Is this a Goji Berry shrub?

See.... 5 years later I realise that I`ve been ripped off , sold as Himalayan goji berry
and find out that are chinese .

maybe that explain many other things , mine produce flower but not fruit , maybe the chinese is not suitable for Uk , while Dave has the right variety.

 

Not so sure about my goji's being the right variety Sal. They don't produce every year and when they do they only produce a few berries.

There's an interesting video about goji varieties on Youtube. Found thanks to Pete's post regarding the two varieties (Thanks Pete)



I also found this -

http://www.suttons.co.uk/Gardening/...Fruit/Goji+Berry+Plant+-+Bountiful_MH3064.htm

 

As far as I can make out, both species should produce the berries, it makes no real sense to me that this plant, (which I dont know much about until now), does not flower, or if it does, it doesn't fruit.

I know in many fruiting plants selected cultivars fruit better than the species, but to get no fruit from this bush doesn't seem right.

I'm only guessing, but surely there must be something wrong with the cultivation.

My guess is they need more heat, less fertilizer, less water, or a longer growing season.
Possibly, another seed raised plant growing along side for pollination??

 

My friends here bought their plants in the UK (honestly don't know which variety). They were about 30cms tall when they got them last Spring (2011) and are now 1,5 meters tall and have fruited already. One was sheared down by mistake and grew back very strongly and quickly. They obviously have the heat, they have not been fertilized and have been only watered by hand daily (ie, not on irrigation yet). The soil is poor, red clay like mine and they have by 'British standards' been sadly neglected ... but are producing fruit! Maybe there is a lesson to be learnt here?

 

I'm guessing they come from places warmer than the UK, and most of the nightshade family fruit best if not over fertilized, they also tend to like dryish conditions.

In Dave's video they appear to be growing them in Ireland, growing very lush, but no fruit.

 

I start to belive , that the main problem is the pollination , not the first time that i manage to get flower from a plant and then they fell off.
To be honest i rarely see any bees in my garden , I still have the plant for the simple reason that , I want to give another chance as we had a really rainy season.
Then be honest , I don`t even like the taste of the berry

 

Sal, the berry looks to me to be a smaller version of the "tree tomato"(Cyphomandra), If it tastes the same as that, Ugh!!!

 

Looking at a Californian seed site I find they say L.chinense is grown in southern parts with L. barbarum better for cooler northern regions.
Out of interest they also have seed of L. exsertum, a native of the Sonoran desert, which is very drought and heat tolerant.

 

women Pete , women ......The plant it`s ugly and the fruit is tasteless and savoury .....but apparently make women live forever .

No offence Victoria ....has I struggle with my little garden every year my miss want to plant tomato , onion and potatoes ......herbs for cooking that doesn`t like and fruit that will never eat

 

From what I've gleaned from the internet so far, the gojis that fruit well appear to be cultivars. (See the link I posted to Suttons)
While the species seems to have been present in the UK for donkey's years there is no great mention about copious quantities of fruit being produced. Climate may well have an effect on flower-fruit production as the one year that ours produced fruit was a particularly warm, dry summer.
The success of the plants of Vicky's friends could be down to either purchase of a cultivar from the UK, or to species plants being in a better climate. I'd be interested to know from which supplier the plants were purchased and any details regarding species/cultivar.

 

Will find out Dave and get back to you.

 

A very weird thing today at the river ... the Angolan woman suddenly said to me that the tree was an Almond !!!! I have one as most of you know 10 meters tall, one of the biggest in the area and some 'siblings' ... I would NOT have guessed that!

Here is a pic of mine this Spring, would I not recognise it?, possibly not

...

 

Well, I warned mine last winter and the winter before that if it didn't buck up and produce it was in for the chop. My warnings were ignored, so yesterday it was chopped and dug up!
Now got a Stella cherry on dwarf root stock in place of the goji.

 

I have now lost interest in this shrub completely, especially since I can buy the berries cheaply!