@So_Cal_Mike How did your plants do last year. @ediblelandscaping.sc was looking for Latifolia also.
as always my potted ones grew nicely until squirrels came and ate them to the ground. They seem to find them delicious.
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@lordkiwi @ediblelandscaping.sc
See this thread https://growingfruit.org/t/scion-shop-annual-sale/58925/3 and try this link https://reallygoodplants.com/ there are scions of Elaeagnus latifolia of named varieties (chuck and mimosa) which is exactly what you are after. By named i mean they named them Gardening : Elaeagnus latifolia . For those who are not familiar Elaeagnus latifolia - Wikipedia . Think you could use Elaeagnus multiflora or Elaeagnus umbellata for rootstock during your experiment.
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Russian olive used to be around here, also, back in the 1960’s/70’s when I tasted some. Rather tasteless, very mealy, small and fairly dry. These were always windbreak trees that were never watered or taken care of.
Picked some ornamental E. pungens today out of curiosity. Some were fairly astringent, others less so. Astringency is very forward on the palate, which is interesting and probably a good thing. Big seed, small fruit. Very pretty though, mild flavor and sweet enough, not tart. Wet scar which would be an issue for anything other than immediate fresh use. Extremely early, most other fruits and berries haven’t even bloomed or leafed out, let alone produced fruit, with the exceptions of chinaberry and Carolina laurel cherry (both poisonous) and glossy privet.
Bringing in the fruit quality of E. latifolia or goumi while keeping the ripening time would be a surely difficult but definitely interesting breeding project.
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