Wow @ncdabbler — that is a nice looking goumi. Your looks like it has some age to it. I started mine in spring 2020 so they are not that old but have grown well 7 ft tall and quit bushy.
I realized something today… when I went out and picked some goumi to eat… that I don’t really need another goumi that ripens after my Sweet Scarlet… well because I found 3 ripe red raspberries today too.
Those are going to kick in soon too and my spring raspberry crop is really nice. The last week of May until end of June, just loads of raspberries. With Strawberries and Raspberries (and Logans) all ripening end of May and June… the goumi just will not get that much attention.
If there was a goumi that ripened earlier than red gem… I would consider that.
@TNHunter You’re right, I think the main appeal of goumi is that they ripen so early. I like them, but they’re certainly not in the same league as strawberries and raspberries. For my family, everyone’s excited about goumi until our attention shifts to ripening mulberries. My goumi bush is 10 years old and would be considerably taller, wider and denser if I didn’t do a significant prune every late winter.
I’ve planted strawberries, raspberries and Goumi. With the attention I give them, the strawberry plants are essentially gone and the raspberries are a sad sight.
The only care the goumi gets is pruning and water. I also haven’t noticed spotted wing drosophila in the goumi.
Hi folks, is anybody on this forum from Ontario, Canada growing Goumi berry plants? I keep looking everywhere to buy these plants here in Ontario, cannot find anything. May be somebody from Ontario could sell some small plants to me, any variety, or help find some for sale? I checked all Canadian nurseries in the list on this site - nothing, even Whiffletree farm doesn’t have them this year.
This plant gets rediscovered every now and then, and some retailers will then briefly stock it. It’s kind of like the vegetarian who in their first year eats kale salad almost every day but by the third year has switched to cheese pizza. When I operated a nursery I did not sell plants whose only value was hype, and goumi was one of them.
Goumi is delicious! I bought another variety from a polish nurcery last year to extend the fruiting period. (I’m in Europe) https://cornusmas.eu/catalogue/goumi
I’m also experimenting with seedlings.
Don’t worry, in my experience most people who try goumi tend to like it. Some of the cultivars aren’t productive and if I had only experienced non- productive plants I might be inclined to agree with Richard that they aren’t worthwhile. However, as more good varieties become available I believe it’ll get a lot harder to write them off as a fad.
I think I am going to get 3 Goumi berry plants, Lawrence from Whifletree (what a great guy!) told me that looks like they are getting Red Gem, he took my order! I am soooo excited!
Does anyone here have experience requesting scion from the USDA-ARS to be sent to locations outside the United States? I’ve been thinking about sending ‘Carmine’ and ‘Pippi’ to them if they are good about fulfilling international requests.
I tasted one by accident. I was at a nursery and saw a couple bushes, one with longer berries that were fully ripe. So I tasted it and suddenly my body felt “better” as if I had been missing a vitamin and it thanked me. I thought that was odd so I found another and ate it, and same temporary reaction. I just didn’t have room to take it home, and regretted it. One day I want the Tillamook variety to grow and eat all I want. If any other people react to it how I did, it will not be a fad.
I think I read that sweet scarlet is the same as red gem. Is there anything I can read to see if Carmine is indeed the same as Tilamook? I want to get the larger more flavorful type and not be disappointed.
I have a red gem and sweet scarlet (from OGW) and one ripens a bit earlier than the other… works well… when one is about done… the other kicks in.
I got some scion of carmine this spring and grafted 3 onto my rg and ss. All took and are doing great… 2 of the 3 bloomed and have carmine fruit on now.
I’ve not seen any hybrid Elaeagnus cultivars available. I was always curious about the potential of such a cross, so I’m surprised I hadn’t heard of it. Goumi IS pretty good, but I prefer the better autumn olives. They’re at least as tasty, and can be picked in a fraction of the time. I have 3 varieties of autumn olive that are comparable in size to goumi, and know of others. One is yellow fruited. They don’t have the long stem as goumi does, so that’s a plus too- they don’t need to be de-stemmed.
The waxwings eat the vast majority of my goumis. They go for them when they’re not even ripe. The autumn olives seem not to disappear until they are truly ripe. I find if I time it right I can get a good harvest off of them. SWD is an issue for them, though, while goumi is well done by the time they show up. Autumn olives fruit SOOOO profusely that I find I can just hold a bucket below a branch and strip the fruit downward into the bucket. Each swipe nets you a couple of cups or more.
I still think a cross would be interesting. I’d imagine it might potentially produce a more substantial fruit that combined the best features of each. If they crossed that readily, though, Od think hybrids would be more well known and readily available. I’m growing both, and have been tempted to do some controlled crosses, but have yet to.
