Suitable Growing Regions for Pistachios and Why No One Grows Them

When it comes to pistachios, many people are surely familiar with them; they are a fairly common type of nut in everyday life. In recent years, the market price of pistachios has remained high, which has attracted many people's attention toward growing them. However, when planting, the choice of site is also very important. Let's take a look below!

Where pistachios are suitable for growing

1. Soil: The pistachio tree has strong adaptability to soil and can grow in almost all types of soil. It especially prefers deep, thick, light, or dry calcareous sandy loam and yellow loam. It can also grow in clay loam, gravelly soil, shallow chestnut-colored soil, light loam, mildly salinized soil, and similar soils, with a pH of 7.7-8.0. It can also grow and bear fruit on gravelly barren mountain land and semi-desert land. Its growth requires trace elements such as potassium and iron. The fruit is not tolerant of salinity and alkalinity, and it cannot grow in places that are too damp and shaded or where water accumulates.

2. Water: In suitable growing areas for pistachio trees, annual precipitation is generally in the range of 200-400 mm, where they grow well and bear plump fruit. In areas with annual precipitation below 80 mm, they can still grow, flower, and bear fruit tenaciously, but a lack of water during the sensitive water-demand period in summer will lead to a complete loss of the fruit harvest.

3. Temperature: Pistachios have strong adaptability to temperature. In Shufu County, Xinjiang, they can withstand extreme high temperatures of 42°C and extreme low temperatures of -26°C. In Sicily, where the summer temperature is 23°C, the average temperature is 7.8°C, and the low temperature is -3°C, there is no damage to the tree. In the United States, they can endure a low temperature of -14.5°C, while in Iran, from -9.5°C to 42°C. In some regions of the former Soviet Union, they can endure temperatures of -17°C. Iran is the most suitable growing place for pistachios; over 7 years, the average January temperature variance was -15°C, and the average temperature was 7.2°C.

Why no one grows pistachios

It is not that no one grows pistachios; it is just that the geographical conditions in many places are not favorable for pistachio growth, and after planting they cannot survive, so few are planted. In China, the most suitable areas are the Kashgar, Aksu, and Hotan regions of Xinjiang. In theory, they can be planted all around the edge of the great desert. In practice, trial plantings have succeeded in Hami in Xinjiang, the Hexi Corridor in Gansu, and Gangu County, while trials in other places have been very unsatisfactory.

How to grow pistachios

1. Soil: The pistachio tree has strong adaptability to soil and can grow in almost all types of soil. It especially prefers deep, thick, light, or dry calcareous sandy loam and yellow loam, and can also grow in clay loam, gravelly soil, shallow chestnut-colored soil, light loam, mildly salinized soil, and similar soils. Soil pH is 7.7-8.0. It can also grow and bear fruit on gravelly barren mountain land and semi-desert land. Its growth requires trace elements such as potassium and iron. Pistachios are not tolerant of salinity and alkalinity, and cannot grow in places that are too damp and shaded or where water accumulates.

2. Watering: In suitable growing areas for pistachio trees, annual precipitation is generally in the range of 200-400 mm, where they grow well and bear plump fruit; in areas with annual precipitation below 80 mm, they can still grow, flower, and bear fruit tenaciously, but a lack of water during the sensitive water-demand period in summer will lead to a complete loss of the fruit harvest.

3. Temperature: Pistachios have relatively strong adaptability to temperature and can adapt simultaneously to 73.4°F and below-freezing temperatures. Of course, pistachio trees need a sufficiently cool winter to break bud dormancy and a long, hot, dry summer to ripen the fruit. Within the range of a maximum of 43.8°C to a minimum of -32.8°C, the fruit produced by pistachio trees is better.

4. Propagation techniques: Pistachio trees can be propagated by various methods such as sowing seeds, grafting, division, layering, and root-sucker division. Young trees enter the fruiting age relatively late. If what is planted is a seedling, it takes 7-8 years to begin bearing fruit; divided root-sucker seedlings take about 5 years; grafted trees take 3-4 years. Generally, each tree produces about 15 kg of nuts.

Pistachio diseases and their control

1. Gummosis. Promptly scrape off the gum, clean away the scraped gum thoroughly, and burn it in a centralized manner. After scraping, apply 0.2% methyl violet solution to the diseased spots. Spray lime sulfur mixture before the tree body buds.

2. Leaf spot. Sweep up fallen pistachio leaves, prune off diseased leaves, and burn them in a centralized manner. During the disease period, promptly spray the whole plant with Bordeaux mixture.

Pistachios are suitable for planting in places with ample rainfall, and their requirements for soil are not very high. In China, it is not that no one grows pistachios; in fact, it is just because of their living habits that not many people grow them. When planting, the work of site selection must be done well, and later management is also crucial.