Gojis

[Mr. Caimito]

[freegames-online.info will never die]

[nullzero]

2 Questions:

1.) I saw a website that said goji berries are hardy zones 6-9. Naturally, this excited me, But then I thought "If they grow in the Himalayas, then how can they grow here?" So, the question is: can they?

2.) I know that they can be eaten out of hand, but are they good that way? What do they taste like?

They are good out of hand a sweet mildly flavored fruit. Could easily eat a bunch. not sure how much flavor varies from selections.

[CoPlantNut]

The information I've seen said they were hardy to zone 5; I overwintered them for a couple zone 5 winters with no problems...  But they didn't meet my criteria for being worth the space I allocated to them, so I pulled them out.  My main complaint was the thorns and habit of the plant, not the fruit taste (though if the taste was spectacular I would have put up with the thorns and scraggly habit of the plant).

    Kevin

[CoPlantNut]

Sorry to be confusing earlier; no- I'm saying they are cold-hardy to at least zone 5.  I've seen Goji berries being grown in Oregon in zone 8, so I would think you would have no problems in zone 7.

Remember, the Himalayas cover a very large area and have a lot of special micro-climates; there are a huge number of climate zones represented "in the Himalayas" from 1 through 9 (at least-- some of the valleys experience a near-constant influx of warm air) so judging something's cold-hardiness or heat-tolerance based on it "being from the Himalayas"  is almost impossible.

   Kevin

[CoPlantNut]

To add a further confusion to the matter, I should point out that the timing and duration of heat / cold can dramatically affect plants; as can humidity, soil moisture, soil PH and type, etc....  The only way to know for sure if it will grow in your area is to try it yourself.  I have a number of plants in my yard that are rated hardy to zone 7 or 6 at most (Passiflora hybrids, Ophiopogon nigrescens, etc.) that are thriving after 15 years with no special care or siting in my zone 5 climate.

All that being said, from what I know of Tennessee's climate, I wouldn't expect any problems growing Goji berries.  You'll never know until you try. 

[fyliu]

Goji grows fine in zone 10 SoCal. The fruits taste can be variable. I've had sweet, slight tart, slight metallic, bitter. There are thornless plants and thorned plants. It doesn't like my land but I've seen them escape a 3 foot raised planter and try to take over the lawn at another place.

The one I got was from seeds sent from the himalayas. Friend actually has a contact there to send him berries. It's thornless and sweet but I haven't been able to get fruit from it ever since I brought it home. It was fruiting in the pot when I got it.

[Tropicdude]

One of the first plants i tried to grow down here was Goji, they sprouted, and grew pretty well, but were very leggy, and aphids or white flies took care of them, I chalked them up to being too much of a problem and gave up on them.

one was even flowering, but never made any fruit.  through trial and error i found that its best to give them as much light as possible without being directly in the sun, at least here in the DR.

[fyliu]

Yeah just break up some dried berries and bury them in soil.

[fyliu]

Does anyone know how much variation can be in seeds from the same fruit? I've never started from seeds before.

[TriangleJohn]

I have two in my zone 7b garden. They handle the heat and humidity just fine (they still have some green leaves now after many nights in the teens). One is a seedling grown from dried berries, one is a store bought plant. Both took a while to get going. Now after two years I have to prune them often to get them to stay in one place. The grown from seed plant kind of sat still for a year after sprouting but really took off once in the ground.

The berries I've tasted were nothing special - kinda like a cherry tomato (they are related to tomatoes). The dried berries had more flavor.

There are some new forms with larger berries on the market this year and I will probably switch to them.

[fyliu]

I heard there's also a blue/purple form that a company is in the process of growing a lot of before telling everyone about it. Shhh...

But that means no way to get the plants for a while. I'm still waiting for them to sell the dried berries at some outrageously high price. Maybe next year?

[gunnar429]

just bumping this thread.  Anyone in FL growing gojis successfully?

[Luisport]

I have several big plants and i love them! They are sweet and bit juicy... i love them in salads, deserts or like that! I eat the young leaves in sandwish or salads too and the flavour is like rúcula!