Starting Goji berry farm - need advice

I have decided that goji berry fits my context best in Southern Colorado. Here the summers are hot, the winters cold, and the wind howls in between. The area gets an average of 16 inches of rain, and it varies between 10 and 22 inches. I picked goji berries due their love of calcareous alkaline soils, and the fact that they come from the Loess and Mongolian deserts of China which is a climate analogue. They also are extremely valuable selling for $15 dollars a pound, so they are ideal for a small grower. Finally, I have successfully grown a small patch and they have produced well.

My plan is to plant the 3,000 goji berry bushes from seed in the basin of swales and interplant a nitrogen fixing tree every 10 feet. The swales are spaced 20-30 and receive runoff from a 200 acre area uphill. Nitrogen fixing trees will be a mix of black locust, New Mexico locust, false indigo, honey locust, mountain mahogany, and Russian olive. Around the swale will be a mix of self seeding cover crops; sweet blossom clover (nitrogen and weed suppression), sunflowers (builds mycorrhizal network, suppresses weeds and biomass), sorghum (cause it grows and my chickens eat it), marigold (pest repellant), prickly pear (stabilizes the high and dry swale walls) and jerusalem artichoke (weed suppression, lures voles away from trees, and repels harmful insects).

I do not possess water rights nor will any ever be granted to me given that I only have 7 acres. So this will be a dryland farming operation.

Info on the goji berry is scarce and mostly in Mandarin so any and all advice will be treasured, but here are my specific questions.

-what would be a good companion plant for gojis?
-do you think this project is even feasible?
-what would be a good bio inoculum for the goji seeds?
-what kind of mulch is best for goji's?

I observe goji growing in the deep desert here (9" rain per year), that have survived more than a century since the railroad shanty towns were abandoned.

I would plant them just below the swales, but not in the bottom of the swales. They are  dryland adapted. I think they wouldn't thrive in waterlogged soil. They send roots far and wide, that send up shoots, so they will tend to migrate towards their preferred micro-ecosystem.

Swales in the desert fill with sediment during every major runoff event. Therefore, I found it best to keep the bottoms of the swales clear of vegetation, so that the accumulated soil can easily be moved to the bund during routine maintenance.

Jerusalem artichokes natural ecosystem is just dryer than where cattails grow. I expect them to fail in this ecosystem.

I would expect alfalfa to thrive in this ecosystem.

I recommend long-stemmed mulches, that can be laid on contour, to help slow the flow off water off the land. Long-stemmed mulches are less likely to be washed away during heavy rains.

If you haven't already built the swales, I recommend the wider spacing that you mentioned. And build/plant the highest elevation swales first, to keep any accumulated water as high as possible for as long as possible.

I am curious from experts like Joseph, how does one best harvest a pound of goji berries?
My plants are producing and spreading very well in low water, alkaline soil conditions. The problem is that picking a pound of these tiny delicate berries (or clipping and sorting) would take me at least an hour.  Maybe there is a faster way to harvest than picking the fruits by hand?
If I were creating a business, I would research how fast one could pick a pound of goji berries and factor that cost into the business plan for this labor intensive crop.

Wow, goji berries must be very adaptable and tolerant because they grow very well for me here in SE Indiana. Someone gave me one several years ago in a pot, I didn't pay it much attention, just stuck it in the ground and it kind of struggled along for a while then died. Except it didn't, it came back up the next spring and made lots of the little berries. Year after that I noticed a couple new plants outside the fence several feet away.

I got some seeds; I don't remember where to increase diversity and now have a strong patch making up an understory in the black locust woodlot. Black locust apparently really hogs any available water, and that woodlot is on a south slope. Very little else grows there but the goji berries like it just fine and I was able to evict them from the garden itself.

Amy - well according to my research of Chinese videos about Goji's they indeed send humans to hand pick them. Some of them use something like over sized combs to catch the berries, but I think  I have a solution. Instead of picking the berries fresh, let them dry on the branch until winter when all the leaves have fallen off. I then lay a tarp under them and shake the bush like it owes me money. Stubborn berries can be easily knocked off. On the tarp you will have your berries and just a few twigs. Now this only works in a dry environment. and I go through plenty of chapstick.

Mark - awesome to hear they can grow in locust shade in Indiana. I was worried that they might not get enough light. At 37 degrees latitude, at 6,500 ft, in sunny Colorado, they will do fine.

Joseph- Great to hear from you and thank you for your observations. I'll plant the seeds on the other side of the swale, and order alfalfa. You are totally correct about the swale silting issue. What are some long-stem cover crops you would recommend? Would that mean sunflowers? Also, in what context have you seen gojis growing and with what plants do they associate? Finally, I have closely followed your advice and your posts for years, so I am puzzled by some of your comments. I can say that the sunchokes are reaching heights of seven feet in my swales without irrigation and nowhere near an ephemeral stream. You said in greening the desert that you left a field without irrigation for three years and the only things left were sunroots and alliums.  In another thread, you said that smaller and more numerous earthworks were more than larger and fewer earthworks. So, in this case why extend the distance between swales? Full disclosure... I already dug the swales... my bad...

They are certainly adaptable. Lots of species in the Lycium genus, and we probably see a variety in different settings in addition to the "type" that is known as goji. Around this part of the island they tend to naturalise as the understory to conifers. They form thickets under old macrocarpa shelterbelts and really like the coastal dunes where lots of pines have been planted. The other day when I finished planting 200 willow poles for a coppice nursery on a nearby farm, I went to turn the trailer around and ended up in a grove of big tōtara trees. Underneath them were several of the healthiest goji bushes I'd seen in a while, all putting on new growth. Tōtara seeds are carried on fleshy stem called a podocarp that looks like a small red berry and lots of our native birds rely on them as a food source, so it's no wonder that other bird-friendly berries would be forming a guild with them.

Lycium is abundant in the Sonoran desert, with bigger wolfberry bushes lining arroyos and smaller "tomatillo" varieties in spots where you wouldn't expect berries to thrive. Last time I visited family in AZ I took my eldest and we climbed Sentinel Peak next to downtown Tucson. At the summit, nestled in the volcanic boulders, were a profusion of little shrubby bushes loaded with fruit and flowers, in early November. You might want to source some seed of the desert species, especially L. pallidum and try them to see if they're cold hardy in your region.

By long-stemmed mulch, I mean whole plant residues that haven't been shredded into powder. Sunflowers would be great. Rye. Perennial flax. Alfalfa. Sticks.

Along the railroad tracks in northeastern Nevada, goji grows in sparsely vegetated areas containing opuntia, pediocactus simpsonii, dwarf sage, ephedra, and effemoral forbs like four leaf clover, and wild parsley. Lichens and Crypobiotic cover the exposed stones.

In my irrigated fields, sunroots grow 12 feet tall. In the field I didn't irrigate they were ankle high.

If you have already built the earthworks, then just plant them, and see what happens. Wider spacing concentrates more water into each swale. In arroyos, larger earthworks get washed away with each storm. but smaller earthworks fill with sediment, and stay in place. Then another small earthwork can be built on top of the captured sediments. Small and consistent wins.

In my experience goji is relatively easy to grow from cuttings and will generally produce berries a year or two before those grown from seed.  If I were planning on 3,000, I'd probably start with a minimum of 100 cuttings.  Those cuttings can in turn produce more cuttings once established, giving you plants in different stages of growth when you factor in the seedlings.  That would still keep your costs reasonable versus buying established plants.  

As for mulch, everything here either gets woodchips, grass clippings, shredded leaves or a combination.  My growing climate is different from yours so I'm afraid I can't provide much more insight.

Michelle, I have a bed of cuttings getting ready for the next growing season, but the only economical way to do this is from seed in the place where it will grow. So, I will be spreading out approximately 300,000 seeds and hopefully 1% will survive. If it is more than 1%, then I'll pick the bigger ones.

I came here to look for this exact info as I am considering starting my own goji berry farm. Does anyone here have ideas for good understory plants? I'm in middle western Georgia with fairly poor, sandy soil. I'm going to start with 1,000 sq ft plot, which will allow me about 50 plants max. The idea is to sell dried berries online, fresh berries and leaves to some of the local Asian supermarkets, and sell plants that I propagate from cuttings or root suckers.

I'd like to have as many possible crops out of this plot as possible, and for the majority of them to also be marketable crops. So far I've thought of low growing perennial culinary herbs like oregano and thyme as well as comfrey. All of which can be sold dried, fresh, or propagated to sell plants.

Any other ideas would be appreciated, and also feel free to poke holes in my idea.

John Brownlee wrote:I came here to look for this exact info as I am considering starting my own goji berry farm. Does anyone here have ideas for good understory plants? I'm in middle western Georgia with fairly poor, sandy soil. I'm going to start with 1,000 sq ft plot, which will allow me about 50 plants max. The idea is to sell dried berries online, fresh berries and leaves to some of the local Asian supermarkets, and sell plants that I propagate from cuttings or root suckers.

I'd like to have as many possible crops out of this plot as possible, and for the majority of them to also be marketable crops. So far I've thought of low growing perennial culinary herbs like oregano and thyme as well as comfrey. All of which can be sold dried, fresh, or propagated to sell plants.

Any other ideas would be appreciated, and also feel free to poke holes in my idea.

I have a three gojis growing in my backyard that are 5-7 years old.  They grow in canes with limited branches vaguely like blackberries/raspberries, but are thinner and perennial.  They will not reach above 3' on their own as they flop over.  They often grow from the tips that reach the ground as well as via emerging from spreading roots, but obviously it takes time (2-3 years) to get to that size.  You are correct that any understory plants will have to be fairly short, so your herb selection sounds reasonable.  If possible (particularly if you are starting from seed or other comparatively cheap starts), I'd plant double the 50 that you want.  Some will not thrive or will produce smaller berries and you can always thin them out later.

In my limited experience (I have one in a pot), comfrey only grows with partial shade.  When I moved the pot to full sun, it didn't like that at all.  So, I'm not sure how comfrey will do in an open field before the goji is established and can provide better shade.

John Brownlee wrote:I came here to look for this exact info as I am considering starting my own goji berry farm. Does anyone here have ideas for good understory plants? I'm in middle western Georgia with fairly poor, sandy soil. I'm going to start with 1,000 sq ft plot, which will allow me about 50 plants max. The idea is to sell dried berries online, fresh berries and leaves to some of the local Asian supermarkets, and sell plants that I propagate from cuttings or root suckers.

I'd like to have as many possible crops out of this plot as possible, and for the majority of them to also be marketable crops. So far I've thought of low growing perennial culinary herbs like oregano and thyme as well as comfrey. All of which can be sold dried, fresh, or propagated to sell plants.

Any other ideas would be appreciated, and also feel free to poke holes in my idea.

Hi there, I would like to grow a network around goji berry farming. Mainly, I want to at one point, wholesale. I would love to hear how this is going for you and how harvesting would be done. Upon reading, I want to give a small trellis /tarp a try, since they arch. Also, I want to be able to filter leaves, twigs out and size them. I have ideas but I’m in my homework stage.

I'm growing one thornless, low growing goji berry bush in my home garden (Southern California; zone 10). It produced a lot of decent tasting fruit last year, with berries seeming to pop up overnight for a few weeks. I thought that was impressive for a plant that looks like a little handful of twigs with a few thin leaves. A year later it hasn't gotten much bigger. Any tips on increasing the growth rate, or getting it to spread by runner to fill a greater area?


Ben--My berry crop never made it inside because it was wiped out by grazing toddlers, but I did manage to pick one of the fresh berries off of the bush for my chef friend to try. She told me that the fresh berries would make a nice addition to a "plated salad", but that they wouldn't work for a mixed salad because they would fall to the bottom. So if you would like to market the fresh berries to local restaurants, the plated salad application might be something to mention. Because of their size they don't have to be cut up, and they don't roll off of plates like cherry tomatoes. I also noticed that people like them better when they are told prior to tasting that they are related to tomatoes, but that they don't like them as much when they are only told the name/that they are "berries".

Here in Arizona we have about 6-9 subspecies I belive. I can send seed to anyone interested is some kind of trade.

Amy Gardener wrote:I am curious from experts like Joseph, how does one best harvest a pound of goji berries?
My plants are producing and spreading very well in low water, alkaline soil conditions. The problem is that picking a pound of these tiny delicate berries (or clipping and sorting) would take me at least an hour.  Maybe there is a faster way to harvest than picking the fruits by hand?
If I were creating a business, I would research how fast one could pick a pound of goji berries and factor that cost into the business plan for this labor intensive crop.

They don't taste good either.

I have noticed gojis are hard to start from seed. Oftentimes they will just flop over and die after a long stagnant period. If they don’t make it with the better soil I provided then I’ll give up on seeds… but we’ll see how they do.

Goji's native habitat is in semi arid desert like climate, so they prefer alkaline soil as in Western US. I make sure to amend my soil with wood ash and other minerals and the bushes produce abundantly. Some training or trellising is required as the branches are very flexible and tend to arch and layer in ground to spread. My chickens always go crazy for the berries and leaves. Since they are good foragers and won't touch nutrient poor food, I believe goji berries are beneficial. Fresh berries taste bitter but once sun dried, they turn sweeter. I usually put the berries in breakfast oatmeal porridge.