Detailed Explanation of High-Yield and High-Quality Cultivation Methods for Goji Berry

Goji berry is a perennial deciduous shrub of the genus Lycium in the Solanaceae family. Its leaves, fruit, root and bark all have extensive medicinal value. It has strong stress resistance and tolerance to fertilizer and water; it is suitable for planting in arid, sandy wasteland and saline-alkali land, and is also an excellent tree species for courtyard economy; its fruiting period is long, and from the year of planting to 50 years it can bear fruit, entering full fruiting period in 3 to 4 years, generally producing over 3000 kg of dried fruit per hectare. Its fruit contains a variety of organic compounds and nutrients and has effects such as tonifying the kidney, nourishing the liver, improving eyesight, promoting blood circulation and fighting cancer.

(1) Select good varieties. There are many goji berry varieties; in Xinjiang alone there are nearly 10. To achieve high quality and high yield, good variety selection work should be done. In the first and middle ten days of the month, from plants of the Maye or Damaye varieties that have green leaves, short internodes on fruiting branches, thick and strong growth, few thorns, robust growth and no pest or disease damage, pick ripe fruits that are large, bright red and relatively high in sugar content to keep as seed. Rub the harvested fruit to pieces, add clean water and wash, float off the peel and flesh, filter off the juice, then wash the seeds clean and dry them in a dry, ventilated place for later use. Alternatively, from plants of these varieties, select branches with short internodes, proper color, robust growth, plump buds and no pests or diseases, cut them into 20 cm lengths and keep them for cutting propagation. One can also directly dig up root-sucker plants around the base of superior variety trees for field planting.

(2) Cultivate strong seedlings. Choose fertile sandy loam as the nursery, apply 60,000 to 75,000 kg of organic fertilizer per hectare, and irrigate well. Make small beds of 10 to 20 sq m, sow on level beds in April at a seeding rate of 1500 to 2250 g. Open furrows 4 cm wide and 1 cm deep on the bed surface, mix the seeds with 10 times their volume of fine sand and scatter them into the furrows, cover with 0.5 cm of fine moist soil, firm it, then cover with moist chopped grass to prevent loss of soil moisture. The plant and row spacing is 10 cm × 40 cm, keeping over 225,000 seedlings per hectare. Strengthen water and fertilizer management, loosening of soil and weeding, and thinning and final thinning of seedlings. When the seedlings reach 60 cm in height, remove all young shoots below 50 cm; when they reach 75 cm in height, pinch the tips to shape them, and strong seedlings will have been cultivated.

(3) Reasonable close planting. From late March to early April, use the method of ridge planting with furrow irrigation on both sides, with plant and row spacing of 1.5 m × 2 m, planting about 3300 plants per hectare, digging pits of 40 cm × 40 cm × 40 cm, applying into each pit 2 to 3 cm of decomposed farmyard manure mixed with mature soil, covering the fertilizer with 10 cm of fine mature soil, then planting upright, strong goji berry seedlings with 3 to 5 fibrous roots into the pits, covering with soil, firming, and irrigating promptly to increase the survival rate.

(4) Cultivation and weeding. Carry out spring plowing and autumn plowing in April and September each year respectively, to a depth of 20 cm. From May to July, carry out 4 to 6 cultivations and weedings to a depth of 6 to 8 cm. This helps eliminate pests, diseases and weeds, loosen the soil and ensure normal growth and development of goji berry. Except for the year of planting, when melons, sugar beets or short-stemmed crops may be intercropped, intercropping with other crops is strictly prohibited afterward.

(5) Fertilizer and water management. Goji berry fruiting is divided into summer fruit and autumn fruit, so fertilizer and water have a great influence on the yield and quality of goji berry and should be taken seriously. For goji berry over three years old (full fruiting period), the annual fertilizer application per hectare (8 to 9 times) must ensure 350 kg of urea; 3000 kg of diammonium phosphate or triple superphosphate; and over 37,000 kg of high-quality barnyard manure. Apply as topdressing separately before sprouting, flowering and fruit enlargement, and apply 1 basal fertilizer in autumn. According to tree age, dig pits or ring-shaped trenches 20 to 30 cm deep at a distance of 20 to 60 cm from the trunk, apply the fertilizer into the pits or trenches, cover with soil after application, and irrigate promptly. In addition to deep soil fertilization, foliar spraying also has a clear effect on increasing the thousand-grain weight of the fruit. Spray 4 times during the first fruiting period in June to July, and 2 times during the second fruiting period in August to September. Each time apply 750 to 1500 g of potassium dihydrogen phosphate per hectare plus 750 g of urea, mixed with 750 kg of water; at the bud stage, spray 15 sticks (5 ml) of Yemianbao per hectare plus 750 kg of water. In addition to timely irrigation after topdressing and irrigation required after each fruit picking, generally irrigate once about every 12 days, and once every 7 days during the picking period, with each irrigation volume of about 600 to 900 m3, achieving thorough summer irrigation and good winter irrigation.

(6) Training and pruning. Training, pruning and pinching of goji berry play a great role in regulating reproductive growth and vegetative growth. Current-year and two-year-old fruiting branches have the strongest fruiting capacity, and perennial and two-year-old spring branches are the best. Mastering these fruiting habits has important guiding significance for reasonable pruning. Pruning principles: pruning includes two parts, training and branch cutting. Reasonable pruning can effectively improve ventilation and light conditions inside the canopy, and plays an important role in accelerating the formation and expansion of the canopy and balancing tree vigor. It makes the tree grow robustly, enhances resistance, increases fruiting branches, promotes vigorous new shoots, prevents excessive growth and premature aging, regulates the relationship between growth and fruiting, and promotes flower bud differentiation. Thus it enables young trees to bear fruit early and achieve early high yield, enables mature trees to have high and stable yield, prolongs the full fruiting period and improves fruit quality. The tree forms of goji berry after training can mainly be divided into the sparse stratified form, the natural open-center form and the natural clump form. The pruning requirements are also different for different tree forms and for the same tree form at different growth years. But in any case, in the year after planting, reasonable training should be carried out according to the intended tree form, so that the trunk, main branches, side branches and small branches are clearly layered. A goji berry plant can roughly be divided into 3 to 5 layers, with 25 cm between each layer, the tree body semicircular, tree height about 1.6 m, and canopy about 1.5 m. It is required to cultivate more fruiting branches and cut off non-productive branches, mastering the pruning principle of three removals and three keepings, namely remove old and keep new, remove diseased and keep healthy, remove weak and keep strong, so that fruiting branches are evenly distributed within the canopy. Operation process: in the year after planting, carry out reasonable training according to the growth of the seedlings.

Three tree form training methods.

Sparse stratified form: set the trunk height at about 50 cm, with a central trunk, and remove all buds or branches sprouting below 20 cm from the top. At 20 cm from the top, select and keep 3 main branches, each about 10 cm apart, as the first layer; keep 2 to 3 side branches on each main branch; the following year, select and keep another 2 to 3 main branches upward on the trunk as the second layer, likewise keeping 2 to 3 side branches on each branch, and so on, keeping 3 to 5 layers. The topmost layer may have one fewer main branch and side branch. The tree height reaches about 1.6 m and the crown diameter about 1.5 m. This tree form takes shape early. It is thick and strong and carries a large fruit load. Natural open-center form: set the trunk height at 20 cm, with no obvious central trunk; select and keep 3 main branches at the base of the trunk, each about 15 cm apart, with an angle of about 30°, and keep 2 to 3 alternately distributed side branches on each main branch, each about 30 cm apart. On the main and side branches, select and keep several obliquely growing small branches. The tree form can be formed in 2 to 3 years. This tree form has good ventilation and light transmission, bears fruit early, has high yield and good quality. This training method is easy, requires little pruning, and is convenient to manage. Natural clump form: no central trunk; 3 to 4 main branches grow directly from the ground, each main branch is alternately provided with 3 to 4 side branches; except that the first side branch is 40 to 50 cm from the base of the main branch, the other side branches are each about 30 cm apart. On the main and side branches, select and keep small fruiting branches. This tree form has good ventilation and light transmission and helps make full use of space to achieve three-dimensional fruiting. Pruning and training are inseparable. Pruning is further divided into autumn pruning, spring pruning and summer pruning. The pruning requirements for one-year-old, two-year-old and over-three-year-old goji berry are different and should be strictly grasped. Autumn pruning: the time is from mid-October to mid-November; according to the requirement of three removals and three keepings, cut off non-productive branches and renew fruiting branches. This can increase the plant's nutrient reserves and raise the next year's fruit yield. Spring pruning: the time is from late March to early April, mainly to make up for insufficient autumn pruning of the previous year, cut off branches dried up in winter and thorny branches; dense branches should be thinned to further improve the light conditions inside the canopy. For two-year-old goji berry, when spring pruning one-year-old branches, keep main branches 30 to 40 cm long, side branches about 20 cm long, and keep small branches in gaps on main and side branches 8 to 10 cm long; branches in larger gaps are the key to fruiting rate, mainly selecting and keeping two-year-old branches. Keep main and side branches 40 to 50 cm long and small branches 20 to 30 cm long. On side branches, keep a small branch about every 15 cm to cultivate fruiting branch groups. Through pruning, the canopy of the plant has been shaped. Summer pruning: the time is from June to August, mainly cutting off sprouts, root suckers and water sprouts below the pruning cuts and saw cuts and on the main branches, trunk and roots, to reduce nutrient consumption. But note that auxiliary fruiting branches used to fill space should be retained as main branches. When newly planted goji berry sends out secondary branches, or when old goji berry newly sends out branches reaching 40 to 60 cm, or when branches growing in canopy spaces reach 20 to 30 cm, pinch the tips and cut the shoots promptly; extra branches growing around should have their buds removed and sprouts eliminated in advance, so that nutrients are concentrated and flowering and three-dimensional fruiting inside and outside the canopy are promoted. This also prompts these branches to send out more new branches from their middle and lower parts and to cultivate more fruiting branch groups, which has an obvious effect on increasing the current year's yield of goji berry. It has a very good effect on prolonging the fruiting years of goji berry.

(7) Pest, disease and bird damage control. Goji berry diseases include phytophthora blight, anthracnose, root rot, black rot, mold spot disease and gummosis. Insect pests include the goji berry leaf beetle, gall mite, flea beetle, psyllid, aphid and red spider. Harmful birds include blackbirds, sparrows and others. Mainly adopt strengthened orchard management to promote tree growth; when the fruit is ripe, strengthen guarding; clean the orchard and protect and utilize natural enemies. If pests and diseases occur seriously, choose high-efficiency, low-toxicity, low-residue pesticides such as acaricide, omethoate, dichlorvos, zineb, Bordeaux mixture and other agents for control.

(8) Harvesting and processing. Harvesting should be done whenever the fruit is ripe, picking and handling gently, touching the branches as little as possible, and avoiding fruit falling to the ground. Baskets for holding goji berry should only hold a layer 20 to 30 cm thick, must not be squeezed, and the fruit should be promptly soaked and washed with a 3% to 4% sodium carbonate aqueous solution. Spread the soaked goji berry fruit promptly onto previously prepared bamboo curtains 1.2 m wide and 2 m long, in a layer 1.5 to 2 cm thick. Note that at this time it should not be turned; when it rains, cover with plastic sheeting to prevent rain from falling on the goji berry fruit, until it is sun-dried, so as to increase commodity value. After the goji berry fruit is sun-dried, remove impurities, then grade and package.