Shrub · Solanaceae
Goji Berry
Lycium barbarum
Give it full sun, lean alkaline soil, and room to sprawl, and this tough nightshade pays you back in superfood berries.
Full sun
Every 7–14 days
USDA 4–7
3–12 ft · 0.9–3.7 m
Overview
Goji berry is a hardy nightshade shrub grown for those bright red superfood berries you've spotted on health-food shelves. It's from China, where it's been grown for centuries, and here's the thing: it's a lot tougher than its dainty reputation lets on. It takes cold all the way down to -20°F (-29°C) and just shrugs off summer heat, drought, and lousy soil.
So what's the catch? It sprawls, and it's thorny. Those long arching canes stretch 3 to 12 feet (91 cm to 3.7 m) and love to lean, root, and sucker anywhere they touch the ground. Purple flowers open up in late spring, and the berries follow about 35 days later, running from midsummer right into late fall.
It's an easy plant to grow but a tricky one to keep in bounds. Once it settles in, it fruits with barely any fuss, but it suckers freely and self-seeds, which is why it's gone weedy in a few places. Just give it a spot where its spread won't become a problem, and it'll keep paying you back for years.
Care
The short version: full sun, lean and slightly alkaline well-drained soil, about an inch of water a week, and a yearly prune to keep those thorny, suckering canes in check.
Light
Goji wants full sun, and honestly, the more the better, since it fruits best and fights off disease best in hot, bright spots. It'll put up with a little partial shade, but light shade trades away berries and lets mildew creep in on crowded leaves.
Water
Give it about 1 inch of water a week and let the top half of the soil dry out between drinks. New transplants need steady water while they settle in, but once it's established it handles drought just fine. What it really can't stand is waterlogged ground or big swings from soaked to bone dry.
Soil
Go with well-drained light loam, though goji isn't fussy and takes a wide range of ground. It likes things a bit alkaline, a pH of 6.8 to 8.2, which is the opposite of most berries and exactly why it struggles in acidic soil.
Temperature
This is one seriously tough shrub, hardy from -20°F to 100°F (-29°C to 38°C). It rides out brutal winters and scorching summers both, and that's a big part of why it naturalizes so easily once it's in the ground.
Humidity
Goji likes it on the dry side, somewhere around 20% to 50% humidity, which fits its hot, arid homeland. Damp, still air is what brings on powdery mildew, so good airflow does way more for it than trying to add moisture ever would.
Feeding
Feed it a balanced 16-16-16 fertilizer through spring and summer, timed to budbreak, flowering, and fruit ripening. About 4 to 5 tablespoons per 10 square feet a year, split into three feedings, is plenty for a plant this laid-back.
Pruning
Just leave it alone the first year. After that, prune during dormancy to clear out weak or damaged branches and shorten the laterals 6 to 18 inches, then pinch the terminals back 2 to 3 inches in early summer to push branching and keep those thorny, sprawling canes under control.
Repotting
Goji's a ground plant, not a container one, so repotting hardly ever comes up. But if you do keep it in a pot, bump it up a size when you spot roots circling, water running straight through, or top growth that's stalled out.
Size & spacing
Expect a big, arching shrub from 3 to 12 feet (91 cm to 3.7 m) tall with an even wider sprawl of 4 to 8 feet (120 to 244 cm). Give it that much room right from the start, because those canes lean, sucker, and fill space fast.
When to plant
Goji's a cold-hardy perennial shrub for zones 4 to 7. Start seeds indoors in late winter, or just set out plants after the last spring frost once the soil's warmed up. Then keep an eye out for purple flowers in late spring and ripe berries from midsummer into late fall.
Northern hemisphere
Southern hemisphere
Typical months for a temperate climate: start earlier in warm zones, later where spring frosts linger.
- Sow: 8 to 10 weeks before last frost (seed); or propagate from cuttings or suckers
- Plant: after last spring frost once soil has warmed
- Harvest: purple flowers in late spring; berries ripen mid-summer to late fall, about 35 days after full bloom
Hardiness
USDA hardiness zones: 4–7
Temperature: down to -34°C
Troubleshooting
Goji's a rugged plant that doesn't hand you many real problems, and when something does crop up it almost always lands on the leaves. Get to know the few pests and the one common disease below, and you can jump on trouble early. Just match what you're seeing, then act before it works through the bush.
Bumpy warts and crinkled leaves that won't flatten
Seeing weird warty bumps and twisted leaves? That's the goji gall mite at work, a bug so small you'll never actually see it, feeding away inside the leaf and pushing up those green to yellow galls that leave everything thick and misshapen. Cut out the worst of it and burn what you remove, then treat the buds with horticultural oil or sulfur as they open in spring, and the shrub comes right back.
Fix:
- Prune out and destroy heavily galled growth
- Apply horticultural oil or sulfur per label as buds break
- Remove and dispose of fallen infested leaves
Leaves that look dusted with white powder
That white dust you can rub off with a finger is powdery mildew, and it tends to show up when the weather goes cool and damp. Here's the good news: goji throws it off once hot, dry sun comes back, so it's really an airflow problem more than anything. Thin out any crowded stems, water down at the base instead of over the top, and only grab a labeled fungicide if the stuff keeps spreading.
Fix:
- Improve air circulation by thinning crowded stems
- Avoid overhead watering
- Apply a labeled fungicide or sulfur if severe
Gooey new shoots curling up and covered in little bugs
Sticky leaves and curled-up tips? Nine times out of ten that's aphids piling onto the soft new shoots, though spider mites and potato leafhoppers can leave pretty much the same mess. Flip a few leaves over and look for the little soft-bodied bugs, some sticky honeydew, or fine webbing. A good hard spray of water knocks most of them loose, insecticidal soap handles the rest, and the ladybugs that show up will happily clean up whatever's left.
Fix:
- Dislodge with a strong jet of water
- Apply insecticidal soap or horticultural oil to affected growth
- Encourage natural predators such as ladybugs
Toxicity
Good news first: the ripe berries are a famous superfood, safe to eat fresh, cooked, or dried, so there's nothing to worry about there. The catch is the foliage, because as a nightshade the leaves and unripe parts carry trace alkaloids that make them a mild caution for cats, dogs, horses, and anything else that grazes. And watch those sharp thorns on the stems too.
Toxic to
Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds
Safe for
People
Cats Mild
The ripe berries won't hurt a cat at all, but the leaves are a different story since they hold trace nightshade alkaloids. If a cat chews on the foliage, you might see a bit of drooling or a mild upset stomach, so it's worth nudging them away from the plant.
Dogs Mild
A dog that snags a few fallen berries is totally fine, but the leaves and green stems can leave it with mild drooling or a little digestive upset if it chews on them. Just keep that grazing to a minimum.
Horses Mild
For horses the foliage is only a low risk, and the trace alkaloids might bring on some mild stomach discomfort if they nibble the bush. The berries, though? No worry there.
Rabbits Mild
Ripe berries are fine to share, but the leaves and unripe parts hold those same trace alkaloids and can upset a rabbit's touchy gut. So think of the foliage as an occasional nibble at most.
Livestock Mild
Cattle, goats, and sheep can graze around goji without much fuss, though if they really go at the leaves the nightshade alkaloids in there can bring on some mild digestive upset.
Birds Mild
Birds tuck into the ripe fruit with no trouble and even help spread the seed around. The leaves carry trace alkaloids, so the only thing to watch is the foliage, not the berries.
People Ripe fruit safe
Ripe goji berries are that famous superfood, and you can eat them fresh, cooked, or dried without a second thought. Just leave the leaves and unripe parts alone, since they've got trace alkaloids, and watch out for the sharp thorns on the stems.
Stems carry sharp thorns that can scratch people and pets, and the leaves and unripe parts contain only trace solanaceous alkaloids, so discourage pets from grazing foliage.
Helpline numbers
United States
ASPCA Animal Poison Control: (888) 426-4435 (fee applies)
Poison Control: (800) 222-1222
Canada
Poison Centres: 1-844-764-7669
Varieties
Goji shows up under a handful of named cultivars, and picking a known name gets you predictable fruit that seed-grown plants just can't promise. Here are the ones you're most likely to run into.
Crimson Star (Ningxia #1)
It's a widely grown favorite that starts fruiting 1 to 2 years after you plant it and reaches full production in 3 to 5 years.
Phoenix Tears
It's a productive pick that folks love for the heavy crop of fruit it puts out.
Wolfberry Agrodevco
It's a named cultivar you'll find sold for home gardens and small plantings.
How to propagate
There's more than one way to make more goji, from slow seed to those free suckers, and the route you go decides how soon you'll pick berries and whether the plant comes true to its parent.
SeedEasy
Start indoors in late winter to spring · 2 years to first fruit, full production in 3 to 5 years
Goji comes up easily from seed started indoors in late winter or spring, so that part's a breeze, but the seedlings turn out kind of variable and you're looking at about 2 years for the first fruit and 3 to 5 years for a full crop. Want a known cultivar and berries you can count on? Then start with a named plant instead.
Stem cuttingsModerate
Softwood cuttings in early summer or hardwood cuttings during dormancy · Several weeks to root, fruiting within a couple of years
Take softwood cuttings in early summer or hardwood cuttings during dormancy, and they'll root over several weeks and then fruit within a couple of years. Cuttings come true to type, so this is how you hang onto a cultivar's traits.
DivisionEasy
Dig and transplant suckers in dormancy · Establishes quickly once moved
Once a plant's mature, it throws up suckers all on its own after about 3 years, and honestly the easiest new plants come from lifting those rooted suckers during dormancy. Dig them and move them then, and they settle right in.
Myths
Since goji sits in the nightshade family, the berries have to be poisonous.
Nope, not the fruit. People all over the world eat the ripe berries as a superfood, fresh, cooked, or dried. It's only the leaves and unripe parts that carry trace solanaceous alkaloids, and even those are just a mild caution, not a real danger. The fruit is safe to eat.
Goji needs rich, acidic soil to thrive.
Actually it's the other way around. Goji comes from slightly alkaline ground and is happiest at a pH of 7 to 8. Acidic soil actually holds it back, so skip the soil acidifier you'd normally use on blueberries.