Walnut Orchards in Poland: Practical Guide (Establishment to Post-Harvest)

Walnut has been grown in Poland for several hundred years, mainly by amateurs. A 2003 study described it as concentrated in the south and south-east, by buildings, roads and home gardens, with relatively the best soil and climate around Kielce and Sandomierz, and a 2013 paper noted few compact orchards above 2 ha. In 2019, most walnuts on the market still came from amateur growing, mainly in Podkarpacie, the Lublin region and Małopolska.

Walnut area has swung widely: using data from Statistics Poland, a 2016 study traced a peak of 29,000 ha in 2010 and a fall to 3,000 ha by 2013, and FAOSTAT shows 3,000 to 3,400 ha for 2022 to 2024. Professional walnut orchards are recent: a grower said in 2022 that they had begun less than 10 years earlier, and larger-scale planting only 4 years earlier. A 2025 study sampled seven cultivars, Franquette and Resovia among them, on a plantation in Urzejowice, Podkarpackie.

The national list holds five walnut cultivars: Dodo, Resovia and Targo, registered in 1991 and maintained by the National Institute of Horticultural Research (InHort) in Skierniewice, and Zygmunt (2022) and W20131 (2023), whose maintainers are in Podkarpackie. In 2003, walnut trees were usually grown from seed because of the cool climate; a farm weekly advised grafted trees for new orchards in 2019, when the Hungarian cultivar Milotai 10 was promoted for planting.

InHort's walnut protection programme (2025) covers anthracnose, bacterial blight, aphids, leaf-eating caterpillars and codling moth, and gives no damage threshold for the three pests. Its cultural measures are simple: rake and destroy fallen leaves in autumn or early spring, since the anthracnose fungus overwinters on them, and against blight remove and destroy infected shoots and disinfect tools.

Walnut blight is present in Poland: a 2014 study collected diseased leaves and fruits at six locations, and in tests all isolates caused black lesions covering almost the whole husk. Walnut husk fly was first caught in August 2019, in a trap on a garden tree in Torzym, Lubusz province, and EPPO lists it as present, with no details on its spread. Codling moth is also present, but no Polish data on its damage to walnuts were found.

Studies of urban walnut trees in Lublin (2003 to 2008) found the first aphids hatching in the last ten days of May and the two walnut aphids peaking in mid-June and around the turn of June and July, with heat above 30 °C and storms cutting their numbers. A Polish trade guide (2026) favors central-leader trees on commercial plantations and irrigation mainly in the first year after planting.

No Polish research or advisory guide on walnut harvest was found, but farm press describes small-scale practice: ripe walnuts are gathered from September to the end of October, by hand or by shaking them onto mats spread under the trees, then hulled and dried (Wieści Rolnicze, 2026). Farm and garden sources put Dodo at mid-September, Targo in the second half of September and Mars at the turn of September and October, and Zygmunt ripens late.

University of California guidance starts harvest once a high share of nuts on the tree have split hulls; the nuts that drop are swept into windrows and picked up by machine, and this is done quickly to cut their time on the ground. In larger orchards, shakers, sweepers and harvesters are built for that quick pickup.

No Polish source found describes machine harvesting of walnuts, and machines cannot work scattered trees by houses, roads and gardens, but new, wide-spaced plantations on level or gently sloping ground can be laid out for them. Flory harvesting machinery is available in Poland through OVE Europe: a line runs from the VR700 Shaker, 34 Series Sweeper and 860 Harvester, or the smaller 490, to the 1500 Conveyor Cart, ST14 Shuttle and 4840 Field Elevator.

Polish sources describe simple drying: researchers removed the hulls so the nuts would not darken or go moldy and dried them in thin layers in slatted crates in a dry room (2013), and farm press advises a warm, dry, well-ventilated room, never an oven or radiator (2026). For dryers, University of California guidance dries walnuts to 8% moisture with air no hotter than 43 °C.

A national daily reported in 2015 that Polish walnuts usually had to be cracked by hand. Nuts from amateur trees vary widely: in a 2003 study of 30 lots harvested in 2002, most of them Polish, kernels made up 19 to 63% of nut weight and shells were 1.4 to 3.1 mm thick. A 1989 Polish branch standard set kernel moisture at no more than 5%. Today, EU Regulation 2023/915 caps tree nuts for the final consumer at 2.0 µg/kg of aflatoxin B1 and 4.0 µg/kg in total.

At Easter, home-baking products such as walnuts draw the most interest, a retail chain manager said in 2025, and a farm weekly called Resovia highly valued by the confectionery industry (2019). At Warsaw's Bronisze wholesale market, walnuts were quoted at PLN 12 to 24 per kg in September 2024; after spring frosts, large Jacek nuts fetched up to PLN 50 per kg in September 2026. Jessee, whose processing lines OVE Europe supplies, builds walnut hulling lines and drying, in-shell cleaning and sizing, and shelling systems.

For general information only. Information may become outdated and does not replace site-specific professional advice. Consult a qualified agronomist and confirm equipment suitability with OVE before acting.