Goji Berry Growing

Its really not difficult to grow Goji Berry Plants from seeds, but a bit of planning will defiantly help improve your end results.  Start the seeds indoors 6 to 8 weeks prior to the last frost date in your area. If the seeds you plan to use are still in dried pods they can be extracted by moistening them between dampened paper towels for one-two hours, then slicing them open and carefully removing the seeds with a toothpick. Seeds should then be planted immediately.

Plant about 1/4 inch deep, in your planting medium; peat pots, flats,  small pots with sterile seed starting material all work fine, we prefer using a jiffy pot (aka peat pellet) mini greenhouse. They range in price from about $4-$30 dollars (USD) and most  stores with a garden section including Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and Loews carry them (or you can price them by searching google) We recommend 2-3 seeds in each pot for best results.

Water lightly and keep consistently moist until germination occurs.  If the seeds dry out, they will die.  If you use pots you can cover them with a plastic bag to help maintain the soil moisture but be sure to remove once plants appear. 

Full light and cooler temperatures (60 to 70°F) will help to prevent the seedlings from becoming too leggy.  After the seeds have germinated, place them in a location that receives a lot of light. If this is not an option, a florescent lamp fixture rigged so that it is a couple of inches above the plants will work.  If they do not receive adequate light, they will become spindly.

After the plants have their second or third set of true leaves, and before they become root bound, transplant into 4 inch pots.  This transplanting step will allow the plant to develop properly and promote root growth.

Harden off (The straightforward process of gradually acclimating a tender seedling, germinated and nurtured under artificial conditions, for life in the wilds of the garden.  For most tender plants (Gojis, peppers, etc.), hardening off for two weeks is desirable.

Examine your garden on a frosty morning searching for areas that are relatively free from frost.  For the first week, place your plants outside during the warmest part of the day.  Initially limit their exposure, bringing them back indoors and under cover, after a few hours.

During the second week, gradually extend the amount of time you leave them outside, bringing them back in during the evening.  By the end of the second week, assuming that there is no longer any threat of frost, your plants should be ready for transplanting into the garden.)

plants before transplanting outside.  Be careful while transplanting so that you do not disturb or damage the roots too much.  Young plants are very tender and susceptible to frost damage, as well as sunburn.  You might want to protect young plants by covering them with a one gallon milk jug, with the bottom removed, to form a miniature greenhouse.  A few days of special attention like this will help to ensure a high rate of success.

Goji berries are amongst the easiest plants to grow from seeds and in our experience, they start out very similar to tomato plants so if you want to find more tips and tricks, we suggest you can search google for tomato growing tips to get more ideas

If you choose to use fertilizers and plant food growth improvements, you should only use organic fertilizers. SUPERthrive is the only growth assistant (not a fertilizer) we recommend. We strongly suggest you stay away from any and all chemical fertilizers!

We've tested seeds from just about every place they can be found online, and for the most part we either found the price of Goji seeds to be ridiculously high or the germination ratio to be ridiculously low! Believe it or not we found online market places to be the best place to get them and we have had the best results with ones we found here !