N1 Goji Strain

Doing some research, looking into the various strains and types of goji that exist.  There is a lot of conflicting information on the internet, but it seems that there are two different species of boxthorn, Lycium Chinense, and Lycium Barbarum.  Boxthorn is a very diverse family of shrubs that generally live in arid environments and usually have edible berries.

By far, the most common type of goji is the N1, or NQ1 type.  Berries from this type are cylindrical and are generally a lighter color red.  This is the strain that is under constant development by the agricultural industry in and around the Ninxia province in China.  Modern versions of this strain produce uniform berries with a larger size and the plants grow rapidly, sometimes producing berries in their first year of growth.  Older versions of this strain still exhibit genetic diversity, producing berries with more variation in size, shape and color.

N1 or NQ1 strain from Ningxia, China

Berries from this strain are also more durable, staying firm and edible and capable of being stored for long periods of time with provided refrigeration and humidity control.  This strain has been actively bred for productivity, fruit consistency, plant resilience, early maturation, etc. for over 20 years by trained professionals and by farmers in the area.

This strain is supposed to be a cross between older varieties namely "Da Ma Ye" and "Zao Ma Ye", but there is a proliferation of misinformation regarding this plant, even in printed literature.  If you know of a source of either of these two ancient varieties, please contact us, we are always collecting and propagating different varieties, both heirloom and agricultural varieties.

The proliferation of venders selling N1 plants or seeds as either of these two heirloom types is very frustrating.  Generally, anyone asking for a ridiculous quantity of money for a few seeds or a small plant is usually a scam artist.

In China, the most recent agricultural development is a strain known as N7, which is said to be reliable at producing fruit in it's first year if germinated and grown indoors before spring.


References:

• Goji Olympus - cultivation information including mycorrhizae
• Chinese Wolfberry - China.org.cn
• Botany Goji - an heirloom goji strain from Southwest Missouri
• Goji Scam - some discussion
• Goji plant information - basic botanic information
• Lycium Chinense - Monterey Bay Spice Company ($15/lb)
• Lycium Carolinianum - Growth patterns of Carolina Wolfberry in Texas salt marshes
• Wolfberry / Goji - Chinese goji product company
• Sorting Goji Seedlings - Scholarly article referencing growth rate of goji
• Lycium Carolinianum - Christmas berry. Carolina wolfberry
• Heirloom Goji - Richter's goji seeds.  oval leaf variety

Chinese Wolfberry Fruit         T3958 Lycium Chinense      GOU QI ZI
Chinese Wolfberry Leaf          T3957                                  GOU QI YE
Chinese Wolfberry Rootbark  T3956                                  GOU QI GEN PI
Ning Xia Wolfberry Fruit        T3955 Lycium Barbarum    NING XIA GOU QI ZI
Ning Xia Wolfberry Rootbark T3954

Domestication Projects

Goji is an extremely adaptable and durable plant with many environmental uses.  The deep roots draw nutrients and water from deep in the soil and are excellent for mitigating erosion and producing nutrient rich food in areas of the world where depleted soils are no longer useful for traditional agricultural methods. 

In developing areas of the world, goji is becoming a common crop that is capable of producing valuable nutrition on marginal land with minimal inputs.  Alkaline soils, such as those commonly found in desert areas are prime for goji cultivation with minimal water availability.

Goji plants reduce erosion and increase humus in the top layers of the soil by shedding leaves each winter in areas where it gets cold enough to trigger hibernation in the plant. 

Because of their vitality, goji plants have a tendency to reduce desertification or encroachment of the desert on semi-arid areas by holding onto and increasing the quantity of topsoil in a particular area. 

We are also experimenting with shade producing trees as companion plants since many types of goji prefer partial shade.

Article by: Paul Sober

References:

• Paulownia.eu - specializes in goji, paulownia, hippophae and jacaranda
• Italian goji
• Romanian goji
• Goji Ontario
• Goji in Australia
• Uganda
• Nevada goji
• Goji in Mendocino County
• Goji cultivation in Greece

Una buena planta para cultivando en los suelos desérticos

Goji es una planta que puede crecer sin irrigación regular cuando se establece.
Produce bayas que son muy buenos para la salud y las hojas que también se reportan como comestible y / o útil para hacer un delicioso té.

Gran cuidado debe ser tomado al cultivo de bayas goji, sin embargo, es una planta fácil de cultivar. Simplemente rehidratar algunas bayas y plantar las semillas, y un cuarto de las plantas producirán una buena cantidad de bayas.  

 

La planta producirá una extensa red de raíces, que puede proteger la planta de la sequía. Es una planta desmadejado, lo que requiere una cuidadosa poda para desarrollar plantas que se asemejan a pequeños árboles, y que producen bayas cada año en un nuevo crecimiento.  También, es importante para proteger las raíces de los daños, porque goji tiende a crecer nuevos árboles de raíces dañadas.

 

Goji prefiere suelo alcalino, con un pH de 8.2-8.4, sin embargo, puede crecer bien en una amplia gama de pH y supuestamente crece en el suelo tan ácida como 6.4.

 

Es una planta que puede tolerar las bayas de frío y heladas, la producción a finales de verano y principios del otoño en lugares donde los inviernos son lo suficientemente fría para producir hielo. En lugares sin heladas, se informa a producir bayas de todo el año.

Es una excelente planta para la producción de alimentos en determinados lugares, donde otras plantas no crecerán bien. También tiende a escapar de cultivo y naturaliza en cualquier lugar que se cultiva. Los pájaros les encanta comer las bayas y los conejos y ciervos disfrutan del follaje.

 

Las bayas son buenos para muchas cosas. A menudo se utilizan para hacer té, zumo, conservas y por lo general se secan durante el almacenamiento a largo plazo. En China, donde se han cultivado durante miles de años, que ellos se combinan con uvas para hacer vino. Hay una empresa en los EE.UU. que está desarrollando actualmente una bebida deportiva usando las bayas de goji como ingrediente principal.

Goji Berry Warning

Our research indicates that almost all goji berries produced in China are treated with sulfur dioxide, a preservative used to prevent browning.  If the berries you purchase were sourced through common international trade systems, they are likely to contain this ingredient, and unlikely to list it anywhere on the packaging.

In California, this chemical is on the list of substances known to cause reproductive toxicity and necessitates the appropriate Prop. 65 labelling.  Additionally this chemical is known to have a laxative effect and can induce allergic reaction in some individuals.

Chinese packaging often includes the instruction, "Please wash before consumption" or something to that effect.  I usually rinse them before soaking and throw away the soaking water.  This is a waste of a delicious elixir, but the sulfur dioxide increases the beauty of the berries, which is important for maintaining their value on international commodity type markets.

There are ways to preserve these berries without this potentially dangerous chemical, but the only way to be sure that this chemical is not used is to purchase berries which were sourced directly from a farmer who does not use sulphur dioxide in their practices.

An additional note, price of dried berries continues to drop.  Average prices in our area are around $12/lb.  Prices as low as $5/lb and as high as $25 are fairly common.

Another note, Supreme grade and Super grade are two grades of berry, which are related to the size and color of the fruit.  The supergrade strain, which is available from Chinese growers, is one of the most modern strains in common usage in China and is named because of it's ability to produce large quantities of Super grade berries.

Different growers, groups of growers and industry professionals select for different traits in breeding, resulting in a wide variety of plant types depending on the source.  Occasionally someone produces a strain that is exceptionally productive or that has some other outstanding trait and then that strain is adopted widely by the goji farming industry, similar to the way that the American agricultural system operated so many years ago.

Goji Problem Research

Goji, or boxthorn, are a group of plants from the nightshade family, known as Solanaceae.  Although we haven't seen any pest or problem with any of our plants, we are researching different things that effect tomatoes, potatoes, tobacco or any other related plant.  Listed below are some common pests in our area along with some suggestions for fixing the problem without using pesticides.

• Aphids - garlic/tomato spray, neem oil spray, food grade diatomaceous earth
• Discoloring - probably due to nutrient imbalance.  worm castings tea
• Tobacco hornworm - Neem oil spray
• Tomato spotted wilt virus (tswv) - Unlikely to effect.  If it does effect, then the only known treatment is to select for naturally resistant strains.

Because of their natural ability to grow in arid climates and the natural vitality of the plant, there is a low likelihood of any kind of pest effecting goji production.  For example, goji plants have a tough bark, so aphids, if present are only able to obtain nutrients on the softest growing tips, which only occur for a few weeks or months out of any given year.  The leaves are also too tough for most herbivorous pests.  Most leaf munching pests will take a few nibbles and wander off in search of more palatable nutrition.

Article by: Paul Sober

Commercial Potential Research

There is much activity going on with goji around the world.  My research has uncovered some interesting things.

Emerging Markets

Companies in Eastern Europe apparently have been producing a goji jam from dried berries, which has fuelled a local movement to grow goji, which has in turn eased local prices of goji in that part of the world.

Goji growing operations are also underway in India, Pakistan, Israel, Bulgaria, Romania, Australia, Africa and all kinds of other places you may have never even heard of.  It's easy to grow, cheap to start and in the right kind of soil, doesn't require a lot of agricultural inputs.  The only real downside to establishing a goji growing operation is that there is a high labor cost associated with pruning and picking the fruit.

Edibility of Leaves

There is some conflicting information about the edibility of the goji leaves.  First of all, it is a member of the Solanaceae family, which includes many plants with edible fruit, and poisonous leaves.  Secondly, many different sources proclaim that it is a common leafy vegetable in China.

In fact, if you do a search for 枸杞葉,  you get a very prolific list of recipes for soups and cooked vegetable dishes which include goji leaf, but the pictures shown do not look like the thin leaf goji plants that are in common usage in Ningxia.  The leaves that are commonly consumed look more like the variety listed as Botany Goji, a naturalized strain from Montana. Additionally, the FDA lists the foliage as poisonous so great caution should be exercised when experimenting with this plant.

Another interesting point is that the references to consumption of goji leaves in China which I have found are all for areas outside of Ningxia, which is in the North.  This leads me to believe that they are not actually eating the leaves of Lycium Barbarum, the berry crop that everyone is so excited about, but in fact, are consuming the leaves of Lycium Chinensis, a slightly different plant.

The Ningxia Research Center of Wolfberry Engineering Technology is currently mapping the goji plant's genome and working on production of four specific strains of goji, one of which is developed specifically for production of edible leaf for public consumption.

Invasiveness

Invasive potential is a major consideration when developing a plan for any new crop.  Goji has some invasiveness potential, which is generally location specific.  Goji is easily spread by seed, and has some stolonaceous spreading tendencies, especially in disturbed land (when plowing or weeding).  As goji establishes itself, it grows an extensive network of roots, which are very effective at helping the plant to survive droughts and to fix soil and prevent erosion and topsoil run-off.  This network of roots, when disturbed, will tend to send up shoots, which will attempt to establish themselves as new plants.  

Goji has naturalized in many parts of America without great impact on local ecosystems, yet caution and consideration should still be exercised when contemplating adopting goji as a crop in your area.  Strains which do not sucker are preferred. The size of the seed is also important, since larger seeds are more likely to survive in the digestion of a browsing animal to be deposited in unintended locations.

Commercialization

As with any mass produced agricultural crop, standardization of product is important for the effectiveness of harvesting, transportation to market and consumption by the general public.  Unfortunately, this process has a tendency to reduce the flavor and nutritional content of the product.  With the current elevated level of activity related to the breeding and development of the goji berry genome, and the lack of solid research concerning it's benefits, I am concerned that modern cultivars may have a lowered quality and/or nutritional content.  My personal preference is to protect and grow heirloom strains of goji for public use, although if there is demand, I intend to also produce and distribute commercial strains.

Additionally, it may be beneficial to breed or select a strain that grows and produces foliage more rapidly so that it can be mechanically harvested more brutally since goji plants are likely to be grown in locations where manual labor is scarce.  Foliage and wood that is collected in this manner could be useful for biomass energy production and then converted into carbon rich compost, which further reduces water requirements and increases the soil's ability to convert nitrogen into more useful forms for plant growth.

Written by: Paul Sober


References:

• Penn State article on goji
• Growing goji from seed - Minn.
• Article in LA Times
• Goji, an emerging crop
• Evaluation of commercial potential of several berries in Kentucky
• Goji in Bulgaria - No actual information
• Goji Farm USA - Grow goji and sell a sports beverage/tea
• Goji Pharm - Great slideshow of growing plants.  No activity since 2010.
• Colorado invasiveness evaluation
• Slovenian Goji Berries - Panorganic, etc.
• Health Benefits of Goji - An interesting article.  No references to current research on pubmed.
• Botany Goji - A naturalized strain of goji from Montana
• Goji Greece - A class on growing goji commercially in Greece.
• Goji plants from Florida - Pine Island Nursery
• Goji Gourmet - A well written list of supposed health benefits
• Alternative fruit study - Very cool booklet all about figs, pomegranates, paw paw, elderberry, honeyberry and ... goji.  Very cool.  Includes Information about current commercial crop development in China and cropping/propagating and fertilizing.
• Article about current Genome Mapping activity of Goji
• page 11 of agricultural goji search - on google

Goji Information #3

Informational links about goji:

• Wiki - Lycium Barbarum
• flora of china
• usda - shows it naturalized in almost every state of us.  Our experiments show a great degree of genetic variability between current wild/naturalized ascensions and current commercial strains being used in China.
• pfaf - Some good information.  Raises an interesting question, are leaves edible/nutritious.  This plant family is generally toxic, but leaves have long history of being eaten in China.  How can they be tested for toxicity?
• Montana Plant Life - Suggests it to stabalize sandy banks.
• Institute for Traditional Medicine - Very interesting information about Goji
• 
  

Other informational links:

• plant material sources from pfaf

Our research indicates that activity levels are increasing with relation to goji being produced as a crop in America.  Other then some regulation in Pennsylvania, requiring inspection of imported plant material, there is very little apparent government activity, which is strange because it is so closely related to potatoes and tomatoes, which are both important economic crops.  

Goji information #2

Goji sources

• rareseeds - $12 for two plants
• cherry gal - $2 for three berries
• goji berry store - $10 for 100 seeds (3 or 4 berries)
• crimson star - $20 (also sells many seaberry varieties)
• 5 goji cuttings - for sale or trade
• 1 berry for $2.50 - bountiful harvest
• melissa's - dried goji berries from China

Goji information

• become a goji master
• lycium barbarum on pubmed
• growing goji 
• goji information on american goji
• heirloom goji plants - an article by an author about her garden
• 
  

Snowbaby Strain

We have been obtaining and growing goji seeds from different sources around the world for several years now. 

There are many varieties of goji growing in and around China.  Some have yellow berries or yellow leaves.  Some have curly leaves.  Sometimes the berries are sweet and tiny.  Sometimes the berries are large and less sweet, like a tomato.  When you consider that it is a member of a larger group of plants known as boxthorn, which contains over 70 different species, it's not surprising to learn that there are even black and orange berries that could technically be categorized as 'goji'.  Different varieties of boxthorn grow all around the world and they are all generally hardy plants.

One particular strain that I am a little excited about is a wild type strain or traditional Da Ma Ye medicinal type plant that we obtained from a Canadian source.  It's exciting because the leaves, roots, berries and even the flowers are all used in traditional Chinese medicine.  They all make an excellent tea and are supposed to be strengthening and vitalizing. 

The plants from this variety are growing quickly and are covered in dark green foliage, which may have some use as a biomass crop or for livestock feed.

Goji Information #1

Some sources for goji berries, seeds or plant material:

• richter's
• regular seeds
• shanghai express
• ebay - berries, tea etc.
• sunfoods
• rose mountain herbs
• dragon naturals
• navitas naturals
• grow organic - phoenix tears strain ($7 each)
• home depot - unnamed strain ($8 each)
• walmart - goji juice 
• gurneys - $20 each for unnamed variety
• burpee - sweet lifeberry $16 per offer
• wilderness family naturals - reasonable prices for dried berries
• stark bros - several varieties of named goji plants
• michigan bulb -  currently out of stock
• territorial seed co - currently out of stock ($27 each crimson star)
• wholefoods - bulk berries etc.
• sunburst superfoods - lots of information and $18/lb berries
• garden harvest supply - $20 for two year old roots
• 
  

Some information sources:

• wikipedia
• eating healthy website
• goop recipe - chocolate covered goji berries
• goji kitchen -  a restaurant in Santa Rosa
• natural news - many articles
• puritans pride - goji based products
• tibetan goji - information about Tibetan goji products
• proven winners - lifeberry goji information
• penn state - goji culture information
• fascinating goji information
• goji growing information - sfgate
• growing goji - heirloom organics
• goji pictures - pinterest
• page 17 - google
• backyard superfruit - latimes
• Li Ching-Yuen - Master Li