Gadenin日本語Get the appLate winter: the hard cut
The year starts with the biggest job. While the plant is bare and before the buds swell, cut out everything below about 15 inches (38 cm), reduce the plant to four to six strong upright framework stems, head those back to 5 to 6 feet (1.5 to 1.8 m), and cut last summer's fruited side shoots back to two to four buds. Because goji fruits on growth made in the current season, none of this costs you a crop; it is what produces one.
Tie the framework firmly to canes or wires while it is bare and easy to handle. Rake out every scrap of prunings from under the plant, because goji prunings left on damp soil can root. While you can see the ground, check the root barrier for gaps and look for suckers that came up unnoticed over winter.
Feed only lightly, if at all: a scatter of balanced general fertilizer at roughly 2 ounces per square yard (60 g per square meter) on poor soil, and nothing on fertile ground. Container plants get fresh mix or a topdress instead, with a full repot every three years.
| Season | Main job | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Late winter | Hard prune to 4 to 6 framework stems; tie in; check barrier | Suckers outside the barrier; rooted stem tips at the edges |
| Early spring | Light feed on poor soil only; repot containers | Waterlogged soil around the crown after winter rain |
| Late spring | Tip new shoots at 24 in (60 cm); tie in; start sucker patrol | Aphids on soft shoot tips; stems arching to the ground |
| Early summer | Water through flowering; put the net up as fruit colors | Flower drop from drought; birds finding the plant |
| Midsummer | Pick every 3 to 4 days; keep tipping and tying | Powdery mildew in crowded interior growth |
| Late summer | Continue picking; stop feeding and stop tipping | Split and moldy fruit; wasps on overripe berries |
| Autumn | Last picks until frost; clear fallen fruit; check ties | Fruit rotting on the soil under the plant |
| Winter | Nothing but checking supports and the clear strip | Ties chafing thickened stems; loose stems lying on soil |
Spring: new shoots, and setting the habits for the year
Growth starts early and moves fast. The framework stems break bud along their length and throw the shoots that will carry the crop, and at the same time suckers appear from the running roots. Both need attention from the moment you see them.
Once new shoots reach about 24 inches (60 cm) and begin to arch, tip them. This forces branching, and side shoots flower, so tipping usually increases the crop as well as keeping the plant compact. Start walking round the plant every two or three weeks now: tie in anything heading upward that you want to keep, shorten anything heading down, and pull any sucker outside the crown with a sharp sideways tug so the base comes away with it.
Water a container plant properly from the start of growth. In open ground, water only if the spring is genuinely dry; goji roots dislike wet soil far more than they mind dryness at this stage.
Summer: flower, fruit, net and pick
Flowering starts in early summer and does not stop. Goji flowers and fruits in overlapping waves, so from midsummer until the first frosts the plant carries flowers, green fruit and ripe fruit simultaneously. That long season is the plant's best feature and it means the summer routine is short and repeated rather than intense.
Water is the one input that matters now. Through a dry spell, give an established plant 3 to 4 gallons (14 to 18 liters) a week in one long soaking at the base; drought during flowering drops the flowers and shrinks the fruit that does set. Net the plant as the first berries begin to color, on a frame that holds the mesh clear of the foliage, and peg the edges down each time you come out.
Pick every three or four days, taking berries that are an even deep orange-red and release with a light pull. Keep tipping the longest new shoots and keep tying stems up, because summer is when a goji does most of its arching towards the ground. Stop feeding and stop tipping by the end of summer so the last growth hardens before frost.
- Every two or three weeks: walk the plant One pass covers all the recurring jobs. Tie up or shorten stems heading for the soil, pull any suckers in the clear strip, pick off mildewed or spoiled leaves, and check the net edges. Five minutes, and it is the whole difference between a manageable plant and a thicket.
- Every three or four days in the picking season: pick Work round the sunny outside of the plant first, take everything fully ripe whether or not you plan to use it that day, and bin split or moldy berries rather than dropping them. Freeze or dry what you are not eating; fresh goji keeps two or three days at best.
- At first frost: close the season Take the last fruit, remove the net and store it dry, clear fallen berries and leaves from under the plant, and loosen any tie that has begun to cut into a thickened stem. Leave the pruning itself until late winter.
Autumn and winter: hardy, but keep it off the ground
Goji is very hardy, tolerating well below freezing without protection in the ground, and it drops its leaves and sits out the cold without complaint. It needs no row cover, no mulch heaped over the crown, and no winter watering. The one genuine winter risk is wet: a plant sitting in cold saturated soil for weeks is at risk of root rot, which is the usual cause of an established goji dying for no apparent reason.
A container plant is more exposed, because the roots are above ground. Move the pot against a wall or into an unheated shelter for the coldest part of winter, tip it or raise it on feet so it cannot fill with rain, and water only enough to stop the mix drying out completely.
The winter job list is short: check ties and supports after gales, make sure no stem has worked loose and ended up lying on the soil, and keep the clear strip around the plant clear so that next spring's suckers show up straight away.
Close the season's record with four numbers: the date of the first ripe berry, the date of the last pick, the rough weight, and how many framework stems you carried. Those four figures compared across two or three years answer almost every question you will have about your own plant, including whether last winter's cut was hard enough.