Some of you cultivate the pistachios in United States?

[amadioranch]

Hello Jose!

We have Kerman and Peters as a male. Would love to try other low chill types but pistachio cultivars are incredibly hard to come by here in the states. Not many hobbyists are growing these trees, only commercial.

[MuddyMess_8a]

I’ve only been here for 23 winters, but haven’t had it get that cold during the time I’ve lived here. The upper teens are my coldest on most years. Harsh winters like 2013/14 and 2014/15 we went into the lower teens when it was nasty.

[amadioranch]

Well then it might be worth a shot. Im be happy to send you wood this next season.

[Lucky_P]

20 years or so ago, Ken Asmus at OIKOS Tree Crops was offering some P.vera seedlings. I bought a few, but they didn’t last a year. Spoke with Dr. Louise Ferguson, pistachio expert at the UC-Davis Fruit & Nut Center… she told me not to waste my time with them - weather here is too hot/humid, foliar diseases would be a constant battle. She recommended that I dedicate more time to pecans if I wanted some success.

[clarkinks]

Lucky,
Pistachios taste so good they entice us to try them even knowing it’s a bad idea that will likely end badly.

[clarkinks]

Jose,
I see a study done that may be of interest http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNABK294.pdf. This thread from a few years ago is interesting as well http://www.cloudforest.com/cafe/gardening/cold-hardy-pistachio-t4294.html
Here is confirmation of a zone 6 pistachio which is the variety chinesis not Vera https://ask.extension.org/questions/165847
The fruit chinesis produces is not edible Pistacia chinensis - Plant Finder
California rare fruit growers confirm Vera as the drupe producer https://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/pistachio.html

[txpanhandle1]

The tree does fine in zone 6. Can’t say about production since they aren’t to that point yet. If they make one year out of six they will be right up there with peaches, plums ,apricots, and cherries.

[Lucky_P]

Right you are Clark. I’ve ‘pushed the envelope’ on a number of things… some with success, some with failure. After 20 years, I’m becoming more reserved, and mostly only planting stuff that I KNOW is going to be successful for me… nearing 60, I’m becoming more cognizant of my own mortality, and I’m less inclined to try those ‘iffy’ plants, if it’s unlikely that I’m gonna get to eat their fruits.

[Vault22dweller]

How are those pistachio trees working out for you? We get between 800-1,000 chill hours a year, and have hot summers. But I suspect we are still too warm in the winter for them.

[PermaAZ]

That’s enough chill.

[clarkinks]

Some of you on the border range should consider uzbek Uzbek Pistachio Seedling - One Green World . Those zone 7 seedlings are unsexed so if it was me i would give the males a sex change later using tbuds from the female.

[PermaAZ]

I have 8 trees. One is a seedling from Turkey that’s miserable here.
The others are 5 Kerman and 2 Peters.

[Jose-Albacete]

Hi guys .
I have created a specific post for the pistachio where I will answer all the questions you have about this crop

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

Hi Beth. It’s a pleasure to answer your questions (they are very simple questions) The pistachio is an extremely tolerant crop with cold and heat, since it withstands very cold winter temperatures (-30º celsius, and if I’m not mistaken, it would be -22º Fahrenheit), and the pistachio tolerates very hot temperatures (50º celsius, or what is the same 122º farenheit) Even using a less vigorous rootstock (like the ones you see in my photographs), which is pistacea terebinthus, they have very d…

Greetings
Jose

[Shibumi]

@kokopelli5A

There are commercial pistachio orchards along the Rio Grande in NM. I visited one. I’m not sure if it was north or south of Alb.

I’d love to try one here, but I don’t think it’s possible. Too humid in summer.

[Lucky_P]

Nearly 30 years ago, OIKOS Tree Crops was selling P.vera seedlings, claiming that they were winter-hardy for them there at Kalamazoo MI. How truthful that claim was, IDK. But… I bought a half-dozen… they were cheap. None survived the first growing season.
I spoke with Dr. Louise Ferguson at UC-Davis, who is (was?) probably the leading authority on pistachios in the USA. She told me, in no uncertain terms that I should concentrate my efforts on pecans… humidity here just north of the TN state line is still to large a stumbling block for P.vera to make a showing here.
That said, I’ve seen P.chinensis doing just fine in my native Auburn AL, 400 miles south of me… where I KNOW the humidity level is very high for a large percentage of the year.

[Jose-Albacete]

@Shibumi

There are commercial pistachio orchards along the Rio Grande in NM. I visited one. I’m not sure if it was north or south of Alb.

I’d love to try one here, but I don’t think it’s possible. Too humid in summer.

@Lucky_P

Nearly 30 years ago, OIKOS Tree Crops was selling P.vera seedlings, claiming that they were winter-hardy for them there at Kalamazoo MI. How truthful that claim was, IDK. But… I bought a half-dozen… they were cheap. None survived the first growing season.
I spoke with Dr. Louise Ferguson at UC-Davis, who is (was?) probably the leading authority on pistachios in the USA. She told me, in no uncertain terms that I should concentrate my efforts on pecans… humidity here just north of the TN state line is still to large a stumbling block for P.vera to make a showing here.
That said, I’ve seen P.chinensis doing just fine in my native Auburn AL, 400 miles south of me… where I KNOW the humidity level is very high for a large percentage of the year.

Please guys, send your questions to the post that I have indicated, and thus everything will be centralized in a single post.

Greetings
Jose

[Richard]

@Shibumi

There are commercial pistachio orchards along the Rio Grande in NM.

Pistachios are also a lucrative commercial crop in regions of California between Sacramento and San Diego.

[Shibumi]

I found the orchard fascinating. Seeing how something is grown for the first time is interesting. It wasn’t harvest time so I didn’t get to see the shaking machines at work.

In that climate the trees are quite small. I say that not knowing how the trees look elsewhere, but when I went to a pecan orchard in NM I was amazed how different, smaller, and more compact the trees were from my native Louisiana. They were probably half the height or even less.