How many years does it take for a pistachio tree to bear fruit?
The pistachio tree, also called pistachio, is a deciduous small tree of the genus Pistacia in the family Anacardiaceae, native to Syria, Iraq, Iran, southwestern part of the former Soviet Union and southern Europe, later introduced to remote areas of China. It is a deep-rooted, drought-tolerant tree species, with a taproot that can reach 7 m into the soil, horizontal lateral roots that can reach 10-15 m, and a tree age that can reach as long as 300 years. Let's take a look below at how many years it takes for a pistachio tree to bear fruit!
How many years for a pistachio tree to bear fruit
The pistachio tree is a long-lived, slow-growing plant. For a seedling grown from seed, counting from the first year of planting, it takes at least six years to bear fruit, and the fruiting rate increases year by year. From the fourteenth to the seventieth year after planting is the full bearing period. A grafted seedling begins to bear fruit in the third year and can enter the full bearing period in the sixth year. A thick, healthy pistachio tree can yield 100-200 kg of fresh fruit per tree per year, while an ordinary pistachio tree yields 70-130 kg of fresh fruit per tree per year, with a dry fruit rate of 30%.
Growth habits of the pistachio
1. Soil: The pistachio tree has strong adaptability to soil and can grow in almost all types of soil, especially preferring deep, thick, light, or dry calcareous sandy loam and yellow loam. It can also grow in clay loam, gravelly soil, shallow chestnut soil, light loam, mildly salinized soil, etc., with a soil 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. It is not tolerant of salinity and alkalinity, and cannot grow in places that are too shady, damp and waterlogged.
2. Watering: Suitable planting areas for the pistachio tree generally have an annual precipitation in the range of 200-400 mm, where it grows well and bears plump fruit. In areas with annual precipitation below 80 mm, it can also grow, flower and bear fruit tenaciously, but a lack of water during the sensitive water-demand period in summer will lead to a total loss of the fruit harvest.
3. Temperature: The pistachio has strong adaptability to temperature and can adapt to temperatures from 73.4 degrees to below zero at the same time. Of course, the pistachio tree needs a sufficiently cool winter to break bud dormancy and a long, hot, dry summer to ripen the fruit. Fruit borne within the range of a maximum of 43.8°C to a minimum of -32.8°C is of better quality.
Excellent varieties of pistachio
1. Long-fruited pistachio: The fruit of the long-fruited pistachio is oblong-ovate in shape, with a red blush surrounding the fruit. The tip of the fruit is pointed, with a longitudinal diameter of 2.5 cm and a transverse diameter of 1.1 cm. The tree has a very high fruit-setting rate and strong productivity. It is a large-fruited variety with robust growth and the most promising for development.
2. Early-maturing pistachio: The early-maturing pistachio tree has weaker tree vigor, and the branches are curved and drooping. The fruit shows lenticels, which are white in color, round in shape and very prominent. The fruit-setting rate is medium. The fruit produced is approximately elliptical, with a longitudinal diameter of 1.9 cm and a transverse diameter of 1.0 cm. At the tip and the sunny side of the fruit, a red color appears, and the peel stripes on the fruit are obvious.
3. Short-fruited pistachio: The short-fruited pistachio tree has medium tree vigor, and the leaf surface is relatively smooth, covered with sparse downy hairs. The fruit-setting rate is relatively low. The fruit produced is ovate, yellow-white in color, with a longitudinal diameter of 2.1 cm and a transverse diameter of 1.3 cm.
4. Notroro: The Notroro pistachio tree belongs to the Central Asian group. The pistachio fruit it produces is relatively large, but the flavor of the fruit is not very good. In the fruit, the seed is green and the cracking rate is high.
5. Dahan: The Dahan pistachio tree has very vigorous growth and belongs to a late-flowering variety. The fruit produced has the characteristics of high quality, high yield and large fruit size, and its quality ranks among the top among pistachios.
6. Kerman: The Kerman pistachio tree is a female plant and has the characteristics of large fruit and high yield. Severe alternate-year bearing is one of the phenomena of this tree, and the remaining phenomena are empty shells and shells that do not crack. The tree grows very vigorously. Late flowering, high-quality fruit, large fruit and high yield, these are the advantages. The single kernel weight of the fruit is 1.3 grams, and the kernel is green with good quality.
7. Saryle: The Saryle pistachio tree has moderate tree vigor and has the characteristics of strong productivity and easy fruiting. The fruit-setting rate is very high. Large fruit, white kernel and top-grade quality are among the characteristics of this fruit.