North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Lucky Pittman <lucky.pittman@murraystate.edu>]

At 03:47 PM 08/21/2002 -0400,  wrote:
>  Anyone tried growing these who lives out of the great state of
> California? I heard that they were grown commercially in North Carolina
> at one time.

Doc,
I purchased a half dozen small P.vera seedlings from Ken Asmus 5 or 6 years 
ago, but they just didn't like my good clay soil or the humidity, and none 
made it through the first growing season.
Later, I contacted Dr. Louise Ferguson, who is one of the pistachio 
'experts' at the UC Davis Fruit & Nut Research Center, and her 
recommendation was to forget about trying 'em in my area - said I'd be 
better off focusing on persimmons & pecans.  She indicated that in hot 
humid environments, fungal foliar diseases eat 'em alive.  Can't recall if 
she made any comments about the effect of my soil type or not.
Guess they're a different critter from the Chinese pistachio, which I've 
seen used extensively in  central & south AL as an ornamental & street 
tree, and I KNOW it's hot & humid down there for the majority of the year.



Lucky Pittman
USDA Zone 6
Hopkinsville, KY