When to plant almonds in Istanbul

Why these dates

Plant dormant. Almond blossom opens in late winter, so a crop depends entirely on a mild spell holding rather than a cold snap arriving. Commercial almonds are grown in Mediterranean climates for exactly this reason.

The tree tolerates -20C in dormancy. The flowers, which can open in February, are destroyed at -2C, so the frost date that decides an almond crop falls far earlier in the year than for any other nut.

Almonds are planted once and then left in place, so there is no sowing offset to resolve. What matters in Istanbul 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.

Istanbul sits in zone 9b, which is milder than this crop wants, and a winter that never really arrives is its own problem. The dates below still describe the right time of year; the open question is survival rather than timing.

Do not expect a crop in the first year. A plant set out now should give its first worthwhile pick around year 4, and will then produce every year after that, which is what makes the planting decision worth getting right the first time.

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