark.(in Frankston)

Mark says...
Julie, a good wine will last about a week or so,once the bottle is opened.So yes you are right.(That's in the fridge!) Get around this by brewing yourself,& adding the GOJI Berries while brewing. Should keep forever,almost. Try it,& let me know,or give me a bottle to be the 'tester'!"Hic-Up"

Julie says...
Ellen - hey, I repotted my gogi and gave them a feed and they have added a few centimetres in a week or so! So I will wait a while and see how they do. If they are not a reasonable size by the end of summer I will buy one.

It isn't much warmer, we are having a cool spring/summer so far. They just needed more space to grow.

Mark, thanks for the answer. Haven't made wine for years - fibro house too hot in summer and too cold in winter. It all turns out like sherry! But I would like to try again when I eventually move to a better-built house.

Tanya says...
I saw goji berry bushes at Bunnings Capalaba Qld today if any Brisbane readers are interested. Other stores may have them as well.

juanita says...
Just to let you know that BigW's plant nursery section has lots of goji berry plants in stock for $15.00

peter says...
my plants grew to about five feet in
their first year and you could take
cuttings from it before it got to that
size.

Julie says...
Hi all

I just read somewhere on the net that it is a good idea to nip off the tips when they are still young. This encourages branching.

I like the idea of a shorter, branched shrub, rather than a tall spindly one, so I have nipped mine off. Here's hoping I did the right thing!

denise says...
To select a really good plant you need to grow a few. Some will have a few thorns. Only grow from sweet berries.They germinate 100% in Jiffy-7 peat pellets. The soft leaves easily damage and rot from hail, sudden drought, lengthy rain or wind rubbing. I applied a series of sprinkling diluted biofeed for 2 days which miraculusly restored the entire leaf.Biofeed is a NZ brand of organic compost tea the leachate of hot composted animal manures.

Mark says...
Goji Juice costs a lot everywhere! We've seen it at the market for as Low as $20something for a small bottle! A Really Good & CHEAP Goji Drink my wife has found(by doing herself),,, Get some Dried Goji Berries, & fill a jam jar with Honey Mead.(Home made is BEST.)Leave a bit of room in the jar. Now, Soak as many Dried Goji Berries in it as you can,& leave to soak for a week or two. Then,take the berries out& dry in the sun in a window. Now, You have Goji Berries that taste like Mead,& Mead that taste like Goji Berries!!

Mark says...
Is the Goji Bush an 'Evergreen' or is it 'Deciduous'? Does anyone know? I'm asking this because my wife's Goji bushes have lower leaves turning yellow & a few even drop off,just like one would expect from a 'Deciduous'Tree. Also,it is Autumn,the time for trees to lose their leaves unless they are 'Evergreens'. So, can anyone tell me which the Goji is so I can tell my wife? Oh,, If it is Deciduous,then why could the leaves(at the bottom of the plant)be turning yellow & dropping?

peter says...
mark,
yes goji is deciduous.
you probably have no hope at all
getting an acai plant.
if you do let me know.
you could try asian supermarkets or
health food stores for dried products.

denise says...
You can import acai palm seeds from Tropilab in Suriname. It is a clumping palm with an edible heart. and the scanty pulp around the seed is compensated by the huge size of the crop.I dont know if your biosecurity people will let them through the border. It is Euterpe oleracea. Not to be mistaken with the poorer assai palm which is Euterpe edulis. The seeds grow easily but the season is nearly over.

peter says...
ellen,
mark from a few posts above was asking
the same thing,
goji are deciduous so this is normal
although mine still have green leaves
and the odd flower on them.

Geoff says...
Bunnings has had them on occassions. Also some independent nurseries seem to have them. They dont seem to be that hard to find.

Geoff says...
Diggers seeds at heronswood @ Dromana, vic, were selling them a couple of months ago at a reasonable price. They may be able to offer some more info on their growth habbits.

amanda says...
Is anyone's Goji Berry fruiting and/or look like it has weed potential yet?
I planted one a cupla months ago and then read above that they are like a box thorn....these are invasive weeds here...not worried about birds getting them (I will net) but can mice spread seed in their poo too?

amanda says...
Hi peter - thanks for letting me know this - I might have a talk to Ag dept I think.

I would say the box thorn berries could very well be edible - I have seen fox poo on the block full of the berry casing and seeds. Most wild dogs will forage like this - including the fox.
I don't have foxes inside the home paddock - but would guess that rodents could carry the seed too.

I have done lots of camping and seen tomatoes n chillies growing out in the middle of nowhere from human poo!

I destroyed all the boxthorn on our block - didn't really think about tasting them to be honest! Where they any good anyway?

amanda says...
Think u may be right Peter - the dried ones don't do it for me. I thought fresh might be better?

amanda says...
Hi Julie - I would guess that u need to find out if they fruit on new growth/wood? If so - then prune away!
(sorry - I don't know the answer to this!) Adelaide Peter would tho'

I know the box thorn does which is the same genus...

amanda says...
That is interesting Julie! must check my dried goji pkt! I got my plant from diggers - it's a barbarum. Have u tried a fruit off yours yet? were they better than dried ones? Is yours a barbarum?

amanda says...
yea julie - good idea. adelaide peter said his were suckering too (above). They seem so flimsy - i will be giving mine a prune to shrubby it up too.

snottiegobble says...
If you go to your local Coles or Big W you will find all the Goji seeds you will ever need in the health section. Packets of Goji berries for under $6 & every one has seeds in it. Also there are always a few seeds left in the bottom of the packet & that where I got my 6 plants from. Kept in the house by the heater until germination ( sown July ) then into greenhouse. potted on twice & now 6 ins tall.
The main reason African Box Thorn is a noxious weed is because of its deadly thorns. I ended up at the Emergency with pierced eyeball after trying to remove unsightly plastic bags from such a menace.
Yeah they obnoxious weeds in Vic alright but try telling that to all the dairy farmers who use them as hedges to keep their cattle in.

Pictures - Click to enlarge
Picture: 1

amanda says...
Hi guys...I am ashamed to admit this but I think I have released wild rocket onto my block by accident. At least the seeds are not easily dispersed. Snottiegobble - box thorn is a noxious weed because of other reasons than it's thorns - ease of seed dispersal is a big factor and also displacement of native fauna. It's a big problem here - thorns are not a problem in a bush/remote setting or 1,000 acre property.
I ended up in ED from pruning roses and a scratched eyeball - but they are not noxious weeds....
Anyway - back to the point...I am a bit concerned about Goji - has anyone had problems in WA yet?

Julie says...
I have four gogi plants from seed sown in spring 2008.

I just noticed today that one has flowers - I nearly missed them, as they are not very large. The other three show no signs, but I will keep watch.

As it is less than two years, about 16 months since I sowed them, I'm quite pleased!

Dennismychina says...
Hi all, I just had an interesting read of your forum. Very nice. And well done to all those “pioneers/experimenters with wolfberries. Gougi berry or as many people say goji. I’ve lived in China for a while and a couple of them where in Inner Mongolia, which is a autonomous region (very similar to a province) in the north of China. My wife’s mom farms gouqi berries up there so I got a bit of info from her.
Firstly, the tree is the Lycium barbarum L in the Ninhxia region hey have a Lycium barbarum var. Ningxia. They are grown in temperatures varying from – 20 and below to as high as +35/40 centigrade. The berries are not coloured red, they are red. There are three harvests of the berries. The first is a natural growth (no fertilizer is used). The second harvest some fertilizer is used and the last harvest a lot of fertilizer is used. And not always organic. (in fact due to costs, organic fertilizer is seldom used. (This is possibly where the colouring of the berries comes in. Obviously the fruit of the first harvest is of a much higher quality. And the last harvest could get cheap-skate commercial companies running for their red dye. Traditionally the fruit is air-dried on framed hessian mats, in the open air. This time of year is also the rainy period so a inside storage shed is also needed. They should be “shaken” (the frame is shaken to rotate the berries) often to prevent mildew and to dry evenly. Trees, actually more shrub size, are heavily pruned each year. For better fruit production as well as ease of harvest. The fruit has a sweetish taste, somewhat like a raisin with a strong woodish flavor. It certainly has all the goodness that the hype is all about. But as far as commercial drinks are concerned I’d be very skeptical. We don’t use it at home as often as we should but when we do, we put it in most cooked foods, especially in stews and soups.
Hope this was informative.
Enjoy,
Dennis.
PS. You can find a lot more info here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfberry#Leaves_and_flower

Julie says...
I put one of mine in a Bonsai bag, so it will be interesting to see if this dwarfs it at all. The others are in deep pots, so I'd need to plant in the ground to see a comparison.

Ron, how do you support yours? They flop all over the place! Are you growing in pots?

Julie says...
So there is a Nelly Kelly brand of Gogi? I didn't know there were named varieties.

JUJUBE FOR SALE IN MELBOURNE says...
Hi Richard,

I think your plants are doing ok. Some of the leaves of my plants are yellowing and droping off too so I think just the weather. They are quite a tough plant BTW. I would give the plants some ferilizer and water well.

Good luck.

JUJUBE FOR SALE IN MELBOURNE says...
Yes, It is very true. I have 3 different varieties in my garden. My latest one is named variety.

The other two, one sort of rounded leave, one pointy leave flower occationally but never fruit (may be they are not mean to fruit).

I use the leaves to make soup with either chicken or pork stock. Very nice similar to spinach. It is a Chinese medicine indeed. In Asian groceries. A bunch is $1.5 enough to make a few cups of soup. The dried fruits of the named variety are used in soups too.

Very easy to propagate. I got my first 2 from the shops in Melbourne.

Julie says...
Is it fruiting already gus? Mine seems to be on its way, but no actual fruit yet.I haven't got around to tasting the leaves!