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 sweetness… 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 Carmine… to my RG and SS last spring and they grew well, and a couple of them even bloomed and set a couple fruit… 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 spring… as they were just starting to ripen… they were there one day and not the next… 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 they’re all graft compatible.
Autumn olives in different colors: red, orange, yellow.
Goumi don’t forget Catherine’s Find - found in the SF East Bay. I have one in the yard - haven’t 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 don’t remember its name clearly, it has been long time ago when I got it from Raintree or OGW. I don’t 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 ‘Carmine’ tastes slightly sweeter. I haven’t 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 can’t wait to taste my Carmine
@Avofan thanks where can i find information on Catherine’s find?
@JohannsGarden do you sell pippi plants or scions?
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Yes, I do sell rooted clones of ‘Pippi’ but there’s a long waiting list unfortunately and I’m 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 won’t have much scion available this winter either.
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Catherine’s find:
Local CRFG people say it’s vastly superior to autumn olive. I’ve only had the regular red autumn olive and it’s astringent so I’m looking forward to trying Catherine’s find which is supposed to be bigger, fleshier, less astringent
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Maybe Hidden Springs nursery if it’s still active, it’s been a long time since I’ve 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 Catherine’s 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 year… after a seasons growth.
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@Fishinjunky … it is hard to say between sweet scarlet and red jem… they seem very similar on size, sweetness and flavor.
Goumies are somewhat like figs and persimmons… where the exact degree of ripeness makes a big difference… 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 spring… 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 daily… saw that carmine go from green to red… and was waiting for it to get soft red… when one day it was just gone. Bird most likely got it. They love goumi berries.
I don’t 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.