Pistachio Scion Varieties

The pistachio tree, Pistacia vera L., a native to western Asia and Asia Minor, has a long juvenile periods, producing a small crop at 5-6 years, and achieving full bearing at 10-12 years of age. The tree is dioecious, with male and female flowers borne on separate trees. Thus, both male and female trees are required to produce a crop, with pollen being wind-borne; typically male/female trees are planted in a ratio of 1 to 19-24; the tree is deciduous, becoming dormant in the winter, and alternate bearing, which means the crop is larger in alternate years. Edible nuts are borne laterally on year-old wood.

Pistachio Scion Cutting Order Information

Price per cutting: - $75.00

Download Pistachio Material Order Form

Order Deadline - Orders must be received by August 1 for August/September distribution.

Available Cultivars

All pistachio scion cultivars at FPS are patented by the University of California (UC) and can be supplied only to those who are licensed by UC Davis Innovation Access. To request a license, please contact Sonia Vazquez by email at [email protected] or by phone at 530-754-8474.

Famoso	male	‘Famoso’ is a male pistachio released in 2016 that may be used as the principal or adjunct pollinizer for ‘Kerman’. ‘Famoso’ produces good quantities of viable pollen. ‘Famoso’ produces flowers at a younger tree age than does ‘Peters’, and more closely matches the flowering dates of ‘Kerman’ than does ‘Peters’, especially in seasons during which ‘Kerman’ bloom is extended. It was developed to overlap the earlier part of the ‘Kerman’ bloom period. Bloom density is higher in ‘Famoso’ than in ‘Peters’. In low-chill years, ‘Famoso’ has maintained better bloom synchrony with ‘Kerman’, especially in blocks that have been “oiled”.
Golden Hills	female	’Golden Hills’ is a female pistachio cultivar released in 2005 with improved performance characteristics compared to the standard female cultivar ’Kerman’. ’Golden Hills’ produces a greater yield and higher percentage of split, edible nuts than ’Kerman’ while maintaining a similar low percentage of loose shells and kernels. Harvest date is 2 to 4 weeks earlier than ’Kerman’, which will permit growers to extend their harvest period and better utilize harvesting equipment and personnel. Earlier harvest may reduce disease in the northern production areas of California by permitting an earlier harvest before fall rains, as well as reducing Navel Orangeworm infestations.
Gumdrop	female	‘Gumdrop’ is a female cultivar released in 2016 for those primarily seeking a very early-harvesting cultivar. ‘Gumdrop’ can be used to spread out the length of the harvest season by permitting much earlier harvest to reduce peak demand for harvesting personnel, equipment and processing facilities which occurs when ‘Kerman’ harvest begins. For a given location, ‘Gumdrop’ has been ready for harvest ten days earlier than ‘Golden Hills’ and ‘Lost Hills’ and 21 days earlier than ‘Kerman’. Earlier harvest may reduce fall rain-related nut-cluster disease and navel orange worm infestation. ‘Gumdrop’ produces nut yields comparable to those of ‘Golden Hills’ and ‘Kerman’. Nuts have a high inshell split nut percentage. Individual nuts are well split yet retain good shell-hinge strength. As the name implies, this cultivar produces more gum on the hull than does ’Kerman’ or ‘Golden Hills’. ‘Gumdrop’ matures in the heat of summer and should be harvested soon after nuts mature. Due to its early harvest, initial plantings should be made by growers who are assured access to a processing facility that will be open for business when ‘Gumdrop’ is ready for harvest.
Lost Hills	female	’Lost Hills’ is a female pistachio cultivar released in 2005 that is being released as a potential replacement for ’Kerman’, the industry standard female cultivar. ’Lost Hills’ produced substantially higher percentages of split, edible nuts than ’Kerman’ in 2003 when split percentages for ’Kerman’ were very low. Nut size for ’Lost Hills’ is larger than for ’Kerman’. Harvest date is 2 to 4 weeks earlier than ’Kerman’, which will permit growers to extend their harvest period and better utilize harvesting equipment and personnel. Earlier harvest may reduce disease in the northern production areas of California by permitting an earlier harvest before fall rains, as well as reducing Navel Orangeworm infestations.
Randy	male	’Randy’ is a early flowering male pistachio released in 2005 that may be used as a pollinizer for ’Golden Hills’ and ’Lost Hills’. It has flowering synchrony with ’Golden Hills’ and ’Lost Hills’ and may be used to cover the earlier part of the ’Kerman’ flowering period during seasons in which ’Kerman’ flowering is extended. This generally occurs during seasons of low chill. Under these conditions, ’Peters’, the standard male used to pollinize ’Kerman’, often flowers too late to cover the earlier port of the ’Kerman’ bloom period or to serve as an effective pollinizer for the new female cultivars. ’Randy’ was selected for high pollen viability, pollen durability, and a high level of pollen production (based on visual evaluation). ’Randy’ flowers 1 to 3 weeks earlier than ’Peters’, the standard pollinizer for ’Kerman’.
Tejon	male	’Tejon’ is an early flowering male pistachio released in 2016 that may be used as the principal pollinizer for ’Gumdrop’. It has flowering synchrony with ’Gumdrop’ and produces good quantities of viable pollen. ‘Tejon’ may be planted as an early-flowering male in orchards of ‘Golden Hills’ and ‘Lost Hills’ to improve pollination in years with low winter chilling.
UC Westside	male	‘UC Westside’ is a late-blooming male pistachio released in 2023 as a pollinizer for the ‘Kerman’ female cultivar. It has high inflorescence number per branch, high pollen weight per inflorescence, and excellent pollen germination in laboratory tests. ‘UC Westside’ has a reduced juvenility period compared to ‘Peters,’ and may produce inflorescences in Year 3 with dense bloom in Years 4 and 5. The flowering period of ‘UC Westside’ has been coincident with ‘Kerman’ in years with moderate to high chill, and has produced a dense bloom in years of low chill, which overlaps the later bloom period of ‘Kerman.’ The UC Breeding Program released ‘Famoso’ as a pollinizer for Kerman in 2018. ‘Famoso’ is demonstrated to have bloom highly synchronous with ‘Kerman’ in very low chill years. Orchards of ‘Kerman’ may benefit from the incorporation of both ‘Famoso’ and ‘UC Westside’ trees as pollinizers to cover variable bloom periods experience in the Central Valley of California.