Everything you always wanted to know about growing pistachios and no one told you

[Jose-Albacete]

Hi guys.
Yesterday I didn’t have time to toast the pistachios, so we’ll do it today.
This salting and roasting process is done with pistachios, but it is suitable for any variety of nuts that you have harvested and dried for 10 days in the sun, for example paper shell almonds.

The brine is prepared at 15%, and since we are going to use 20 liters of water we will need 3 kilos of salt (6.61 pounds of salt for 20 liters of water).

Like these.

We will stir well, until the salt is completely dissolved.

And we add the pistachios (there is no defined weight, as long as they are covered in the brine), I will toast a cube of pistachios.

Pour the pistachios into the brine and stir for 3 minutes.

After 3 minutes in the brine , we take them out with a strainer to drain the water and return them to the bucket.

We have prepared some metal mesh trays (I bought metal mesh at the hardware store and I made these trays).
We pour the pistachios into the mesh trays (if you place a cloth underneath you will avoid wetting the table, and your wives from scolding you).

We will have the oven preheated to 80-90° C (176-194° Fahrenheit), mine is an industrial oven, but a domestic oven works perfectly.

This is the first phase of roasting and we will have the pistachios in the oven at that temperature for about 30 minutes.

At this stage of roasting, it is not necessary to flio the pistachios from the oven.

After half an hour, we begin the second roasting phase, raising the temperature to 140°C (284° Fahrenheit), and every 10 minutes we turn the pistachios on the trays.

There is no specific time in this second phase, since it depends on the amount of pistachios that we are going to toast, so we will test them every 10 minutes and when they are completely crispy they will be ready.

Once toasted, the pistachios are removed from the oven and allowed to cool completely to room temperature.

We are missing the final part, which is vacuum bagging.

I can’t do it today, because my uncle Manuel (he is 92 years old) has become ill with a gastric problem and now I am with him in the hospital.
We are waiting for the results of the tests, but thank God it seems that it will be something unimportant (I thought it could be internal bleeding).
Tomorrow we will finish the vacuum packaging process.

Regards
Jose

[Shibumi]

I hope your uncle recovers quickly.

Thanks for posting on the pistachio process. Fascinating.

[Jose-Albacete]

@Shibumi

I hope your uncle recovers quickly

Hi Phil.
He has already been discharged from the hospital and we are waiting for the ambulance to take him home.
It was a slight biliary problem.
But I thought it could be a more important problem and that’s why I requested a transfer to the hospital so they could thoroughly examine it.

The general hospital in my town is a fucking marvel.

Tomorrow you will see what more appetizing pistachios.

Regards
Jose

[inspireranch]

@Jose-Albacete I have a question: how long does it take for a pistachio tree to bear fruit? I am watching some of the videos on pistachio cultivation in California. It looks like it is at least 7+ years. I may be wrong…I am extremely interested in pistachio cultivation, but it may be too time and capital intensive
… what are your thoughts? Thank you.

[Jose-Albacete]

@inspireranch

I have a question: how long does it take for a pistachio tree to bear fruit? I am watching some of the videos on pistachio cultivation in California. It looks like it is at least 7+ years. I may be wrong…I am extremely interested in pistachio cultivation, but it may be too time and capital intensive
… what are your thoughts? Thank you.

Hi inspire ranch.
First of all, I would like to tell you that for California you must use Ucb-1 rootstock, because many years ago they tested the Pistacea Terebinthus rootstock and the trees died in your state, due to the Verticillium fungus present in your soils, so you should use Ucb -1, since it is a rootstock resistant to Verticillium (for this reason the pistachio trees are so large in the United States unlike the trees in Spain).
The Ucb-1 rootstock needs a large amount of irrigation and fertilization to grow and fruit well.
If all this is done well , it is a highly productive rootstock.

Now let’s look at the time it takes to go into production.

The trees need a pruning period for tree formation of about 4 years.

In the fourth year it will give its first fruits (insignificant harvest), and it will increase until the tenth year, which is when it reaches its fullness.
From the tenth year onwards, harvests increase each year in kilos per tree.
If it is for a commercial plantation, the business is very good, but it is a long-term investment.

Regards
Jose

[Jose-Albacete]

@inspireranch

… what are your thoughts? Thank you.

I was a bit left in the middle of answering what interests you.
Pistachios grafted onto pistacea terebinthus are not the same (they are smaller trees and have a smaller planting frame), than pistachios grafted onto Ucb-1, they are much larger and more productive trees, but they need a much larger planting frame, and They have the disadvantage to need a lot of irrigation and fertilization.
I would say that from the sixth - seventh year you begin to harvest average productions, but you already begin to make profits.
From the tenth year onwards they are already very abundant and profitable crops, and from the fifteenth year onwards they are already enormous and extremely profitable crops.

No matter how many pistachios are planted, global demand is much higher.
As it is a crop that does not require fungal treatments in climates of low environmental humidity, and does not have pests (in some areas the Clytra “Cryptocephalus Bipuctatus” and is extremely easy to eradicate with cheap pyrethroid insecticides.
And its harvest is completely mechanized, it is a very profitable crop.

Regards
Jose

[inspireranch]

Thank you, @Jose-Albacete. It is very informative.

[Audi_o_phile]

@Jose-Albacete

We are missing the final part, which is vacuum bagging.

@Jose-Albacete, I have really been enjoying this thread and I hope that your uncle is doing better now. I would love to hear about the rest of the process and see the accompanying pictures.

[Jose-Albacete]

@Audi_o_phile

, I have really been enjoying this thread and I hope that your uncle is doing better now. I would love to hear about the rest of the process and see the accompanying pictures.

Hahaha.
Adam, you are more right than a Saint.
But since it is the beginning of the pistachio campaign, I have the pistachios stored in baskets in a cool, dry warehouse, so I roast a bucket a week, and I eat them (they don’t have time to get moist hahahaha).
Tonight I’m going to roast a bucket of pistachios and I’ll post pictures of the packaging process.

Regards
Jose

[Shibumi]

Along with a photo of you chilling and eating them. Wine? Beer?

[Jose-Albacete]

@Shibumi

Along with a photo of you chilling and eating them. Wine? Beer?

Phil, the same thing always happens to me at the beginning of the harvest.
When I finish working I get home, download a movie from the Internet, and lie down on the couch to watch the movie eating pistachios.
They are very vicious for eat and like every night I have a bucket full, it’s a fucking disaster hahahahaha

You’ll see photos.

Regards
Jose

[Shibumi]

^

BTW pistachios are about $10/lb in the shells where I am.

Expensive

[Jose-Albacete]

A cube of pistachios, for the oven.

@Shibumi

BTW pistachios are about $10/lb in the shells where I am.

Expensive

Yes Phil, pistachios are expensive.
I am lucky that in my region pistachio trees grow like weeds.

Now I have to ensure that, with the appropriate rootstock and varieties, the pecan trees develop in my region like pistachios.
In my region there is not a single pecan tree, and before kicking the bucket to go the other neighborhood (to see Saint Peter), I would like to see pecan trees more than 20 meters high in my orchard ( It is good to leave a good legacy to nature )

Regards
Jose

[Shibumi]

This…

[Montassar]

Dear Jose,

I’m from Tunis, i would like to ask you if you have technical study for LOW CHILLING requirements concerning female pistachio tree cultivars (i search mainly for Mateur, Larnaca & Avdat).

Thx

[Miki]

Hola Jose, I have a few questions for you:
Which pistachio variety you are most satisfied with in all aspects of production, and what pistachio variety would you recommend me to grow?
What is the spacing of planting pistachios on the rootstock Pistacia terebinthus and
Where I can buy Pistacia terebinthus seeds, selection from Eastern Andalusia?
Thank you.

[Staziak]

What type of containers are those?
They look like they would come in handy harvesting pecans here.
One comment on your irrigation system. Does the above ground get in the way of equipment? Mowers and harvesting?

[yousefBelarbi1]

hi, I need some help
I have planted some pistache Atlantica in Morocco but I have a problem with the leaves and we don’t know why its like this ( they are in Oujda and the PH is 7,4 )

[Jose-Albacete]

@yousefBelarbi1

hi, I need some help

Hi Jousef, it doesn’t seem like the “greater evil”, which would be verticillosis caused by the soil fungus Verticillium Dahliae (since Pistacea Atlantica is not resistant to Verticillium), but if it were Verticillium, the leaves would turn yellow and dry out, and this is not the case with your plants.

Photo of pistachio tree affected by Verticillium

Nor does it have symptoms of the fungal diseases that attack the pistachio:

• Septoria caused by these fungi ((Septoria pistacina, S. pistaciarum, S. pistacia and Cylindroseptoria pistaciae)

Photo of pistachio tree affected by Septoria:

• Alternaria, caused by the fungi Alternaria alternata, Alternaria tenuissima and Alternaria arborescens.

Photo of pistachio tree affected by Alternaria:

• Botriosphere, caused by the fungus Botryosphaeria dothidea

Photo of affected pistachio tree from Botriosfera:

• Rust, caused by the fungus Pileolaria terbinthi.

Photo of pistachio tree affected by rust:

Having said all this, and given that Pistacea Atlancia is very resistant to root asphyxiation, the diagnosis seems simple.
It is a nutritional deficiency, so you must apply a chelated nutritional deficiency corrector via irrigation.
I would say it is boron deficit, look at this photo:

But in order not to miss the shot, it is advisable, as I have told you, to apply via irrigation a good chelated nutritional deficiency corrector, I use this one:

-Tarssan Mix

https://www.fertilizantesyabonos.com/english/tarssan-mix/

Best regards
Jose

[yousefBelarbi1]

Oke thank you very much I will try it as soon as possible !