Surprisingly hardy, Pistachio trees grow wild throughout Central Asia where temperatures can follow below 0??F. Our Uzbekistan seedlings came from orchards where they are grown as large shrubs. (From the One Green World website)
Not that I really have the room for something like this, but each year it’s on my list to find out more about and the information out there doesn’t seem to be growing (pun unintended). The idea of being able to grow pistachios is tempting, and likely as improbable as getting ripe pomegranates but I’ve got 3 of those.
I looked for the average temperatures in January for Uzbekistan. The average is 33 F, the average minimal is 26 F. In southern parts of it the average temperatures never go below freezing.
I have five female and one male pistachio–kermit and peters. They have had no troubles with zone six weather and have been down to minus ten on occasions. They grow rather slowly only three-four foot after four years in the ground. There is a nursery in Arizona that will ship in one gallon pots.
txpanhandle;
what is your minimum cold temp during the winter? I live in zone 6B and would love to grow pistachios. These guys have some intriguing information about growing them, follow the link and scroll down to the pdf link that talks about their work with (Uzbek) pistachios. http://www.ippfbe.org/
The problem is they are hard to get a hold of and it would be easier to grow more traditional varieties if they could actually withstand the winter.
This is a video of other pistachios grown locally Growing Pistachio Trees in the Rocky Mountains Without Irrigation - YouTube
Thanks Greg
Sorry for the late reply. WE get down to minus ten about every third year. Down to zero every year. The pistacios grow slowly but they do just fine. It is dry here in the Great American Desert.
Hardy poms do well here too if covered in the winter. Favorite freezes to the ground ,covered or not. Suhr anor and salavatski are very much liked by my grand kids.
Minus 10 is about as cold as it ever gets here too, most years it gets down to negative 5. Do you know what root stock your trees are on? I read some info about root stocks and there is a big difference with how hardy they make the tree. Also most of the root stocks aren’t even the same species. I wonder if they are more cold hardy on their own roots? I have a lot of room in my front yard for more trees and the more cold hardy varieties seem to be a perfect fit for my climate/ environment. I did try a salavatski pom once that seemed really healthy but it died that winter, in spite of being wrapped up. I always wondered if it was another type of pom that was mislabeled?
The trees I have are grafted to some variety called push red. It is a very descriptive name because all the new growth is red. I do not think it is the same species because the leaves look totally different, but that is just my guess. You can google push red pistachio and it will give the nursery I ordered my trees from. You might contact them and ask whatever you like. They were very helpful.
Hey there! Just wondering if we could get an update on your pistachios and how they’ve been doing? I’m in zone 6b Kentucky and have female and male grafted pistachios but I’d like to attempt grafting them onto a push red pistachio that I was able to acquire. Thanks!
Has your plants been in the ground over a winter yet? They are not hardy in our zones, but I love pistachios and wanted to try them too. The OGW cold hardy ones in this thread have never been back in stock since. If yours have been surviving our winters I think I will give them a try myself.
All are doing just fine. i probably should have used a fungicide as leaves look spotted. They are about head high now except for the male which is still only about four foot. The temps have been minus ten two of the last four years and it has not been an issue. Humidity might be more of a problem for you than winter lows.
Good luck with the grafting.
I am 384 miles north of Big Bend… We do get snow but it always melts off within a week so it does not offer a winter cover. If you look at a map of Texas and see where a part begins to stick up above the rest, draw a line from the bottom of Oklahoma straight west until you almost reach New Mexico. That is the location. It gets colder and freezes both earlier and later than most of the part above because of elevation.
I noticed online that they have started calling the push red red push now.
The Kermit females have flowered the last two years but the Peters hasn’t sent out any pollen yet.
I will try to post a picture soon
How exciting! I will be attempting to graft with peters and kerman pistachio varieties also so I’m happy to know that they have performed well! I hope you get some yummy pistachios soon!
Well, I hope y’all have success with those, and I look forward to glowing reports.
About 25 years ago, Ken Asmus, at OIKOS Tree Crops, was offering hardy P.vera seedlings. I bought a half-dozen, but none survived the first summer here in KY.
I conferred with Dr. Louise Ferguson, the long-time pistachio expert at the UC-Davis Fruit & Nut center… She told I’d be better served putting my efforts into pecans/hickories/walnuts… that the pistachios, while they might be winter-hardy, were not going to ‘like’ the humidity here.