A Detailed Guide to Goji Berry Cultivation Techniques and Harvesting and Processing Methods

Goji berries are a commonly used traditional Chinese medicinal material and also a tonic food, with effects such as nourishing the kidneys, moistening the lungs, tonifying the liver, and improving eyesight. They are a good medicine for treating liver-kidney yin deficiency, soreness and weakness of the waist and knees, dizziness and blurred vision, excessive tearing, consumptive cough, and seminal emission. In recent years, they have also been used to make health foods such as candies, wine, canned goods, and beverages, and they are also the main raw material for producing Chinese patent medicines such as "Qiju Dihuang Wan." Their uses are becoming increasingly widespread, and sales are growing day by day. In places with suitable conditions, cultivating goji berries has broad prospects.

Goji berries are mainly produced in Ningxia, Gansu, Qinghai, **, Inner Mongolia, Hebei, and other places, but those produced in Ningxia are of the best quality and are considered authentic medicinal material, hence they are known as "tribute fruit."

The goji berry tree is a shrub, 3-5 chi tall, with slender branches, the tips usually curved and drooping, and short thorns growing in the leaf axils. The leaves are alternate, several clustered together, extremely short, with ovate-rounded or ovate-lanceolate leaf blades. The flowers are light purple-red or pink, solitary or several clustered together, with slender pedicels, and the fruit is elliptical or ovate, red or orange-red, and the seeds of the fruit are flat and rectangular.

I. Cultivation Methods: Slopes, wasteland, fields, courtyards, and other sunny, dry places can all be used for planting. There are no strict requirements for soil, but sandy loam is best, and low-lying waterlogged places are not suitable for planting. Goji berries (trees) are highly adaptable and cold-resistant; the aboveground saplings will not freeze to death at a low temperature of minus 21°C. They are alkali-resistant but not drought-tolerant.

II. Propagation Methods: Mainly seed propagation, followed by cutting and division propagation.

Seed propagation: The germination rate is about 60%. Soak dried fruits in water for 1-2 days until soft, then select the seeds and dry them in the sun. Sow in late March of the lunar calendar when the temperature is 17-20°C, by opening shallow furrows for drilling, with a furrow depth of 3-5 fen and a furrow spacing of 30cm, using 0.75-1kg of seed per mu. Mix the seeds with fire-killed soil or sandy soil and evenly scatter them into the furrows, cover with 2-3 fen of soil, tread down and water immediately. Seedlings emerge about 7 days after sowing. After emergence, pay attention to weeding and loosening the soil, and thin out overly dense and weak seedlings so that the young plants grow vigorously. Seedlings sown that year are transplanted in the spring of the second year.

Cutting propagation: It is best when the air temperature reaches about 18-20°C. Before the plant sprouts, select 1-year-old new branches, cut them into 12-15cm long cuttings, insert them obliquely into the seedbed, and keep the seedbed moist. The survival rate can reach 90%.

Division propagation: This uses young plants with buds produced from the mother plant for planting. Transplanting can be done around Qingming in spring and during the rainy season in July-August, but spring transplanting is best. When planting, dig a pit 120-150cm deep, place the seedling in the pit, spread out the roots, then cover with soil and tread firmly, and water immediately to ensure survival. Plant 500-600 plants per mu.

III. Field Management: After planting, weeds should be removed regularly, and in dry weather, watering should be done frequently. Before sprouting and growth in spring and after fruit harvest, in order to make the plants grow vigorously, sufficient fertilizer should be applied in combination with watering, loosening the soil, and hoeing weeds. During the flowering and fruiting periods, the soil moisture should be sufficient, otherwise fruiting will be poor. In spring and summer when there is much rain, watering may be omitted. When the branches grow so densely that it is impossible to walk through, every other plant (old tree) can be removed and planted in another field. Before sprouting in spring, non-fruiting vegetative branches and dead branches should also be pruned away to avoid consuming nutrients and affecting fruit yield.

IV. Pest and Disease Control:

Among diseases, there is black fruit disease, which is especially severe in the rainy season. Control method: spray Bordeaux mixture (1:1:120) before the rainy season.

Among insect pests, there are the goji berry leaf beetle and the goji berry fruit fly, which cause damage during the fruiting period.

Control methods:

(1) During the adult emergence period of the leaf beetle and fruit fly, spray with 0.5kg of trichlorfon added to 400-500kg of water;

(2) Before adult emergence in May, treat the soil with a 6% benzene hexachloride powder solution, about 1.5kg per mu;

(3) Pick the maggot-infested fruits and mix them with benzene hexachloride powder for deep burial.

V. Harvesting and Processing: From June to September, between Grain in Ear and the Autumn Equinox. Pick ripe fruits and dry them in the shade or in a cool, airy place. They should not be exposed to strong sunlight, to avoid becoming too dry and affecting quality. They are ready when the skin is dry but the fruit is still soft. In summer when there is much rain, they can be dried over a gentle fire and stored in a jar.