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Pinenuts Care Guide
Pine tree
Pine nuts trees like Pinus pinea, commonly known as Italian Stone Pine
are like other pines in their care, easy to maintain. The three main
things to remember for best performance are full sun, good drainage and
normal to poor soil.
Italian Stone pine has juvenile blue spruce like needles at first.
Needles after the first season are much longer and greener. Native to
areas like Italy they enjoy hot dry summers and mild winters. Northern
climate boundaries on the East coast would end somewhere between
Washington DC and Baltimore MD. They are best grown in zones
7 - 9.
Keep weeds and grass away from the developing tree. As soon as it
reaches a height of approximately 8’, it will start to umbrella out. A
very interesting form for a pine, hence its nickname, Umbrella Pine.
This is the tree that Pignola nuts come from. Be patient or plant the
tree for the children, because the nuts are part of the pine cones and
they may take up to 15 years to start producing the cones. They may be
erratic and not automatic after they do start producing.
The nuts are the reward. I’ve noticed they taste far fresher than store
bought nuts. It’s a noticeable difference. Nuts do need to be hulled.
The shell needs to be cracked off. Commercially this is done with a
hammer mill. If growing your own catches on maybe we can design a
kitchen model hammer mill.
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