elaeagnus berries

Who is growing these shrubs and what is your experience with the berries? I have the Goumi (Eleagnus multiflora), elaeagnus x ebbingei and autumn olive. I am thinking about sticking with the Goumi as it is less invasive than the other varieties. I know the seed and flesh are edible but how do you seperate the fiberous inedible membrane from the seed after eating the berry flesh?

Jujube, I have grown the goumi, a couple kinds of autumn olive, russian olive to date. I lost my goumi to the Easter freeze a couple of years ago and have since replaced it. My Russian Olive (red) has not fruited and is slowly dying, probably from a disease it is susceptible to (have to look it up as I don't remember right now). I am doing some grafting to try to get the Russian Olive and goumi established on one of my autumn olives, also starting some ao's from seed for future root stock, just to spread out the risks..

I eat a fair amount of ao in the fall, as I have several wild trees in the area as well as two trees commercially obtained in my back yard. Have some fruit vacuum packed in the freezer as well. I eat the flesh of the fruit and spit out the seed.

There are a number of named varieties of ao out there. Can you tell us more about which ones you are growing. Would also like to know more about the ebbingei cross you have.

Did you know that there is also a couple of vars of yellow fruited ao out there? Supposed to be the best fruited kind.

The autumn olives are just seedlings and I dont think they are named cultivars. The goumi is Sweet Scarlet. The elaeagnus x ebbingei is just called a silverberry here in texas. They are at every nursery and just considered a generic shrub. I have read good things about them on the internet. The ones I have are covered in fruit right now and should ripen around March. I have yet to eat a ripened berry.

jujube,
Where'd you get your Gumi plants? I've been hunting seeds or plants forever.

Peggy

You can get them at burnt ridge nusery on the internet. Their prices are pretty good. You can get the Sweet Scarlet or just seedlings.

You can also get Goumi from One Green World or Raintree (mailorder). They sell larger plants, so expect to pay a bit more for them. I have not found a good source for seed. I found that the local nursery carried goumi last year. It's becoming more popular around here. Hidden Springs Nursery also sells their unnamed selection of goumi and they are very popular with NAFEX members. I have found goumi to be especially sensitive to hard freezes after they initially leaf out, so choose a site that stays cooler in early spring if that might be a problem.

Thanks for those sources.I'll check them out.