goji pruning question

Sep 21, 2023 Last reply: 2 years ago 2 Replies

Hi All,



My four goji bushes are prolific. The fruit, although slightly sweet, is not so popular with us as it is also slightly bitter. I left 99% last years crop on the bush.



I am told that drying the fruit gets rid of the bitterness. And since I do not know how to properly dry them ....



This year, all four were attached by aphids.



70% of the leaves were killed.

So I pruned the hell out of the bushes (anything that looked dead or sick), sprayed for aphids (dish soup and cayenne powder), and killed off the ants (honey and borax).



The goji initially looked like they sincerely did not appreciate the aggressive pruning. But after about a month, they came back with a vengeance.



Interesting, the fruit no longer has a bitter taste and have become popular.



Hmmmmmmmmmm. Prune them every year perhaps? Prune them in the winter?



Your thoughts?


-T


T wrote: ...

maybe you stumbled upon some deficiency which you happened to correct by what you added. impossible to know for sure without tests before and after and more precise record keeping (don't worry i don't really do that either since i rarely amend the gardens here with anything other than worm compost and various other organic materials).

keep observing and thinking and if you can start keeping a notebook about what you plant and what you do to it. sometimes years later you go back and look at those notes and can tell where you may have messed up or helped. :)

note that since your pots do not get appreciably larger each season that pruning some of the shrubby plants will probably be a good idea, but you do want to know for each species what the reasonable time and technique. especially for fruit bushes since a bad prune job may ruin your next season's fruit production.

songbird

Thank you!

I am scared to prune my blackberries as last years growth in this years berries. I just wait for them to fall off.

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