The Benefits of Clonal Rootstocks for Pistachios
Bill Seaman owns Seaman Nursery west of Chowchilla in Madera County, say clonal rootstocks are the way to go, because of their advantages.
“The clonal trees that we've got in the industry, not just mine, are much more of a uniform tree,” said Seaman.
Seaman said that the seed trees that are planted by seed in a nursery are quite different from clonal trees. “With trees planted by seed, you get some beautiful, big trees and some small trees. You're all over the board. If you go by a clonal orchard, they're just all identical. They look great. And there's newer clones that are coming, that we've taken,” noted Seaman.
“We're trying to take some of the seed trees that are really, I've got some trees that we've been doing yields on for, uh, we'll be going on three years and I'm trying to develop a new clone. Other nurseries are doing the same thing. We're just trying to get a better quality, you know, go for the best tree we can get.”
The clones are propagated through meristematic tissue that are identical. And all the clones will be resistant to Verticillium and Phytophthora diseases.
“All of our clones are resistant to the verticillium wilt. Then we have other clones where we have more resistance to Phytophthora and better at higher salinity soils too. So wat's kind of fun in a way,” said Seaman.
