Golden Hills Pistachio

1. Planting: Plant your Golden Hills Pistachio alongside the Randy Pistachio Tree in well-draining soil and direct sunlight with little to no shade. Space trees at least 15 feet apart to prevent overcrowding. Pistachio trees thrive in a dry heat with a long, cold winter for a successful harvest. Dig a hole twice as wide as the root ball, spread the roots, backfill with soil, and water deeply. Add mulch to prevent weeds and stake both sides of the tree when young.

2. Watering: Water your Pistachio Trees only every few weeks. Infrequent deep irrigation is better than shallow and frequent watering. If the trees' leaves begin to turn yellow, you are watering too much. Pistachio Trees are highly drought tolerant but sensitive to overwatering.

3. Fertilizing: Add a 10-10-10 NPK fertilizer every spring after the second year of planting your trees.

4. Pruning: Prune your tree when its branches grow over 6 feet. In spring, select 3-5 strong branches and create a scaffolding. Cut everything below and above them, leaving only 4-6 inches. In summer, trim the scaffolding down to 2-3 feet. Repeat yearly.

5. Pollination: Plant next to a Randy Pistachio to ensure pistachio production.

Pests and Diseases: There should be no pests or diseases on your tree, but to deter and prevent, be sure to always remove anything that's fallen from the tree in Autumn including dead leaves, broken shells, and husks.

Harvesting: Your Pistachio Tree will likely start producing nuts after 5-7 years as long as you have planted both a male and female tree. Your nuts will be ready to harvest when they turn from green to yellow and red and when they begin to split from the outer husk. Simply lay a tarp down and shake the branches to encourage nuts to fall from the tree.

Post-Harvest: First, remove any remaining husks from the nuts. Then, separate the nuts with split shells from those that have not split. Discard any black, empty or moldy shells. Then remove the shells from the nuts that did not split. This is necessary for the drying process. If the shell is split, you do not need to remove the shell. Then lay all the nuts down on a tarp in the sun and allow them to dry. You will likely need to also lay a screen on top to deter birds and critters from eating your pistachios. The drying process varies, but the best test is a taste test. Your pistachios should be firm and crunchy. If they are soggy, you'll need to keep drying them. Soggy pistachios are not shelf stable.

Storage: Store your pistachios in a sealed container, glass jar or plastic bag. They will keep for a couple months. If you need to store them longer than 2 months, place them in the fridge or freezer where they will stay fresh until the next harvest.