I’m assuming this is some kind of elaeagnus. It came from Burnt Ridge Nursery, but I’m doubting that it is what it’s supposed to be. I took these photos today. You can see some tiny fruits in the first photo. I’m guessing they’re under 1/4" long. The bush is 10-12’ tall. This is its 5th growing season since I planted it.
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too small to be goumi , which i have eaten. id guess autumn olive by fruit size. mine are 3 yrs old but haven’t fruited yet. what did they label it as?
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Thanks, Moose. It was supposed to be a seedling goumi. Do you think it could be a seedling goumi with much smaller fruit than the named goumis? I have a named goumi, a sweet scarlet, but the sweet scarlet was planted at the same time and is only about half (or less) as tall as this bush. Also, this bush typically blooms about a month later, and this bush has fruit on it now and the sweet scarlet ripened all its fruit around May.
Can anyone ID autumn olive vs. goumi vs. other elaeagnus just by the leaves? The leaves of my two bushes are noticeably different but I don’t know how much variation there is within the species.
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i have both the goumi , sweet scarlet and red gem and a unnamed autumn olive variety. both goumis are the same size fruit, about a half in. long 1/4in wide. from what I’ve read and seen autumn olives are smaller and rounder, about 1/4in. leaves are very similar but the autumn olive leaves are more silvery as you have in your pics. pretty sure its a autumn olive. I’m trying to root some cuttings of my 2 goumi cultivars. if they take you’re welcome to a couple. also am growing some seeds out.my goumi are at 3 yrs old and have lots of berries this year but my a.o s are the same age with no berries yet.
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I thinkng about cutting it down and burning it (to try to kill any seeds still on it). If I knew for sure it was a non-invasive goumi I’d leave it, but I really don’t want to accidentally be the first one to introduce an autumn olive to the neighborhood. The main thing I wanted a seedling goumi for was to pollinate my sweet scarlet goumi but they don’t bloom at the same time, so even if it is a seedling goumi it’s not serving the main purpose I had for it.
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a.o’s aren’t invasive this far north. if my red gem/ sweet scarlet goumi seeds sprout or cuttings take i can send you some. or if you want i can send you some seeds of each and you can grow your own. i still have some fruit on both bushes. they say goumi is semi fruitfull so you should get some fruit from a single plant. i heard a.o is hard to get rid of once established. may need to mix some strong roundup concentrate to totally get rid of it. good luck!
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Looks exactly like Autumn olive. Autumn olive are not invasive in some places.
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If no one is confident enough to say he thinks it could be a seedling goumi (which is what I ordered and what it’s supposed to be), I think I’ll cut it down tomorrow and burn it. I expect it will come back from the roots, so I assume cutting it down will just amount to an aggressive summer pruning.
Moose, thanks very much for the offer to share another goumi with me. I’ll pass on taking you up on the offer at this point, but thank you anyways. My family is finding the goumis worth picking, and there seems to be nothing to growing them, especially once they’re established, but my interest in goumis is still quite minimal.
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I also bought some “goumi” seedling plants several years ago… these were from Burnt Ridge, and i’m 99.9% sure they are autumn olive.
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Yes, that’s an autumn olive. I have ordered goumi from Burnt Ridge before and received autumn olive. BUmmer.
JohN S
PDX OR
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