How to Grow Goji Berry Trees for High Yield? Latest Cultivation Technique Tutorial

The goji berry tree is a multi-branched shrub plant of the genus Lycium in the Solanaceae family, often growing on hillsides, wastelands, hilly land, saline-alkali land, roadsides and around village homes. The famous producing areas of goji berries in China are Ningxia and Qinghai. Besides being widely wild, they are also cultivated in various places for medicinal use, as a vegetable or for landscaping. Now let us take a look at the high-yield cultivation techniques for goji berry trees!

Growth Habits of the Goji Berry Tree

Goji berry is a perennial shrub economic crop that is drought-tolerant, barren-tolerant and salt-alkali-tolerant. Its economic lifespan reaches 15 years. Goji berry has strong adaptability, and can generally be cultivated in areas with an average annual temperature between 5 and 20 degrees C. Goji berry likes sunlight and requires strong light. It has no strict requirements for soil, and can be planted in loam, sandy soil or poor saline-alkali soil. In terms of varieties, China mainly has Ningqi No. 1, Ningqi No. 2, Ningqi No. 3, Ningqi No. 4, as well as Mengqi No. 1 and other varieties.

Construction of the Goji Berry Tree Nursery

1. Selection of nursery land: The goji berry nursery land should be selected on flat sandy loam soil. A good drainage and irrigation system should be established to facilitate water diversion and irrigation during dry and rainless periods. The groundwater level of the nursery land is required to be below 1.5 m, and the soil salt content below 0.2%.

2. Applying sufficient base fertilizer: Goji berry is a highly fertilizer-tolerant plant. The growth quality of goji berry at the seedling stage is directly related to the base fertilizer applied before raising seedlings. For fertilizing the nursery land, decomposed farmyard manure is the main choice, supplemented by chemical fertilizers. For base application, pig manure, chicken manure, cow manure or barnyard manure can all be used. For chemical fertilizers, diammonium phosphate and potassium sulfate are the two choices. Before plowing, spread the fertilizer into the nursery land. The application rate of farmyard manure is 2500 to 4000 kg per mu, the amount of diammonium phosphate is 10 kg, and potassium sulfate is 5 kg.

3. Land preparation and deep plowing: After applying sufficient base fertilizer, first carry out deep plowing and leveling, with a plowing depth between 20 and 25 cm, to facilitate the future growth and development of the seedling root system. After plowing is completed, it can be left to dry in the sun for 2 to 3 days. Before raising seedlings, use a rake to level and break up the soil 1 to 2 times; the flatter the better, and the finer the soil the better. Then remove weeds, stones and other debris.

Growing Goji Berry Trees from Seed

1. Making beds and opening furrows: Seedling cultivation from seed is generally carried out in spring each year. Make the seedling land into flat beds 4 m long and 2 m wide. The bed surface should be flat, and the soil should be fully fine and broken up. Then on the flat bed surface, pull a straight line, and open furrows along the line, opening a row of shallow furrows 2 cm deep every 40 cm as sowing holes.

2. Soil pest control: Before sowing, prepare fine sandy soil and a disinfecting agent; generally we choose a viral, insect and fungal comprehensive killing agent. If 80 kg of fine sandy soil is used per mu, the amount of pesticide used is 300 to 400 g. After preparation, pour the pesticide into 1 kg of water and stir evenly. Then pour the liquid into the fine sandy soil and mix evenly with a spade. Next cover with plastic film and seal the soil for 24 hours, so that the liquid soaks into the soil. After sufficient time, uncover the film and take out the treated fine sandy soil for later use.

3. Seed dressing and sowing: When sowing, add fine river sand equivalent to 6 to 7 times the amount of seeds for seed dressing. Because goji berry seeds are small, using fine river sand for seed dressing can make sowing more uniform. When broadcasting the seeds, hold the basin in one hand and scatter the seeds with the other, trying to be as careful and even as possible. After sowing is completed, we also need to spread the treated fine sandy soil into the sowing holes, not too thick, in order to kill pests in the nursery land such as scarab beetles and cutworms that damage the goji berry root system. Finally, press firmly with the foot, so that the seeds make close contact with the deep soil, and the sowing work is then complete.

4. Pushing aside soil and covering with film: Next, we need to push aside the soil on both sides of the sowing holes; the purpose of pushing aside these coarse-grained soils is to prevent them from rolling into the holes, pressing down the seeds and hindering seed germination. Leveling the soil in this way also helps with film covering to raise the ground temperature. Film covering is done by several people working together; generally one to two people secure one end, another person lays the film, and one person shovels soil to press the edges, finally completing the film covering. In places with suitable temperatures, film covering is not needed when sowing.

Growing Goji Berry Trees from Cuttings

1. Cutting time: The cutting time for goji berry trees is generally from the end of March to early April in spring. The first thing before cutting is to determine the mother stock scion collection nursery. In the goji berry orchard, select a plot with good varieties, good growth and no pests or diseases as the mother stock scion collection nursery for hardwood cuttings.

2. Collection of cuttings: Collection of cuttings is also carried out in March to April. Select branches from the mother trees in the scion collection nursery that are about 0.5 to 1 cm thick and fully lignified. Cut them off with pruning shears. After collection is completed, prune them into cuttings. When making the cut, cut the end that goes into the soil to take root at a 45-degree angle, and cut the top part that grows and sprouts flat. The length of the cutting is about 13 cm. It should not be too long or too short, so as not to affect survival and rooting.

3. Treatment of cuttings: The cuttings used for propagation should be treated with the rooting hormone naphthaleneacetic acid and alcohol. First, dissolve the rooting hormone naphthaleneacetic acid in alcohol and dilute to 15 to 20 ppm. Put the soil-entering rooting part of the cutting into the rooting solution, with a soaking depth of about 3 to 4 cm. The soaking time is 24 hours.

4. Land preparation and ridging: Level the soil of the nursery land and break up the soil with a rake. On the seedling bed, build cutting ridges according to the standard of 4 m long, 90 cm wide and 60 cm high. After building, use a spade to open small furrows in the soil on both sides of the ridges, to facilitate pressing the heat-preserving film after cutting.

5. Cutting method: When cutting, place the soaked rooting part downward and insert it into the furrow. The plant spacing between cuttings is best kept at about 15 cm. The height of the cutting exposed above the soil is 1 to 2 cm. After inserting a row, immediately fill soil with the hands, then press the soil firmly with the feet. To raise the ground temperature and help the cuttings survive early, in northern regions after cutting, cover the ridge surface with degradable plastic film; in places with suitable temperatures, film covering is not needed. The greatest advantage of hardwood cutting propagation is that the seedlings can maintain the excellent traits of the mother plant, bear fruit early, and have high yield.