Goumi, Elaeagnus multiflora, Cultivar Trialing

General Fruit Growing
141

I have several varieties now, but for a time my only goumi was sweet scarlet, which happily set fruit as a youngster. My Moniz came from a place that did not give it access from other cultivars and it had fruit already on it. I think they have both solidly demostrated self fertility.

Now I have Red Gem and Carmine which fruited for the first itme this year. All four are in very different parts of my yard, but htat does not mean they could not cross pollinate. Sweet Scarlet was covered in berries this year, and astringency was lower on all of them even when very immature. I think age had more to do with SSā€™s bounty than cross polination, but having pollination partners, even if of the same cultivar may certainly improve yield.

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142

Definitely the case that the netting would have shaded the two branches. It was a fine mesh insect netting, so Iā€™d guess more shade than bird netting. I am planning to net more next year so Iā€™ll find out if it was the weather or netting. For me Carmine/tillamook was worth growing and I wouldnā€™t put it down. Just the high production and good fruit size alone make it a worthwhile cultivar. I think it is a good one to have around but suspect that there is room for improvement in goumi cultivars based on how the seedlings were comparing relatively well to it.

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143

I also wish more people would collect data and share like Austrian_FruitNut. This helps everybody tremendously move the field forward in a positive direction. Nonetheless, brix is just one of numerous important variables to objectively measure the quality in fruit.

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144

I only have one Red Gem (so far!!), and it had a full fruit set this spring (for its small size). I do have a neighbor within bee traveling distance (1/4 mi) with two bushes, who claims he only planted one and the other was a seedling from it.

Excited that one of Cliff Englandā€™s ā€˜chorusā€™ scion grafts took on mine this spring, so hopefully I get to try some next year.

I have some of my neighbors seeds stratifying in the fridge- how long does it take at a minimum? Just looking to have rootstock.

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