@hollygates Do you only have the one cultivar. Raintree cultivar was selected as a pollinator. I think we need to get you a second plant.
@auburn Rooting is supposed to be easy. Soft wood cuttings from the first 2.5-4 inches in July/August under mist with hormones or Hardwood 4-5" in November in from in a frame in ground for 12 months.
https://greatescapefarms.com/propagating-sweet-scarlet-goumi/
Thanks
Happy to root you one since you’re only a few towns away from me, @HollyGates. Or to send you scions if you want.
Seems like a plant that hasn’t gotten a lot of attention in the breeding world. I wonder how similar seedlings are to the parents. I also wonder if self pollinated seeds grow true to type.
I had assumed it was self pollinating given how many berries we get from it, but seeing pics of Carroll’s bush and now reading a little online it does seem like it would benefit from having a second variety. I don’t really have a place to put another one of these in my small yard though… has anyone tried grafting these? I could put a second variety on my existing bush.
Mine too. Fruiting heavily this year. Unless autumn olive pollenates it,it is self-fruitful
Scott
If they flowered at the same time they cross pollinated. There are several crosses sold commercially.
Thank you. There is bloom overlap between the two. One is only about 20 feet away the other is about 30 feet away.
I wonder why my autumn olives don’t fruit as heavily, then. I get more goumi fruit on one branch than I get autumn olive fruit on two bushes…
Scott
IMHO too tannic to eat. Jelly also too tanic. Pulled mine up.
I have two named varieties. When they are ripe tomato soft, the tannin is mostly gone and they are quite sweet. My daughter and I really like them. There may remain a bit of astringency - hard to say. Unfortunately the robins love them too.
Red Gem and Sweet Scarlet
I admit to not minding astringency much, and like capsaicin in peppers, it kind of grows on me. After the first couple I don’t really notice it, but also have probably come to enjoy the sensation a bit. It also took me a while to warm up to dark chocolate and coffee. My favorite black teas have some astringency as well.
I agree The astringency is not bad like a persimmon or cashew fruit. and its actualy pleasant and a nice contrast most fruit do not possess.
This motion activated sprinkler does a fantastic job keeping the wild life out.
My only gripe is its about the only lawn product on earth that uses a 1" connector for the shaft.
I bought this one to replace it but I have not yet deployed it since I managed to find a 1" - 1/2" adapter and connected it to a new shaft.
When its done with the Goumi’s both are moving over to the black berry patch.
I made an amazing dessert yesterday: Goumi Cream Roll Cake
Saturday my son and I picked the ripe berries from the yard, maybe a bit more than a liter worth. About half Goumi, the rest mostly strawberries with a few alpine strawberries and a smattering of red currants.
I squeezed a half a lemon in and put in about 1/3 cup sugar, then we cooked it down until it was as thick as we wanted it to be. We put it through the food mill to separate stems, seeds, etc. BTW - the BEST food mill is the Squeezo with aftermarket stainless screens. We were left with about 1.5 cups of excellent jam.
Next day I made a sponge cake for rolling according to this recipe.
Except scaled up to 7 eggs to fit my bigger pan.
Once the cake was cooled I spread on the jam from the day before.
Then I put on the cream filling: a bit less than 2c cream, 2tbs sugar, 2tsp vanilla whipped most of the way, then added about 1c leftover cream pie filling which wouldn’t fit in last week’s amazing strawberry cream pie, then whipped some more. The cream pie filling served to stiffen up and stabilize the whipped cream and give it a more substantial feel. But if I didn’t have it I would have just used plain whipped cream. I’ve made versions of this cake plenty of times with straight cream and it is ok especially if you are eating it same day.
I went outside and picked a few more strawberries to form the core of the roll.
Then I rolled it up, wrapped it in double foil (helps keep the shape) and put it in the fridge for a few hours. Took it out, trimmed the ends, piped a little leftover cream on top and garnished with a few of the berries that went into it.
My wife was very skeptical since she hates Goumis. The other day I broached the idea of planting another one and it did not go over well! But when you cook it down into jam with a bunch of sugar, then dilute it with a bunch of cake and cream filling… well then even a Goumi hater will probably like it 
It really was very tasty.
I was annoyed at those creases in the outside; those got formed when it was wrapped in the fridge. Probably the cake shrunk some and the covering crinkled. Not too many complaints about the crinkles from the customers though.
We have one of those we use don an impromptu vegetable bed last year. It worked pretty well against the deer.
Although occasionally we forgot to turn the water back on to it. It didn’t live the whole season though. I don’t remember if the one in the shed is the same broken one, or a replacement. It got in the way of mowing, and I’d probably need 5 or 6 of them to get the places I want.
I have a 4-1/2 foot fence around the vegetable garden, and then put some taller posts at the corners and strung a couple levels of white baling twine to make it look taller. That worked for a few years, but this season there is a doe that jumps between the layers. I think she started getting in while I temporarily had the lines down, or drooping, and then once she knew what awaited inside, she was willing to jump through even after restoring them.
I’ve got the trailcam trained there to see what’s going on. I’ve just planted some seeds for this year, way behind. She was jumping in for my apple espaliers and such 
Ate all the small apples along with the leaves.
If someone want to grow goumi from seeds, here is usefull information about stratification: (3 weeks warm str. and than cold str. until germination)
https://agris.fao.org/agris-search/search.do?recordID=BY2005000206
Thanks for that link. I am interested in trying to grow goumi from seed but I understand it is not the easiest. That at least this gives some hints for better germination.
Lovely picture. I noticed, for the first time this year, that the stems are speckled like the fruit. Ours are ripening now as well.
Good catch, I have never noticed that. I will go back to check/look more closely, hopefully they are not any fungal infections
I’ve had scarlet and red gem goumi’s fruiting for a few years now. The chickens are the bushes best customers - often leaping up to grab them when ripe. They seem to have a keen eye for ripeness as well, turning down even the barely unripened berries. As others have said, when soft, they are good, but the least bit off and they are rather astringent. Oddly, my red gem has hardly ever produced fruit, but must be doing a good job at pollenzing the scarlet bush as it is routinely full of berries.
