How many Goumi varieties are there and which is the sweetest?

General Fruit Growing
21

The only goumi I have thorns on is sweet scarlet. It has not proven to matter if it is grafted wood or not. SS has far more thorns than my AOs and they are decidedly more bitey.

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22

@UnicornEmily Carmine (aka Tillamook) is a good option. I do not recall seeing any thorns on my Tillamook and it has good/medium sized goumi with good production. If you want no thorns and good size that is a solid choice. Some of the less common ones likely also meet those criteria but I do not have experience with them to say for sure (Pippi for example).

I also have Sweet Scarlet and Red Gem. In my experience, Sweet Scarlet and Red Gem do have what could be considered thorns that are like short branches. Linked below is another thread on goumi where there is a picture that is probably either Sweet Scarlet or Red Gem and you can see what I am thinking of in terms of those two having thorns.

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23

Iā€™ve often wondered if ā€˜Sweet Scarletā€™ could actually be a hybrid between goumi and autumn olive. That would explain its smaller fruit size and thorns. It might also explain why a fair number of its flowers fail to set fruit each year if it is having some reduced fertility from partial incompatibility affecting meiosis.

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24

Iā€™ve never noticed any thorns on ā€˜Pippiā€™.

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25

Tillamook/carmine and also Raintree select donā€™t have thorns.

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26

Thank you! It sounds like I should definitely get all three of those cultivars! :smiley: Tillamook, Pippi, and Raintree Select all sound promising. Are there any more I should keep my eye out for?

I have one kind of Elaeagnus right now: Ebbingā€™s silverberry (Elaeagnus x ebbingei). That oneā€™s fully thornless, and the fruits are supposed to be tasty. It hasnā€™t fruited for me yet, so I canā€™t say for sure. But itā€™s certainly a gorgeous plant, with those speckled silvery leaves!

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27

I think your E Ɨebbingei needs another variety for cross pollination.

28

Wang Bo should be another to consider.

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29

I was told that Ebbingā€™s silverberry (Elaeagnus x ebbingei) is self-fertile, so if that information I was given was correct, it should be able to fruit on its own. But I imagine another Elaeagnus cultivar would be helpful; it might very well increase yields. I canā€™t say one way or the other because it hasnā€™t flowered yet for me. But no matter what, I want more cultivars, because I value genetic diversity! :smiley:

Ooh, is Wang Bo goumi fully thornless, as well?

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30

My Red Gem and Sweet Scarlet do have thorns.

Carmine and Raintree Select do not.

Red Gem is my favorite for taste (so far).. but I have not tasted Raintree yet.. will soon.

Red Gem is sweeter than Carmine.. Carmine is more tart.

Red Gem is my first to ripen.. Sweet scarlet is quite a bit later, and has small berries.

Goumi are easy to graftā€¦ you could easily add a graft or two of Red Gem and each spring simply prune off any thorns found.

TNHunter

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