Hi again Angi.
You are describing to me the absolutely perfect climatic conditions for growing pistachios:
- Very cold winters with hard frosts (it’s perfect)
- Warm summers
- Little rain in summer, with dry climate (essential for pistachio)
This is like the Bible, if you don’t grow pistachios and almond trees it’s because you don’t want to.
We will start talking about rootstocks.
In the United States, before the great boom in its cultivation in the state of California, the rootstock that we use in Spain “Pistacea Terebinthus” was used. This rootstock is fantastic, because it has a medium vigor, the trees are medium sized, very productive, and its plantation framework is small.
Why was this rootstock not used in the United States?
Very simple, and it is because in the United States (especially in California), there is a tremendous presence in the soil of the fungus Verticillium Dahliae, which causes the disease Verticillosis, to which the Pistacea Terebinthus rootstock is not resistant, and the trees they died
Fortunately, the United States is not like China or Russia, which limit themselves to copying technologies and replicating all kinds of things from occidental countries (including plant species).
But you are in a country where there are people who think a lot hahahahahaha, and the agronomist engineers from the University of Davis in California started a hybridization program of different species of pistachio rootstocks, until they carried out the crossing and selection of Pistacea Atalantica x Pistacea Intergerrima, giving gives rise to a rootstock resistant to Verticillium, very productive, that is the rootstock UCB-1 .
For my region it is not suitable at a professional level for several reasons:
- High irrigation requirement
- Large fertilizer requirement
- Huge planting frame
I have some trees grafted in UCB-1, and the lion is not as fierce as they say, it is true that it is more vigorous and makes larger trees, but it is not a huge thing either.
So we already have the chosen rootstock, which will be UCB-1
For sale here at an astronomical price:
It is necessary to look at more nurseries where to buy UCB-1 rootstock, for 3 dollars more or less (2 or 3 dollars would be an acceptable price).
Now let’s talk about the varieties.
I would recommend starting your plantation with good short-cycle (early maturing) varieties, but you are in the United States, and professional varieties are difficult to obtain for amateurs.
Imagine my case.
I am a good friend of Jose Francisco Couceiro Lopez, the pistachio technical engineer at the El Chaparrillo Agrarian Improvement Center:
https://chaparrillo.castillalamancha.es/pistacheros
Where there is a germplasm bank of pistachio varieties that will be one of the largest in the world, to which I have access as if I were at home, for that reason my collection of pistachio varieties is immense, I know many varieties, which I have been tested over the years.
They are in United States a new female and his male pollinator
- Female: Gumdrop
- Pollinator male: Tejon
That for you would be incredibly good, what I don’t know is if it will be easy to buy some already grafted plants of this variety.
If you could buy some female and male plants of this variety, it would be really fantastic for you.
The proportion of females and males for good pollination is 8 or 9 females to 1 male.
These two are very good (and I like them more).
Females:
- Golden Hills
- Lost Hills
Pollinator male for both varieties:
- Randy
There are countless varieties that would be suitable for you, such as:
Females:
- Larnaca
- Sirora
- Aegina
- Mateur
- Avdat
- Etc…
Male pollinator of all these varieties:
- C-Special
For now, if I were you, I would start looking for a nursery, where I could buy some plants grafted onto UCB-1, of the Golden or Lost Hills varieties, and their male pollinator Randy.
If you can’t find a humane way to get these varieties in a nursery, write me a private message and we’ll talk.
Best regards
Jose
