Characteristics of a goji plant, how to grow Dereza in a personal plot, how to reproduce correctly, protection from possible pests and diseases, curious notes, varieties.
Dereza vulgaris (Lycium barbarum) is also found under the name Dereza Berbers, but most often you can hear how this plant is called "goji". It is attributed to the genus Dereza (Lycium), which is part of the Solanaceae family. This genus contains about 88 different species, which are widespread almost everywhere, even in a subtropical climate. But among all the varieties, only the common dereza is distinguished, which has a decorative and fruitful property.
| Family name | Nightshade |
| Growing period | Perennial |
| Vegetation form | Shrub |
| Breeding method | Vegetative (by cuttings and rooting of cuttings) and seed |
| Landing period | In spring or autumn |
| Landing rules | The depth of the fossa is not less than 0.5-0.6 m with a diameter of about 0.4-0.5 m, about 2 m is left between the plants |
| Priming | Any garden, well-drained and nutritious |
| Soil acidity values, pH | 6, 5-7 - neutral, slightly acidic (pH 5-6) or slightly alkaline (pH 7-8) |
| Lighting degree | Open and sunny location or shading |
| Humidity parameters | Twice a week |
| Special care rules | Supports needed for shoots |
| Height values | Up to 3.5 m |
| Inflorescences or type of flowers | Single star-shaped flowers or small inflorescences |
| Flower color | Pink, pinkish purple, crimson red or brownish purple |
| Flowering period | Spring-summer months |
| Fruit shape and color | Rounded or ovoid-oblong, bright red or amber-golden |
| Fruit ripening time | May to September or June to October |
| Decorative time | Spring-Autumn |
| Application in landscape design | As a tapeworm or hedges can be formed |
| USDA zone | 3 and higher |
The plant bears its common name due to the name in China - ningxia gouqi. This phrase literally has the translation "Ningxiang Dereza". Or if we take transliteration in Russian from Ningxia gougi, we get the notorious "goji". But often this name refers only to the varieties of common wolfberry (Lycium barbarum) and Chinese (Lycium chinense). People can hear how the plant is called "wolfberry", but many different representatives of the flora with toxic fruits bear the same name.
If we talk about the term denoting the entire genus of Dereza - Lycium, then it is derived from the name that the region in the south of Anatolia bears - Lycia (Lukia). In handbooks on pharmacology, wolfberry fruits are called Lycii Fructus, and in England such berries are called wolfberry, but here it is no longer possible to determine exactly where this term came from. Most likely, there was confusion, since the root of the wolfberry was called "gou", which translates as "wolf" and it resembled the word in Greek "Lycos", which meant a gray predator. You can hear the following names - miracle berry, Chinese barberry, paradise berries.
The plant has a shrub growth and is a perennial. Its height approaches almost 3.5 m, while the outline of the crown can be measured in diameter by 6 meters. Hanging or arched shoots have thin thorns, foliage is small, simple and entire with oval outlines. The color of the branches is light brown, and the leaves on the upper side have a light greenish tint, they take a bluish tint from below. The root system of the bush is quite powerful, characterized by strong root shoots, on which numerous root suckers are formed.
When blooming, which begins from May to September, flowers bloom with petals of pink, pinkish-purple, crimson-red or brown-violet hue. They resemble bells or asterisks, can grow singly in the leaf axils or gather in medium-sized inflorescences. At this time, a pleasant aroma hovers around the wolfberry bush. Flowering, like fruiting, depends on the locality in which the goji is grown. So you can harvest from the end of May to September, or this period falls from mid-summer to mid-autumn. Usually, about 13 crops can be harvested during this period, but the most valuable will be the fruits formed at the end of summer.
Goji fruits are small berries with a diameter of 1.5–2.5 cm, the length of which can reach 2 cm. The average weight is 1.2 grams. The fruits are actively used for medicinal purposes. The color of the berries can be either bright reddish or amber-golden, there are specimens with a purple-scarlet hue. They stick around the branches of the wolfberry in bulk.
The plant is distinguished by its unpretentiousness, resistance to drought and frost; to grow it, you only need to make a little effort to pamper yourself with useful fruits.
Read more on how to grow goji berries
How to grow goji shrubs - planting and care outdoors?
- Landing place Chinese drumstick is selected taking into account its natural predilections - sunny and open, but there are some species that perfectly tolerate shading. The main thing is that in the area where cultivation will be carried out, there is no stagnation of water, both from melting snow and from prolonged rains.
- Goji primer. The choice of substrate is not a problem, since in nature the plant is often found in mountainous areas. The best will be soil with a neutral (pH 6, 5-7), slightly acidic (pH 5-6) or slightly alkaline (pH 7-8) reaction. It is also worth choosing a substrate with good drainability, light and rich in nutrients.
- Goji landing. The best time to plant wolfberry seedlings is spring, but if you live in the southern regions, autumn may be fine. Plants will be able to adapt well to the arrival of winter. Pre-planting work begins in 14 days and digs a hole for planting. The diameter of such a pit will be 40-50 cm, and its depth is about 0.5-0.6 m. A drainage layer, for example, coarse-grained sand, is placed on the bottom of the pit. Half of the soil mixture is poured onto it (the removed topsoil, mixed in a 1: 1 ratio with rotted manure). In order for the substrate to be more nutritious, up to 150 g of superphosphate, 250 g of wood ash, 8-10 kg of rotted manure (compost or peat) and 30 g of potassium sulfate are added to it. Everything must be thoroughly mixed using a shovel. The goji seedling is placed in the very center of the hole vertically, while its root collar should be flush with the soil on the site. The entire space around the seedling in the hole is filled with soil mixture, slightly compacting so that no air voids remain. After that, generous watering with warm water is needed. Around the bush, the substrate is mulched with rotted manure or dry peat chips. If several seedlings of common wolfberry are planted, then it is recommended to leave about 2 m between them. At first, due to the fact that goji branches are thin and weak, high-quality supports are dug in next to the bush.
- Watering performed as needed, but for dereza, the best regimen is twice a week or 10 days. Most of all, moisture is required when young twigs grow back, as well as when the process of flowering and fruit formation is in progress.
- Wintering goji bushes. Until the plants of the Chinese barberry reach two years of age, they may freeze. To prevent this from happening, it is required to dig out young seedlings in November and plant them in volumetric boxes with nutrient soil, where they will be stored until the arrival of spring. Dereza for this period is placed in a cellar that does not freeze. When the specimen becomes an adult, it will be able to withstand temperatures as low as -30 frost.
- Fertilizers for dereza are introduced until it reaches maturity. The period of vegetative activity is suitable for this. Complete mineral complexes are recommended, for example, Kemira-Universal. Since in nature such bushes grow on rather poor soils, they can perfectly do without top dressing in the future.
- The use of goji in landscape design. Dereza bushes can be used not only for fruit production. Even one plant looks good because of its beautiful flowers and then equally spectacular berries. Shoots can be used to form hedges or group plantings.
With regard to pruning goji, this operation is carried out from March to early May. Since the fruits are mainly on a young growth, pruning will affect the future harvest. In this case, almost a third of a living wolfberry bush is subject to removal. The plant will tolerate such a haircut painlessly. The shaping of Chinese barberry bushes is performed using two methods:
- 1 way. If you want to harvest a good harvest of berries, but it is important that more layers are formed on the bush that are applicable for planting (seedlings), then the upper part of the plant should be pruned. The main branches are cut at a height of one meter, all shoots on the sides are to be cut up to 10 cm from the ground surface. Such an operation will stimulate a young growth, which, if it reaches the required size, can be bent to the soil surface with the arrival of the third decade of August and until the end of September in the form of an arc for rooting. At the end of September, the gardener will have more than 10 seedlings with a well-developed root system. In this case, their branches will be covered with berries. This method has disadvantages: part of the crop will still be lost, the thickening of the bush can provoke diseases.
- Method 2. Only the future harvest of goji berries is important here. On the bush for this purpose, the five most powerful branches with a height of 2–2.5 meters are selected, and they are not touched. The rest are cut to the soil surface. All lateral branches must be removed completely to a height of one meter, those that are located higher are cut to a height of 0, 2–0, 3 m. As the shoots grow, they are tied to a supporting structure - a trellis.
See also tips for growing ornamental peppers.
How to reproduce goji bushes correctly?
To obtain young wolfberry plants, both seed and vegetative methods can be used. The latter implies cuttings and rooting of cuttings.
Seed propagation of goji bushes
Since one dereza fruit contains about 15-30 seeds, in order to easily get them, it is easiest to subject the berries to soaking in warm water for at least 3-4 hours. However, this applies to dry fruits, but it is much easier to get seeds from fresh seeds.
Important
Wear gloves as goji berry juice can easily burn your hands.
After the seeds are extracted, they are soaked in a solution of any rooting stimulant (for example, Kornevin, Heteroauxin) and planted in the soil. A drainage layer (small expanded clay or pebbles) is poured into the planting container, a medium-dense nutrient substrate is placed on it. Dereza seeds are planted at a depth of half a centimeter. Crops should be sprayed with a fine spray gun. A piece of glass is placed on top of the container or wrapped in plastic wrap to create a greenhouse effect. Crops are placed on a windowsill with good lighting, but shading from direct sunlight. After a week or so, the film is removed. When the seedlings acquire three pairs of leaves, then a dive is performed in individual pots to a depth not exceeding 7 cm.
If the seeds were sown from mid-winter to March, then at the end of May, young goji seedlings can be transplanted into open ground. When cultivation is carried out in the southern regions, they are planted in the garden in both spring and autumn. In temperate climates, this is possible only in the spring, so that the seedlings adapt and grow stronger for the winter. When growing wolfberry as a home crop, picking is carried out into larger pots. Then the care will consist of regular watering, maintaining the temperature during the winter at about 10 degrees and periodic feeding.
Propagation of goji pieces by cuttings
It is clear that for this it is necessary to have a parent plant of the common wolfberry or ask the neighbors. The length of the cutting, which is taken from the tops of the branches, should not be more than 10–12 cm. The lower cut of the cutting is treated with a growth stimulator and planted in a greenhouse. The best time for grafting is the period from late July to early August. Throughout all the winter months, the root system develops, and with the arrival of spring, when the soil warms up, the seedlings are moved to a place prepared for them in the garden.
Planting cuttings can be carried out in separate pots with a nutritious substrate (peat-sand), a cut plastic bottle is placed on top and so they are kept on a balcony with insulation. At first, the growth of goji seedlings will be very slow, and they will resemble tomato bushes in their appearance, but over time, growth will intensify and already for the 2-3rd growing season, you can expect wolfberry flowering.
Important
You can buy goji seedlings in special nurseries, but there were cases when instead of such plants, buyers were shoved with barberry seedlings, which outlines resemble a bush of paradise berries.
Propagation of a goji bush by layering
It is easy to get a wolfberry seedling by rooting the cuttings. For this, it is recommended to choose a healthy shoot that grows at the base of the shrub. Then it is bent in the spring to the surface of the soil. Where the branch touches the substrate, the bark is removed from it in a circle. After that, an elongated hole (such as a groove) is dug at the point of contact of the shoot with the soil, into which it is laid. In this place, it is necessary to fix it, a layer of soil is thrown on top, but at the same time the top is brought out to the surface of the soil. Care for the layer is needed the same as for the mother goji bush. It is recommended to carefully separate the rooted wolfberry seedling with the onset of a new growing season and immediately plant it in a prepared place in the open field.
Protecting the goji bush from possible pests and diseases
Although there is information that Dereza copes well with diseases and pest attacks, but it also did not escape the problems caused by such manifestations. The greatest harm to goji bushes is caused by such harmful insects as: aphids and the Colorado potato beetle. Aphids are clearly visible on the young stems of the plant, and the beetles begin to gnaw the flowers of the wolfberry. There are attacks by the caterpillars of the winter moth and other gnawing insects, which can destroy up to 20 cm of the length of young stems in just one night.
If you do not want to use chemicals, then a simple infusion on the wormwood herb will help get rid of such uninvited guests. In case of extensive damage, you still have to use insecticidal agents, which are available in large quantities in specialized stores. Such drugs as Aktara, Fitoverm, Karbofos, Actellik and others with a similar spectrum of action use polarity.
Often, if the cultivation technique is violated, wolfberry plants fall ill with late blight and powdery mildew. Basically, this provokes a lack of top dressing with wood ash, as well as an incorrectly selected substrate, too close arrangement of bushes.
For the fight, it is recommended to carry out treatment with fungicidal agents, such as Fundazol or Bordeaux liquid.
Read more about the fight against possible diseases and pests of brugmansia
Curious Notes About Goji Berries
A lot has been said about the incredible benefits of goji berries, but let's look at the different facts:
- In China, folk healers use dried goji fruits for dizziness, decreased vision (amblyopia), pain in the lower part of the body and treatment of emissions.
- In Asian medicine, it is customary to use the fruits of this plant for general strengthening of the body.
- On the territory of China and Japan, not only juices, but also alcoholic beverages are made on the basis of berries. Juices can act as medicinal means, wines have long been used in order to preserve not only health, but beauty and youth. Juices obtained from light grapes were chosen as the basis for such drinks.
- The Chinese population almost completely uses the wolfberry plant - leaf plates, bark from branches and berries. However, in the manufacture of drugs, it was necessary to know the exact proportions, otherwise it threatened the occurrence of allergic reactions and poisoning. Goji berries begin to take only 1-2 pieces a day, only under the supervision of a doctor.
- Collecting and drying wolfberry leaves is recommended to be practiced on May days, but berries only after full ripening. The fruits are both dried and frozen. The foliage is the basis for making tea, which calms the nervous system.
- Until today, the monks of Tibet throw goji fruits into their wells of water.
However, today there are different versions about the exposure of the marketing move associated with the advertising campaign of goji berries, which resembled the advertised acai berries. In the early years of the 21st century, it was argued that all products from the fruits of the plant, which have come to be called the "cure for all diseases" in the North American market, are full of trace elements and antioxidants in unique concentrations. Therefore, the merchants called them in no way other than "paradise berries" or "red diamond", one could hear the name and "berry of longevity".
It is clear that because of such news, the fruits of the plant began to be closely studied by Canadian and American doctors. Then, in 2001, the journalists of the SVS TV channel, within the framework of consumer protection, conducted their research on the results that the use of "goji juice" gave. In the course of this work, it became known that the falsification was also the approval of Earl Mindell, who was at that time the director of marketing at FreeLife International, Inc. This person claimed that clinical studies were conducted at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and that they proved the prevention of breast cancer in 75% of cases when drinking wolfberry juice. However, all these works were only preliminary laboratory experiments and only the only clinical trial in China.
In the future, the judgment about the composition of vitamins in berries was questioned, as doctors proved that the fruits of dereza practically do not have vitamin C. In order for a person to receive the amount of beneficial trace elements and antioxidants that one ordinary red apple contains, about 13 servings will have to be consumed juice from the fruit of the wolfberry.
Attention!!
Despite all the facts about the incredible medicinal power of goji berries, their use can cause irreparable harm. If eaten raw, they can lead to a severe form of poisoning, so this aspect should be taken into account when planting such bushes on your site so that children do not have access to them. Even after working with Dereza, it is recommended to wash your hands or use gloves.
Read more about the properties and uses of Goji berries
Goji varieties
New big
or New big … This variety was bred on the territory of Poland, represented by a perennial with a shrub form of growth. Its branches can be extended to a height of 3.5 m. Since the shoots are quite flexible, the bush can be given the necessary direction and therefore it is possible to use it as a ligneous liana. However, for this it is necessary to organize a support during landing. In the first year from planting, you can expect to receive the first berries. The growth rate is quite rapid, so in just the first growing season, the branches lengthen by almost a meter. The fruits are large in size and rounded in shape, the taste of the berries is sweet or sour-sweet. The average berry weight is 1, 2 g. The plant is an excellent honey plant and copes well with urban growing conditions (smoke, hot temperatures, wind).
The frost resistance of this variety is quite high, since it is not afraid of a temperature drop to -30 degrees below zero. The first fruits can be found throughout the month of August. But the mass ripening of the crop takes the next 30–45 days. The plant is unpretentious. In nature, it prefers to grow on slopes, therefore, when grown in a garden, the variety will not require special care, but it is important that the soil is not swampy.
Chinese goji
or Chainise goji - it is clear that the land of origin is the land of the East. The cultivation of this variety is widely carried out in the valleys of Mongolia, in the Chinese and Himalayan lands. Fruiting is active with medicinal berries. The height of the bushes does not exceed two meters. Semi-sinking shoots. Fruiting is possible in almost any climatic conditions. It is characterized by high resistance to diseases and pests, increased frost resistance. In order for pollination to take place well, it is recommended to place a couple of bushes nearby. To activate their growth, a shaded location and poor soil are required.
Lhasa
was bred by Chinese breeders. Elongated branches rise to a height of 3 meters, their outlines are arcuate, the surface is covered with small spines. Fruiting from the moment of planting is possible only after a couple of years. It is possible to remove up to 3, 5–4 kg of berries from one bush. When blooming, flowers of a violet hue are revealed, characterized by self-pollination. After this process, ripening of large fruits with a rich orange surface occurs. This one differs from other varieties by a higher weight of berries, on average it reaches 2-3 grams. The length of the fruit does not exceed 2 cm, its outlines are ovoid-oblong. The pulp is characterized by a pleasant taste, which has sweet and sour notes with a not too strong bitterness.
Another advantage of this variety is its early ripening of fruits, which can remain on the branches until the very beginning of frost. The plant copes well with both dry periods and frosts, reaching -26 degrees. During cultivation, it is necessary to provide for a support, to which the garter of shoots with fruits is performed. It is better to choose a well-drained substrate, the location is sunny, open.
Sugar giant
or Sugar jeint, may occur under a synonym name Tibetan barberry … The plant got its name due to the size of the fruits of about 2.54 cm (1 inch) while their average weight remains only 1.2 grams. The berries are fragrant. The height of an adult bush can be measured at 3.5 meters. Its crown is spreading. Abundant fruiting. The fruits are characterized by elongated outlines and orange-fiery skin color. The taste is the most pleasant and sweet of all varietal forms. Berries ripen with the arrival of the end of summer or in September. If cultivation takes place in a temperate climatic zone, then shoot formation occurs in mid-autumn.
At the same time, the yield of the variety is increased. So from one plant, you can remove up to several buckets of fruit. Frost resistance is also striking, branches do not freeze at -30 degrees below zero. Can survive even more severe winter conditions when sheltered.
Sweet Amber
or Sweet Amber … The fruits of this variety are characterized by the highest content of vitamin C. The shade of berries is also beautiful, it includes honey or amber shades. Breeders of China were engaged in its origin, having achieved the result in 2016. Despite its recent origin, the variety has become a favorite of many gardeners. At the same time, the shoots of the bush have a curly structure, they do not cling to the support provided to them, but, as it were, lean on it. The branches can grow up to a height of 2.5 meters, while the growth rate is high, so during one growing season they lengthen by 1 m in height.
When the fruits of this variety are fully ripe, they shine through in the sun, as if they contain honey. All due to the fact that the pulp has a yellowish color. The shrub begins to bear fruit 2-3 years after planting. The flowering process occurs throughout the summer months, but the exact time depends on the climate in the growing area. It is preferable to choose a sunny and open place for planting, it tolerates frost perfectly.
Superfruit
or Superfruit bred on the territory of Tibet and the Himalayas, but can be perfectly grown in our latitudes. A sunny location is preferable, since the plant is sun-loving. The crown of the shrub is lush, the branches are extended to a height of 2-3 meters. The fruits are pinkish or reddish. The variety begins to bear fruit three years later from the moment of planting.
To date, breeders around the world have bred a large number of hybrid varietal forms of wolfberry, but most of their characteristics can only be transmitted using vegetative methods. Such, for example, is a species characterized by increased frost resistance and resistance to diseases and pests - NR1 Lifeberry.
Video on growing goji in a garden plot:
