Last year, a friend gave me a goji berry bush (Lycium barbarum). I initially planted it where I removed a Nanking cherry, which didn’t quite work, so this spring I transplanted it in another area, and now it is producing berries for the first time. The great thing about goji berries is they are a very low maintenance shrub. Even the deer don’t eat them. But I wanted to take a look to see if there are any diseases of goji berries so I can be proactive and avoid future issues.

Choose Native Shrubs to Avoid Insect Problems

Goji berries didn’t originate in this area. Coming from China, actually been an important aspect of Chinese medicine for over 4000 years. Known as a super food because of the extraordinarily high amounts of vitamins and antioxidants, it’s grown for its fruit, or just as a hardy ornamental plant. Armed with thorns, deer, and other animals that tend to nibble on the shrubs, leave it alone, and it’s generally a pretty easy plant to keep.

Growing Out of Control

In reality, I think that it can be too easy because it tends to lean on the invasive side. Only does it produce by the roots, the seeds can germinate wherever they are dropped.This is why my friend had a start to give me. So when you plant them make sure it’s in an area where it can spread or at least where you can keep it under control.

How to Grow Goji Berries in Your Garden

Diseases of Goji Berries

Even with its hardy nature, there still are diseases of Goji berries to consider. If there’s an issue, one of the most prevalent problems are most likely fungal related. Powdery mildew is a common issue, and like with other plants, it usually appears in white patches on the leaves. While it doesn’t kill the plant, it can hamper production. You can spray the leaves with a horticulture oil to help keep it in check.

Anthracnose can be a serious fungal disease. This is more common during hot, humid weather. The infection starts as lesions often leads to fruit that turns black and rots. During this time of active infection, there’s not much you can do other than remove the affected branches or parts of the shrubs. Because it often overwinters in garden debris, spend extra time to clean up around that particular plant. It’s sometimes hard to avoid, except if you buy resistant plants, but does not necessarily occur every year.

Blossom End Rot

One condition that surprised me was the Goji berries themselves can suffer from blossom end rot. Goji berries are in the tomato family, and, just like tomatoes and peppers, they can have brown, leathery bottoms. Unlike an infectious disease, this is more of a physiological disorder that is often caused by the lack of calcium uptake. But this isn’t only because there’s not enough calcium in the soil. It can often be attributed to inconsistent watering. To remedy the situation, continually add calcium to the soil because it takes a long time to become bio available, and make sure you’re watering regularly.

A Few Pests

Goji berries have the typical pests of a lot of our garden plants, including aphids and trips, but the bigger concern are gall mites. These are a natural pest of Goji berries, and initially target the leaves. Besides chewing on the foliage, they form galls within the leaf structure to lay eggs. Pesticides are moderately effective, which is why many people simply remove any affected leaves.

I highly recommend Goji berries if you’re looking for a low maintenance shrub that produces nutritious fruit. Even though there might be a few issues with pests and primarily fungal diseases of goji berries, they are very easy to grow for most of the country making them an ideal addition to the garden.