PlantFiles: Chinese Box Thorn, Barbary Matrimony Vine, Goji Berry, Wolfberry, Duke of Argyll's Teatree
Lycium barbarum

Just got a wolfberry from the Orange box store. Was delighted to find they were the L barbarum/true Goji Berry. Got 2 more! ;) But am not clear whether they are deciduous or some degree of evergreen outdoors in Tucson. Sources I've found either don't say, or vary. One said they're evergreen in temperate parts of China.
Answer will influence what else I plant, so any info is appreciated-the sooner, the better ;)
Thanks!

I was getting a bit discouraged after the worst growing season in Michigan history. We lost all of our fruit so the berry's were the only hope we had. The first few goji plants were two years old and were just holding at about 2 foot tall. In late July they started taking off and shot up about 2 more feet, limbs split to about six or seven each and blossoms we covering them. For our first crop we got about 100 off of each one and they were the best tasting berry we could hope for. I immediately planted a dozen more!

I found out the hard way that these plants do not grow much at all in containers. put them in the ground and they take off. mine stayed a few inches tall the first year in pots, when i planted them in the ground they shot up to 4 feet in a very short time. they already have blossoms, but dont think i will get much fruit this year. temps here vary from 15 degrees in the winter to 108 in the summer and these plants just keep going. cant wait to taste the fruit!
kc

I purchased 3 of them this year from 2 different venders on line each one has a different leaf type one is thicker oval leaf one with a smaller oval leaf one with a long thin leaf. The thicker leaf plants seem to be bushier while the thin leaf plant is growing tall and thin branches.
I have never eaten a berry from this plant I do hope I like them.
They had a lot of good benefits so I thought I would give growing them a shot.

veganman, I'm glad to hear of your success w/goji beerries in arizona - we have summer temp's like that here too & I'd read that they were good only to about 100F. The more I read about these plants, the more I realize that there are pretty much just a bunch of educated guesses out there about them. Thanks for the good info here everyone!

I grew my plants from seed harvested from the dried Goji berries I bought at Trader Joe's.

So far so good! They're a year old now. Heavy feeders when it's warm.

I've pruned 2 of them into 3' weeping standards. They are blossoming on the new growth with purple and pink splashed flowers this month.

I let 2 grow unabated, they have not produced yet.

The last 2 I have in large hanging baskets. The fronds hang down and make fruit harvesting really easy.

The seedlings survived the Phoenix summer outside in full sun, to my surprise. The hotter it got, the larger they grew. They didn't burn when it hit 115 in full sun! Amazing!

As for harvesting....all I can say is they're MUCH sweeter dried. LOL!

I bought lots of tiny seeds off the internet. A month ago I started an entire seedling flat solely devoted to the Goji berry seed. The seed packet reads Lycium chinense, which, according to Plants for a Future database, is a synonym for L. barbarum. The seeds were quick to germinate (less than 2 weeks) and practically had a 100% germination rate. That's the good news. The bad news is that the seedlings are growing VERY slow. Granted we haven't had the warmest summer, but I would have expected the seedlings to be taller than 1 inch by the end of one month's growth.

I also bought an established plant from a local nursery. Grown by the wholesaler, La Verne. In the usual La Verne fashion the plant was staked up to a post, so that upon planting the plant at home and removing it from the stake, it just flopped over. It's a very spindly plant; not nearly what I would call "bushy". I cut off some of the "floppers" and the remaining lower branches seem to be doing okay.

Chinese name for the plant:
Pinyin: Go Qi Character: 枸杞
A well-known and traditional Chinese herb. People use the red berries as a healthcare tea, and Ningxia Goji is among the best.

We started our Lycium bararum plants in March 2008, indoors on a plant heat pad, from seeds bought on E-Bay. They germanated very nicely with plenty of seedlings to plant out in 6-packs, then into 6" pots. They shot straight up in our hot summer months here in North San Diego Co. Some have bushed out, but many are 3' tall single stems. The one question we have not found an answer to is how to prune, but they seem so vigorous that I'm sure we can't make a mistake prunning like any other shrub. Would love to see prunning information included in the extremely informative plant discriptions on this site. Hoping for berries next year.

The Lycium barbarum in Chinese is called Gou Qi Zi & Goji or Wolfberry here in America. I am told there are some 80 vairites of the Lycium world wide. The Goji Lycium barbarum originated in the Himalayas. The Lycium chinese called the Wolfberry or Boxthorn is native to China very similar to the Goji but has more oval lives and its berries are very bitter. I have grown the Goji Lycium for 5 years now and have found no part of it that is poisonous; to the contrary, every thing loves to eat it, here is an excerpt from a Goji Legend:

“This herb has five names. You want to take a different part of the herb each season. In spring you take its leaves, which is known as the essence of heaven . In summer you take its flowers, which is known as the longevity of life. In autumn you take its fruits, which is known as Gou Qi Zi - Wolfberry. In winter you take the bark of its roots, which is known as the skin and bone of the earth, or the staff of the Almighty. Taking these four parts in the four seasons respectively, will give you a life as lofty as heaven and earth.”

Goji - Lycium barbarum has mildly sweet berries and is being called the worlds most powerful anti-aging food and it is one of the most nutritionally dense foods on earth.

For thousands of years, people in Asia have used lycium fruit and licorice to help maintain good health. Lycium is a Chinese herb that is said to help improve vision and prevent headaches and dizziness caused by liver and kidney deficiencies. Sources report also that it has been shown effective in mild forms of diabetes. Also said to serve as a liver and blood tonic.. The berry is supposed to be one of the best sources for anti-oxidents.

Lycium fruit extract contains both conventional nutrients and phytonutrients (nutrients from plants), including vitamins, minerals, beta carotene, polysaccharides and amino acids. Also known as the Goji berry in China.