posted 7 years ago
The Italian Stone Pine is only hardy to zone 8, that means it would not do well in zone 7 and it would die in zone 4/5 with out being in a conservatory setting (tall green house).
Better choices for pine nuts in your zone would be Korean or Sugar pines.
If you could grow 200 foot tall trees the Ponderosa Pine gives off huge cones and nuts.
Pine nuts are harvested in the cone, while still on the tree, cherry picker trucks are normally used to gather the cones just as they begin to open for seed drop.
If you have a squirrel population (any species including chipmunks) will actively harvest your crop, this makes it imperative that you harvest cones on the tree or they will beat you to your nuts.
To harvest the nuts once you have the cones you peel off the fingers starting at the bottom of the cone and work your way up, small pry bars save your fingers from damage.
The resulting refuse (cone fingers and core) are good composting materials or can be used as mulching material.
Redhawk