When to Harvest Pistachios

Q. When should I harvest pistachio nuts from my
five-year-old tree? In October the nuts were yellowish green with a red blush
covering them.

A. The red blush is an indicator that your harvest season
has arrived or perhaps even late. It’s better to look at the number of split
nuts on the tree. The general time for harvesting may start as  late as late August or early September and extend
through the middle or even end of October.

            The time
to harvest is when the nut inside the husk fills the shell and can be removed.
Commercial growers look at the number of split nuts on the tree and whether it
might rain or not. Rain will mold pistachio nuts if they are split open. Pistachios
are grown in arid or desert parts of the world where, like dates, rain is
considered a foe. When harvest time is near nothing beats taking a few nuts off
the tree and see if the “meat” is plump and separates easily from the shell.

In some parts of the world there is enough rainfall to grow “wild” pistachios which means they are grown, usually on government land, without supplemental irrigation.

            Drying
the nuts off the tree enhances flavor, causes more of the nuts to open and the
“meat” to separate further from the shell. If rain is predicted soon, harvest
them before they mold on the tree.