• goji pruning question

    From T@21:1/5 to All on Wed Sep 20 19:45:26 2023
    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

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  • From songbird@21:1/5 to All on Thu Sep 21 17:00:49 2023
    T wrote:
    ...
    Hmmmmmmmmmm. Prune them every year perhaps?
    Prune them in the winter?

    Your thoughts?

    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

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  • From T@21:1/5 to songbird on Thu Sep 21 14:39:44 2023
    On 9/21/23 14:00, songbird wrote:


    Thank you!

    especially for fruit bushes
    since a bad prune job may ruin your next season's
    fruit production.

    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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