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

General Fruit Growing
102

I was hoping with the new earlier varieties you mentioned, Gumdrop and the Hills cultivars, might be early enough to be worth a try.

103

Alan, Iā€™m growing a number of trees of varied lineages in Idaho (2600 ft / ~43.6 degrees north). Theyā€™re only in their third summer, but I do have a Golden Hills tree which was planted as a larger tree which set fruit this year!

I also do know of pistachios growing successfully further north in Idaho > 45 degrees north.

The native ranges of Pistacia Vera in Central Asia arenā€™t terribly different from some areas in the US Intermoutain west. Thereā€™s a good research paper discussing the native range of p. vera in central asia and compares it so areas in the intermountain west. Iā€™ll see if I can link it here.

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104

For some reason the website wonā€™t let me drop the link to the paper I mentioned, the paper is entitled ā€˜Genetic resources of Pistacia vera L. in Central Asiaā€™ with various authors one of whom is Cyril R. Funk. Its available on the ResearchGate website for download. Hopefully thatā€™s enough information for those interested to be able to find it.

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105

I want to zone push a few pistachios (the Hill cultivars) and just see how they do in zone 6b, Iā€™ve had some luck with a few things in the past that people initially discouraged, so I like to experiment anyway. I see them offered on different rootstocks, what would be the coke hardiest and most canker resistant rootstock to purchase these on?

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106

Hola JosƩ,
como estas?

Thank you very much for all the information youā€™ ve posted about pistachos.

Iā€™m living in Karlsruhe, one of the hottest places of Germany. We get almost 800mm of rain a year, in spring a little bit less, but still almost 60ml a month. Do you think, it would be possible to grow pistachos here? Which cultivars would you recommend? Where could I buy those (are there places in Spain that ship the plants)?

Thank you very much for your help!
Lea

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107

With that much rain pecans would be a better choice I would think. The right varieties will be extremely productive there

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108

this is similar to me, itā€™s my region, so itā€™s good to hear it can be done!

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109

So maybee it is too wet here for pistachios. Has anyone experience with pistachios in a similar climate?

110

Thank you, Jose, for shearing this knowledge with us.
I live in Herzegovina, itā€™s an area with mild Mediterranean climate. Itā€™s a 40-minute drive from Croatian coastline. Pistacea Terebinthus is a native tree here and it can be found almost everywhere.
I have two Kerman and one Peters with Terebinthus rootstock which are 5 years old, and thinking about expanding the plantation by grafting as rootstock is easy to find. I am planning to graft on early spring, before the budding starts. Is it a good time to do it?
Every year my pistachios are infected with Septoria, is there any chemical product that could solve this problem? Besides that, I will collect the infected leaves and burn them, will do the winter pruning and keep the ground free of grass so that moisture is not retained.

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111

HI, Resonanteye in E Washington, here is a paper discussing the native range of pistachio (hint, fairly extensive). Itā€™s a foothill tree. I am interested in them too, as I am in the hot Yellowstone river valley with sandstone cliffs on both sides. Paper compares the Utah climate and Central Asia, also discusses the pistachios growing in Logan, Utah on the campus of Utah State University (planted in 1970s) and others that were collected from Uzbekistan to grow in a private breeding orchard in northern Utah. If you want to attempt to collect pistachios or scion from the campus tree(s), the location is shown on FallingFruit dot org or on the universityā€™s website tree arboretum map. Thereā€™s also discussion and video at Permies dot com. If I collect some seed, Iā€™ll share. We have more growing degree days here than Logan Utah, and a longer season in general. I think the key to that location is the trees were planted at the top of a southfacing bench, so good cold air drainage and added summer heat. Dr. Tom Molnar of Rutgers is an author on that paper, he is well known for hazel breeding. I emailed the Utah State Extension to ask if there is someone distributing seedlings as they have a sheet written up for Pistachio, that the trees in the area are Zone 4 hardy. Havenā€™t heard back. Genetic resources of Pistacia vera L. in Central Asia
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225142300_Genetic_resources_of_Pistacia_vera_L_in_Central_Asia

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112

Sorry I just repeated your information, found the paper separately and did post the link.

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113

Iā€™m in and that was really good info!!

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114

A link from University of California re pistachios, Rootstock Production and Budding includes tips for germinating the various pistacia species https://ucanr.edu/sites/fruitandnut/files/73689.pdf

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115

I want to try experimenting with growing them here eventually.

116

So did I. Itā€™s next to impossible to find anyone selling grafted trees though.

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117

greetings Jose thanks for the information. Croatia is an ideal country for growing pistachios. winters are very cold in the area where I live (-5 to -15 from the beginning of November to the middle of March) but the cold and dry wind blows throughout the winter, will this cause problems? summers are very hot, long, dry and with little rain. summer starts from mid-May to mid-October. what do you think is the best variety for growing in such a climate and will the wind be a problem?

118

Hi Jose,

Thank you for the valuable information you are sharing with everyone.
I started a small farm in Tunisia with 2250 trees. The rootstock is Pistacia Atlantica and the variety is Mateur. I have some challenges on how to turn the farm into commercial farm as in California (I live in the US). In Tunisia most farmers have no scientific background of the main pistachio operations (irrigation, fertilization, treatment). The average production per hectar is very low in average. I want to know if there is a standard fertilization plan for young trees first leaf/ second leaf? I know this depends on soil/water and foliar analysis, but at least I need something to start with.
NB: I have spoken with a lot of local engineers and couldnā€™t find a common information across them.

Regards,