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Amazing cultivar - NQ-1
 
 
NQ-1 is a cultivar newly developed by goji scientists in Ningxia after many years of experiments and selection. It is the gold medal winner of "National Scientific and Technological Achievement Prize". I was amazed by this cultivar when I was visiting my relatives in Zhongning a few years ago. I had not seen any goji cultivar that yields this much before I had my first experience with NQ-1. A two-year-old 'NQ-1' plant can yield as much as a ten-year-old plant of old cultivar, while the fruit size is much larger than that produced by old cultivar. I started to experiment with this cultivar here in Iowa, and am completely convinced of success of NQ-1 (see pictures below). In general, NQ-1 is featured with following outstanding performance traits (Data from Zhongning Goji Research Institute):
 
  • Higher yield - 900 Kg dry fruit/acre for 3-year-old tree; 1620 kg dry fruit/acre for 5-year-old tree. It is not rare to see 2400 kg/acre (2.4 tons/acre dry weight) if the growing condition is ideal. Average yield is 34% higher than "Da-ma-ye", another important cultivar developed in Ningxia.
    (The fresh-dried weight ratio for this cultivar is 4.37, so if you pursue fresh fruit, one acre can yield 8000+ kg or 8.4+ tons of fresh berries for a 3-year-old tree)

 

  • Larger fruit size - fresh fruit size ranges 1.8 cm - 2.2 cm, resulting in 90% super rating.
     
  • Ealier yielding - It usually takes 3-5 years from planting for other goji cultivars to start production cycle, "NQ-1" can yield consierable amount of berries the first year it is planted from cuttings. 
     
  • Better tolerance to disease - compared with other cultivars,  "NQ-1" is better tolerant to disease.
     
  • 'NQ-1' is tolerant to extreme soil conditions. It grows pretty well with soil pH >9 and high water table. So it is a ideal crop for alkaline soils not suitable for growing other crops.

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    (Heavily yielding branch of one-year-old NQ-1 plant, Iowa, USA, July 25 2009)

     

     

    (Red berries hanging on my one-year-old goji tree (cultivar NQ-1). Iowa, USA, August 10, 2009)

     

    (Red berries shining on goji branches, Iowa, USA, August 10, 2009)

     

    (goji berries on one-year-old goji tree, Iowa, September, 2009)

     

     

    (one-year goji plantation -NQ-1, Iowa, USA 2009)

     

    (Fresh goji berries in my hand)

     

     

    A note of growing 'NQ-1' from seeds:

     

    NQ-1 can be grown from seeds. But please keep in mind, like all other goji cultivars, not all NQ-1 seeds can grow up to NQ-1 due to 'gene segregation'. Approximately 70% of the seedlings would be NQ-1 but actual percentage may change with no predictability. For example, if you start with 100 NQ-1 seeds, you may end up with about 67 NQ-1 plants. Other plants belongs to other cultivars, such as 'Da Ma Ye', 'Xiao Ma Ye', etc. which were used to develop NQ-1.

     

    Currently some goji growers in America sell 'Tibetan goji seeds', do not be fooled by this propaganda. You can not keep track on cultivar information when you extract seeds from dried goji berries bought from market. If you buy seeds from goji growers that start their goji plants from the unknown cultivar, after several generations, seeds would degrade after crossing with other cultivars or self-pollination.

     

    Therefore, ideally, start goji plants from cuttings or young plants of a known cultivar if you want to have better yielding goji farm or garden. If cuttings and plants are inaccessible, it is OK to start with goji seeds, but you need to choose the best cultivar, like NQ-1. The disadvantages of starting from seeds 1) heterogeneous cultivars and performance of the plants 2) long time wait. Usually it takes 2 years from sowing to harvesting first berries from a seedling.

     

    Dreamland farm is working closely with our partners in China to introduce this super cultivar to North America. We have supply of seeds of NQ-1 if you want to start from seeds.

     

    Please write me if you have interest to know more of this cultivar or place order.

     

    Below are some pictures of 'NQ-1' and 'Da Ma Ye', the two most important goji cultivars grow in Ningxia China 

     

     (Heavily yielding NQ-1, photo provided by Pengsheng Qing, Zhongning, China 2008)

     

     

     (super fruit size of NQ-1, photo provided by Pengsheng Qing, Zhongning, China 2008)

     

    (Heavily yielding NQ-1, photo provided by Pengsheng Qing, Zhongning, China 2008)

     

    This page was last updated on Thursday, May 06, 2010 10:01:11 PM