![]() Lightly sprinkle soil over them, but not much. After preparing a tray with soil and wetting it so that it is slightly damp, sprinkle the seeds thinly on the soil. I keep out a few for planting myself and keep the rest for trading or giving to friends with a green thumb. I let them dry for a week or so then place in an envelope and label. I dump out the clean seeds on a papertowel and spread them out to dry. Rinse the berries, while stirring around, for a few minutes until you are sure all the juice and most pulp has been removed. Use your finger to stir them around in the strainer and remove any big pieces of pulp. Hold the strainer under warm water and wash the seeds. I use the knife to scrape the seeds into a fine strainer for washing. ![]() Slit them open with a knife and you will see the seeds inside. When the berries are soft and mushy, they are ready. The hard, dry purchased berries have to be soaked in hot water for a day or two to rehydrate. Its a very simple process and I have included directions below to help you. The berries contain a chemical prohibiting germination, so you have to hydrate the berries, separate and wash the seeds, removing any pulp or juice from the berry. There is an important piece of information you should have if you are going to try growing goji berries from the dried ones purchased. It was an experiment, as I am always looking for interesting and unusual things to grow and trying seeds from many foods purchased. I grew my goji berry bushes from seed this past spring and had a good germination rate. Of course, if you are growing them from seed, you can always plant a lot of bushes to have a bigger harvest sooner. Even if you do get berries in the third year, there probably won’t be a lot of them. They have another two years to go before I will know for sure how long it takes to produce berries. The goji berry bushes I have were grown from seed this past spring and are only about 3″ tall right now. The goji bushes should produce some berries in the third year with full sun and a little care, or so I have read. ![]() They are very easy, although slow, growers. They don’t need any special care and will flourish in poor soil and semi dry conditions. They will grow anywhere that has a winter. I buy mine from a bulk food store by the gram and have found this to be the cheapest way to buy them. Regardless of the reasons for this, people are eating a lot of dried goji berries bought in health food stores. I am sure this is the result of the book entitled “Lost Horizons” and not necessarilly due to the longer life spans of the residents of Tibet. One of these so called “super foods” are the goji berries (also called wolfberries), ostensibly from Tibet where monks in the monasteries are known for their long life spans. We are eating healthier these days in our search for longevity and more energy. More and more we see “Organic” labels on the food at the grocery store. Organic health food has taken off in popularity. This is the Wikipedia picture (address below).
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