Hazelnut Orchards in Poland: Field Practices, Bottlenecks & Scalable Solutions

Polish sources place most plantations in the east: a 2005 paper said hazelnut was grown mostly in central-eastern Poland, and a 2022 page of the Wielkopolska Agricultural Advisory Center in Poznań puts 42% of the national area in the Lublin region, citing no source. The 2005 paper described the cultivars then grown there as old, mostly from the 19th century, with large nuts that confectioners did not use but consumers bought directly.

Poland's integrated-production methodology for hazel, approved in October 2025, notes that almost all cultivars are self-incompatible and that some cultivars are incompatible with each other, so as a precaution it usually suggests two pollinizer cultivars, most often in two or three rows of the main cultivar to two of pollinizers, no more than 20 m apart. It recommends trees on a trunk, about 80 cm high where nuts will be harvested by machine, with rows usually 4 m apart, or wider, such as 5 m, for some machines.

Hazel blooms very early, in February or March after a few warm days, the methodology says; if the warm spell is too short, pollination is weak and the male catkins largely freeze, killing their pollen, so fruiting is slight or absent. It advises small elevations facing south-east, south-west or west, or slightly raised flat land from which cold air drains in early spring, and warns against south-facing slopes and frost pockets.

The methodology puts hazel's water need at 550 to 600 mm of rain and notes that the growing-season total is sometimes much lower. In dry years, it says, hazel on light soils needs regular irrigation, above all in the first years after planting; irrigation needs in July average about 2.7 mm a day and can exceed 4 mm in extremely dry years, and drip systems are recommended. IMGW-PIB classed 2025 as a dry year, with August extremely dry in almost all of south-eastern Poland.

The methodology names spider mites, leafrollers, aphids, the hazelnut weevil and the big bud mite as pests of greater economic weight; at a plantation near Kraków not treated with insecticides, weevil-damaged nuts averaged 7.0 to 21.4% a year in 2000 to 2003. Wielkopolska's advisers called brown rot the most dangerous disease in 2022. EPPO records bacterial blight (Xanthomonas arboricola pv. corylina), first found in central Poland in 2007, and the new hazelnut powdery mildew (Erysiphe corylacearum), first seen in Lublin in 2018.

On a plantation described in a 2023 farm report, where all the work was done by hand, cutting the lower shoots alone took three months, and the methodology says suckers must be removed on young and old plantations alike. In single-stem orchards planted for machines, the ID DAVID ECOFEED spreads solid manure, the ID DAVID LAT&GO string mower controls weeds without herbicides, the Mañez Lozano Narrow Twister S6 sprays tall, dense canopies and the ID DAVID V1 disc pruner makes vertical and horizontal cuts.

Poland's methodology says hand harvest prevails on small plantations, while on large ones rotary rakes or brushes move the nuts to the middle of the inter-row and vacuum-like harvesters suck them up and clean them. Shakers with a sheet under the canopy are rarely used, and a 2023 farm report called larger areas a real challenge, especially when people, not machines, do all the work. In single-stem orchards planted for machines, mechanized harvesting can bring the crop in on time, with less risk of nuts deteriorating while they wait.

The system in this guide does not shake the trees: Oregon State University (OSU) explains that the thin-barked, shallow-rooted trees would be damaged. The methodology places nut drop from mid-August to October and says machine pickup works well only on bare fallow with a well-settled surface or on very low-mown turf. Harvests are repeated because the nuts ripen unevenly, Wielkopolska's advisers note, and in a Lubelskie orchard sampled for a 2019 study, fallen nuts were collected in September 2016 and 2017.

Flory harvesting machinery is available in Poland through OVE Europe for single-stem orchards planted for machines. The Flory 34 Series Sweeper sweeps the nuts into windrows and the 860 Harvester picks them up; the smaller 490 suits hazelnuts in OVE's experience, and Flory lists a mud brush as standard for hazelnuts on the 860. The 1500 Conveyor Cart receives the nuts, the ST14 Shuttle carries them and the 4840 Field Elevator loads trailers for the processing site.

Polish sources say little about husking, drying or storage. The Wielkopolska Agricultural Advisory Center advises drying the nuts right after harvest, and a 2019 study of six cultivars from a Lubelskie orchard dried its samples to 6% kernel moisture. British Columbia's guide describes nuts husked, cleaned, washed, sanitized and dried to 5 to 8% moisture within 24 hours of harvest, and in OSU research, drying at 43 to 49 °C and 40% relative humidity improved drying efficiency and retained quality.

Under UNECE's 2025 standards, in-shell hazelnuts may contain at most 12.0% moisture for the whole nut or 7.0% for the kernel, and kernels at most 6.0%. As an EU member, Poland applies Regulation (EU) 2023/2429, under which shelled hazelnuts need not conform to the marketing standard except for the indication of their country of origin. The Codex code advises storage, if possible, below 70% relative humidity and at 0 to 10 °C.

Poland also applies Regulation (EU) 2023/915: 5.0 µg/kg of aflatoxin B1 and 10.0 µg/kg in total for hazelnuts for the final consumer or used as an ingredient, and 8.0 and 15.0 µg/kg for nuts to be sorted first. Jessee, whose processing lines OVE Europe supplies, builds drying, in-shell cleaning and sizing, and shelling systems, and it established product lines for hazelnuts in the 1980s.

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.