More the other way around. Goumi is a multi branch shrub like AO but I has yet to sucker for me or sprout and random seedlings.
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I have Aronia and i experimented on the bush by forcing it to become a tree like bush, mine is 8 yeas old and is a prolific producer of berries, the trunk is 2.25 inches in diameter and 5 feet high. it is by far the highest producer of Aronia berries than the other Aronia bushes i have that were allowed to go their own way. So i would think Goumi and Autumn Olive could benefit from such training. I also do not know the characteristics of Autumn Olive other than its very good grower in all types of soils to include sandy soil.
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I like my sweet scarlet quite a bit. It seems the birds like it more, though. Theyre just aboit done stripping the bush, leaving (of all things) ripe serviceberries, not to mention strawberries, gooseberries, red and black currants. They seem to be the #1 preferred berry by birds here when in season
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What do Goumi flowers look like in Spring? Are they attractive/showy? Thank you.
They are not showy, cream or light brown and speckled like the branches. Small and trumpet shaped and coming out from the branches.
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No but they smell great.
I think Goumi overall is an attractive bush. The silver speckling on the fruit and soft wood is very pretty.
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Does anyone know what factors influence fruit set in goumi? One of my seedling bushes flowered for the first time this spring, just about a dozen flowers in total, but looks like they all fell off (zero fruit set). I assume that’s not unusual for the first time flowering, but curious if maybe some goumi require cross-pollination to set fruit, or if they set poorly in certain temperatures or if it’s rainy.
I believe they are insect pollinated. Fruit set varies a lot between varieties. My ‘Sweet Scarlet’ is absolutely loaded with flowers each year, but only a small percentage form fruit. Meanwhile, ‘Pippi’ and ‘Carmine’ have less, but larger flowers compared to ‘Sweet Scarlet’ and the majority of the flowers set fruit. I’m not sure if this means that some varieties are self fertile and others not, or alternatively if differing flower size makes some varieties more attractive to pollinators than others (which could vary by location and what pollinator species are present).
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I vaguely remember you saying these seedlings were from ‘Pippi,’ but the one that flowered had very small flowers, so doesn’t appear to have inherited the large flower trait.
Do you have other goumi to compare to for flower size?
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Only the photos that other people have posted on here, none of my own. Here’s what mine looked like:
Looks like there might not have been enough flowers in total to attract much pollinator activity.
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Goumi require cross pollination. I do not know what other factors effect fruit set. I had a great crop last year from my Raintree Select while Sweet Scarlet only set a few.
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I assume this is variety dependent, because I’m pretty sure @TNHunter had heavy fruit set when he only had one variety?
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@TNHunter has always had at least two based on earlier posts in the thread @HollyGates had the single he has minimal fruit set
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Ive had good fruit set from only one goumi for 15 years or so. These days, I have plenty of autumn olives too, but that wasn’t always the case. I don’t know for sure that they readily pollinize one another. I hope that they do because Id really like to see the results of hybridization. Id think someone would have tried this along the way but perhaps not. My single goumi is a ‘sweet scarlet’ from Burnt Ridge.
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@swincher … fyi… I have a large goumi bush of red gem and sweet scarlet about 12 ft apart.
And to both of those bushes i have grafted in scions of carmine.
I actually have those planted between apple trees like this…
Akane apple then sweet scarlet bush… Hudson golden gem apple… then red gem bush… then Gold rush apple.
Apple-goumi-apple-goumi-apple.
So i have 2 goumi bushes supplying N to 3 apple trees.
3 grafts of carmine goumi added.
Sweet scarlet blooms and ripens fruit about a week earlier than red gem does.
But there is overlap in their bloom time.
Carmine blooms same time as sweet scarlet and both have some fruit truning red color now.
Red gem will ripen a bit later.
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