Grow Your Own Magazine

Hi,
I have taken the plunge and subscribed for the magazine and I am waiting eagerly for my free Goji berry plants, question is where to plant them. What conditions will they like? Will they be OK in pots or will they need to go in the ground?

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si'sraisedbed

This might help.....

Growing Goji Berries: FruitExpert

I'm thinking of getting some too, T&M are doing 3 for £9.99 at the moment.

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Imagination is everything, it is a preview of what is to become.

Thanks for the link lainey lou.
I disagree with the guide."....goji berry seeds are prone to rot in the compost and you’re less likely to get good results. The seedlings also need to be kept in warm conditions for 12 months, so for practical reasons, buying young plants is the more sensible option. "

My experience of 20 seeds was:*
18 germinated.
None rotted.
I left out in pots all last summer and winter and 15 survived..

I think it's a dastardly plan to sell bushes: far more profit that way.

* I had a one word summary of my view on that advice from the guide. It is unsuitable for a family website:-)

So they'll be OK in pots then. What size pots do you use? Also the link says that you don't get a crop until the second year, how old are the ones that are being sent? Will I get a crop this year? So many questions.....

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si'sraisedbed

LOL! Where did you get your seeds from?

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Imagination is everything, it is a preview of what is to become.

What size pots does anyone recommend? I too, have subscribed, but wish to grow my palnts in pots.

seeds from ebay Approx £2 for 20...

If you grow goji berries from seed it take about 5 years to get any fruit. At £2 for a packet of dried berries, (lots more for fresh ones), or £9 for 3 established bushes, growing them from seed seems like a false economy to me if it means you're waiting all that time to harvest them.

I think it's well worth buying bushes, but having said that I might grow some *extra* bushes from the seeds in the bottom of the packets of berries I buy 'cos they're not hard to germinate and that's cheaper than ebay.

I got 3 plants from T&M last year and they are doing great in the ground, I think we'll get fruit this year.

Goji berries would be happy in pots, but you might need to pot them up into quite big pots eventually. They have been growing wild in some parts of Suffolk for 200 years and are much easier to grow than most people think.

Not everyone likes the taste of Goji berries (I think they are like Marmite in that respect) but I love them and eat them every day. I can't wait till early and late season varieties are available - if you think it's only 10 years or so ago that we thought growing blueberries was unusual and now you can buy the plants in Woolworths...

I wonder what delicious things we'll all be growing in another 10 year's time!!!

Re size of pots, the plants you get from T&M aren't huge so a 12"-18" container per plant would be ok for the first year, but I'd pot them on into bigger pots each year and include water retaining gel and feed them with organic liquid seaweed such as Maxicrop to be on the safe side. Might be easier to just pop them in the ground.

I've read that you should get some berries next year and a really good crop from the third year onwards, but this is only my second year of growing them, so I'm really interested to see what happens!

Thanks Jeannine that was very informative. Got my £10 T&M voucher yesterday so I think Goji berry plants is what I'll be spending it on!

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Imagination is everything, it is a preview of what is to become.

i have ordered 2 goji berry bushes from blackmoor for £10 they were recommended by friends whos had really good quality plants from them. The bushes ive ordered are already 2 years old will let you know what they do and how they like the pots i put them in about 3 1/2ft wide and same in depth.

On the basis that this is one of the most recently posted to threads and it includes remarks on seed-grown gojis - I wonder if someone with from-seed experience can help me pls?

I have some 20-30 seedlings of various sizes from recovered seed from a Percy Dalton's supermarket pack (for eating). I was delighted to get some away and germinated and whilst I know it'll be a long haul before any fruits arrive I thought it would be fun to be able to say - "here's one I grew earlier" - all by myself!

I think they are about ready to go into larger pots - say 3" - before they are placed in much larger containers some time next year.

They are 2-3" in height and have around 8 true leaves.

The main point of help I require is.....should I pot on and then, once settled, pinch out the centre shoot to encourage a bushy habit or should I pinch out now and allow recovery before potting on.

Perhaps if someone has tried both methods you can say which gave best results?

Cheers.