How many Goumi varieties are there and which is the sweetest?
Here is a list of varieties that I know of:
Carmine (aka Tillamook)
Sweet Scarlet
Red Gem
Raintree Select
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Ive heard Pippi is larger and sweeter than Carmine.
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I would try to track down Hector Black selections.
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I have red gem and sweet scarlet since spring 2020 and they are both very similar in size, taste and sweetnessā¦ but one starts ripening about 2 weeks before the other which is nice for extending the goumi berry fresh eating season.
I added 3 grafts of Carmineā¦ to my RG and SS last spring and they grew well, and a couple of them even bloomed and set a couple fruitā¦ I was not expecting that but it did happen. The fruit from Carmine was much larger (like 2-3x) the size of RG and SS even on a just recently established graft.
Unfortunately I did not get to taste those few Carmine berries last springā¦ as they were just starting to ripenā¦ they were there one day and not the nextā¦ dang bird most likely beat me to them.
Hopefully this coming spring I will get to try some Carmine. I may have to bag a few to keep the birds off. Those HUGE red berries I am sure the birds are impressed by too.
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There are a lot if you look at all of the elaeagnus and I think theyāre all graft compatible.
Autumn olives in different colors: red, orange, yellow.
Goumi donāt forget Catherineās Find - found in the SF East Bay. I have one in the yard - havenāt tried it yet.
Latifolia sometimes called Indian Olive - there are a couple of these too.
Marta has some cuttings of Goumi and Indian Olive for sale now
https://reallygoodplants.com/
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I probably have the sweet scarlet. I even donāt remember its name clearly, it has been long time ago when I got it from Raintree or OGW. I donāt care to eat the fruits, most times the birds get them. The flavor mostly is tart mixed with some sweetness that you can barely eat it fresh. I am going to cut it down making room for trees that bear much pleasant flavor fruits.
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Larger, yes. However, to me āCarmineā tastes slightly sweeter. I havenāt measured brix, but grow both so this is based off my own taste buds. Both are productive.
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@randyks where can i find information on his selections?
@TNHunter i canāt wait to taste my Carmine
@Avofan thanks where can i find information on Catherineās find?
@JohannsGarden do you sell pippi plants or scions?
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Yes, I do sell rooted clones of āPippiā but thereās a long waiting list unfortunately and Iām only able to root a small number each year and then they take a second year before the roots are stable enough to sell. I normally have plenty of scion available for grafting, but because of how dry it was this summer my mother plant grew less than normal so I wonāt have much scion available this winter either.
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Catherineās find:
Local CRFG people say itās vastly superior to autumn olive. Iāve only had the regular red autumn olive and itās astringent so Iām looking forward to trying Catherineās find which is supposed to be bigger, fleshier, less astringent
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Maybe Hidden Springs nursery if itās still active, itās been a long time since Iāve seen his available. I know another nursery also listed them, Rolling Hills?
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Talked to a Elaeagnus expert and he said the Latifolia will not fruit in our area, 10a - maybe needs more heat?
The autumn olive is extremely productive but very astringent. The guy says Catherineās find Goumi is much better.
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This is a pic of red gem, sweet scarlet (red ripe) vs carmin (still green).
And that was a carmine fruit from a scion that was grafted and grew, bloomed and fruited this past spring.
They may be a little bigger this yearā¦ after a seasons growth.
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@TNHunter thank you. Which would you say is the sweetest out of the three?
@Fishinjunky ā¦ it is hard to say between sweet scarlet and red jemā¦ they seem very similar on size, sweetness and flavor.
Goumies are somewhat like figs and persimmonsā¦ where the exact degree of ripeness makes a big differenceā¦ no doubt a perfectly ripe sweet scarlet would beat a not hardly there yet red gem and the opposite would be true as well.
I have unfortunately not tasted carmine yet.
I added 3 grafts of carmine to my ss and rg last springā¦ and they took very fast and grew, and 2 of those put out a couple blossoms and set fruit. (the pic earlier).
I watched them ripen dailyā¦ saw that carmine go from green to redā¦ and was waiting for it to get soft redā¦ when one day it was just gone. Bird most likely got it. They love goumi berries.
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@randyks can you tell me more about the Hector Black Goumi selections?
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I donāt remember much about them except they were all improvements in some way of wild ones, all were natural selections Hector Black collected. Not many people paid attention to goumi when he was active and had a nursery.
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I have two of Hector Blackās cultivars, Brilliant Rose and Charlieās Golden. They should fruit for the first time this year, so I canāt tell you anything about their fruit quality.
Fruitwood appears to have all of Hectorās selections.
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Related question: Which goumi varieties have the least thorns? If thereās a convenient overlap between āsweetest fruitsā and āoooh, total thornlessness,ā Iāll know which kind(s) I want. 
I havenāt found goumi to be thorny at allā¦
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