Pistachio · Blida, Blida, Algeria
When to plant pistachios in Blida
Main outdoor window
not outdoors here
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
1 February
In Blida, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 Sep - 31 Oct
If you plant at the start of the window.
The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.
Step by step in Blida
Each window is a range, not a single day. Earlier in the range buys you a longer season; later in it buys you a safer one.
Harvest
1 Sep - 31 Oct
Pistachios through the year
Against the frost risk in Blida
Why these dates
Tolerates hard winter cold, but wet is fatal - pistachio needs the winter chill without the winter rain, which is why it succeeds in continental interiors and sulks in maritime climates.
Pistachios are planted once and then left in place, so there is no sowing offset to resolve. What matters in Blida is the shape of the year: this crop is dormant through the winter and is planted while it sleeps, any time between leaf fall in autumn and the restart of growth in spring, so long as the ground is neither frozen nor waterlogged. That is why the window below spans the cold months rather than sitting in the middle of the growing season.
Hardiness is not the obstacle here. Blida is zone 10a, comfortably inside the range this crop is rated for, so an established plant should come through an average winter without protection.
Do not expect a crop in the first year. A plant set out now should give its first worthwhile pick around year 6, and will then produce every year after that, which is what makes the planting decision worth getting right the first time.
Also in Blida
Other nuts to time
Growing pistachios in Blida
When will pistachios be ready to harvest in Blida?
Expect to start picking around 1 Sep - 31 Oct, based on 180 to 220 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will pistachios tolerate?
Tolerates hard winter cold, but wet is fatal - pistachio needs the winter chill without the winter rain, which is why it succeeds in continental interiors and sulks in maritime climates.