How to Grow Wolfberry in a Nursery
The Wolfberry bush is more popularly known to the American population as Goji berry, widely consumed for its healthful and medicinal benefit. This species of fruit-bearing shrub is native to China, and has only recently started to be cultivated in North America. The Wolfberry shrub, like any other fruit-bearing tree can easily be grown in a nursery for the first year of its life. After the first growing year the plant will be too large to keep in a nursery and should be transplanted to an outdoor environment.
- Difficulty:
- Moderate
Instructions
Things You'll Need
- 10-inch diameter by 2-ft. high planting pots
- Topsoil with high alkaline content
- Wolfberry seeds
- Water
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1
Germinate the wolfberry seeds by soaking them in water for several days. When the seeds begin to become soft, place them onto a moist towel and cover them with the other side of the towel. The seeds will sprout within a few days.
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2
Fill 10- inch diameter by two-foot high planting pots with moist topsoil. Dig a small hole about four or five inches deep and plant the wolfberry seeds into the pot. Cover them with soil. Keep the pots in a warm environment by adjusting the temperature in the nursery, or use pot heating pads to allow the temperature of the sapling to remain around 72 Fº.
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3
Place the pot in an area of the nursery with eight to 10 hours of sunlight and water twice a week for the first three months of growth.
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4
After the tree has grown to a height of four feet, remove it from the nursery and place it outside in an area with sufficient sunlight and in soil with a high alkaline content.
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1
Tips & Warnings
Use a soil pH test kit, available at most home and garden stores, to test the pH levels of the soil for proper wolfberry care.
Some species of wolfberry, though edible, have a high toxicity level in younger berry producing plants such as the pale wolfberry. Use caution in eating certain varieties of wolfberry.
