Franquette
A long-established French cultivar widely planted in Himachal Pradesh, valued for distinctly late leafing and flowering that helps young growth dodge spring frost.
Quick facts
- Crop
- Walnut (Akhrot)
- Type
- Grafted plant
- Season
- All seasons
- Starts bearing
- First bearing in 4–5 years (grafted); late-leafing/flowering
- Expected yield
- Good, internationally proven, though no India-specific yield figure is confirmed here
- Suitable soil
- Deep, well-drained loam; pH roughly 6.0–7.5; does not tolerate waterlogged or heavy ground
- Disease resistance
- Not specifically documented for Indian conditions
- Release
- A long-established international (French) cultivar, not an ICAR or Indian release
Actual yield depends on sowing time, soil, irrigation, weather, seed quality and crop management.
About this variety
Franquette is an old French walnut variety, long planted in Himachal Pradesh's hill orchards. Its main trait is late leafing and flowering: young leaves and flowers come out later in spring, so a late frost is less likely to catch them. That makes it a sensible pick for higher, colder Himachal sites, not a variety for every orchard. It sheds pollen before its female flowers open (protandrous). We found no India yield or disease-resistance figure for it, so treat its international name as a starting point and check how Franquette trees near you are cropping. A late-leafing tree also gives a later harvest.
Should you pick this variety?
Choose Franquette if your Himachal Pradesh orchard sits high and gets late spring frost: it leafs and flowers late, so young growth is caught less often. Choose Hamdan or Sulaiman instead in the Kashmir valley, where they are SKUAST-Kashmir releases. Franquette sheds pollen before its female flowers open (protandrous), which makes it a natural partner for a variety that opens female flowers first, as long as the bloom overlaps. We found no India yield figure for it. Do not plant for nuts above 2,500 m.
Sowing & cultivation
- Spacing8 × 8 m under traditional planting; wider spacing (up to 10–12 m) is sometimes used for its vigorous canopy
- FertilizerA balanced NPK dose while young, moving to a higher, pre-spring-growth-and-post-harvest-split dose once bearing, following general temperate nut-tree practice in the absence of an India-specific schedule (see the crop guide)
Pest & disease considerations
Major diseases
Major pests
- Walnut aphid
- Codling moth
Advantages & considerations
Why farmers may choose it
- Late leafing and flowering helps young growth miss late spring frost on high sites.
- A long planting record in Himachal Pradesh orchards.
Things to consider
- No India yield, spacing or disease-resistance figure was found for Franquette. The figures here are general references.
- Late flowering means a later harvest than early-leafing varieties. Plan drying and sale for it.
Suitable regions
A long-established French cultivar widely planted in Himachal Pradesh's hill orchards; its distinctly late leafing and flowering suit frost-prone high-altitude sites in particular.
- Himachal Pradesh
Frost, leafing and pollen
Walnut flowers are the weak point on a cold site. The female flowers sit at the tip of the current season's shoots. The Nauni note (Indian Farming, June 2025) warns that late spring frost can ruin the crop, and it advises against commercial planting above 2,500 m even though the tree grows from 900 to 3,500 m. Franquette's late leafing and flowering is the reason to choose it for a high Himachal orchard: the flowers open after more of the frost risk has gone. It does not make a frost-free crop, and the trade-off is a later harvest.
The second thing about Franquette is pollen. An ICAR-CITH cultivar study found it protandrous: it sheds pollen before its own female flowers open. Hamdan and Sulaiman are the opposite, protogynous. So Franquette next to a variety whose female flowers open first could help both, if the bloom times overlap in your valley. No trial we found tested this, so treat it as an idea to check with your KVK or horticulture department, not a rule.
Where the planting material comes from
This variety is a grafted plant: the variety on top, joined onto a rootstock below. Seed out of its fruit will not come up as this variety, so it cannot be kept as seed. Buy grafted plants from a registered nursery or a government farm, so the plant is true to the variety and free of disease.
How it compares with other varieties
Every Walnut (Akhrot) variety with a page on this site, side by side. The row for this page is highlighted.
| Variety | Best for | Starts bearing | Yield | States |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CITH Walnut-6 | Farmers who want a large-nut ICAR-CITH selection and will first confirm its release status and plant supply | First bearing in 4–5 years (grafted) | No yield-per-tree figure found; large nut (about 24 g) | Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand |
| CITH Walnut-8 | Kashmir valley farmers aiming at the graded kernel trade, where size and light colour set the price | First bearing in 4–5 years (grafted) | Good, with an emphasis on large nut and kernel size | Jammu and Kashmir |
| Eureka | Himachal Pradesh farmers who can see healthy Eureka trees in nearby orchards and want to match a local record | First bearing in 4–5 years (grafted) | Good under Himachal Pradesh conditions | Himachal Pradesh |
| Franquettethis page | Frost-prone higher orchards in Himachal Pradesh, where late leafing protects the crop | First bearing in 4–5 years (grafted); late-leafing/flowering | Good, internationally proven, though no India-specific yield figure is confirmed here | Himachal Pradesh |
| Hamdan | Kashmir valley farmers who want a proven local grafted walnut with a good kernel share | First bearing in 4–5 years (grafted) | High — around 5 kg dry in-shell nut/mature tree by SKUAST-Kashmir's own evaluation figures | Jammu and Kashmir |
| Parbat (JWSP-06) | Farmers in the Jammu region's hills who want a recent SKUAST-Jammu release with a published yield and kernel figure | First bearing in 4–5 years (grafted) | 90 kg of nuts a tree and a 53.28% kernel share in SKUAST-Jammu's release list; tree age not stated | Jammu and Kashmir |
| Sulaiman | Kashmir valley farmers who care more about in-shell nut yield than the last point of kernel share | First bearing in 4–5 years (grafted) | High — around 5–6 kg dry in-shell nut/mature tree by SKUAST-Kashmir's own evaluation figures | Jammu and Kashmir |
Tools for this crop
The numbers you need next: how much seed to buy, whether the lot germinates, what the fertilizer bill looks like and what Walnut (Akhrot) is selling for.
- Seed Rate CalculatorHow much seed your Walnut (Akhrot) plot needs, corrected for the germination of the lot you bought.
- Seed Variety FinderFilter every Walnut (Akhrot) variety on this site by state, season, duration and soil.
- Fertilizer CalculatorTurn the NPK recommendation for Walnut (Akhrot) into bags of urea, DAP and MOP for your field size.
- Crop Profit CalculatorPut your seed, labour and input costs against the yield you expect from this variety.
- Mandi Price CheckerToday's Walnut (Akhrot) rate in your nearest mandi, before you fix a price with a trader.
Subsidy and government support
Schemes that help with the cost of Walnut (Akhrot) seed or planting material. Rules and the application route are on each scheme page.
Frequently asked questions
Why would I choose Franquette over a Kashmir-bred variety like Hamdan?
Mainly for its late leafing and flowering. At frost-prone, high-altitude Himachal Pradesh sites, an earlier-flushing variety risks losing young growth or flowers to a late spring frost. Where frost is not a real risk, a locally bred variety with confirmed regional data may be equally good or better. Confirm with your local horticulture department.
What does late leafing mean for me in practice?
Young leaves and flowers come out later in spring, after much of the frost risk has passed, so a late frost is less likely to wipe out the year's crop. That is the main reason to choose it. It has limits: the Nauni note (Indian Farming, June 2025) says commercial walnut above 2,500 m is unsafe because late frost can destroy flowers even then. Late leafing also means a later harvest, so plan drying and sale for that.
Can Franquette pollinate Hamdan or Sulaiman?
By flowering type it could. An ICAR-CITH cultivar study found Franquette protandrous (pollen first) and Hamdan and Sulaiman protogynous (female flowers first). Whether their bloom overlaps in a given orchard is a field question, and we found no trial that tested this pair. Franquette is also grown mostly in Himachal while Hamdan and Sulaiman are Kashmir releases, so this suits a mixed planting rather than a standard recommendation.
How far apart should Franquette trees stand?
We give 8 × 8 m, with 10 to 12 m sometimes used for its vigorous canopy. A commercial farming guide for Himachal Pradesh gives 10 × 10 m for grafted walnut and 12 × 12 m for seedling trees; that guide is not an extension recommendation. On the wider spacing the orchard yields less in the first years, so some farmers plant closer and thin later. Ask your horticulture department what its demonstration orchards use.
Franquette or Eureka: which should I pick in Himachal?
Both have been planted in Himachal orchards for a long time and we found no India trial that compares them. Franquette has the clearer reason to pick it: late leafing for frost. For Eureka we found no stated trait. Visit two or three nearby orchards, look at the trees' health, crop and nut quality, and buy what is doing well at your altitude. Then ask the nursery for budded plants with a named mother tree.
Is there an India yield figure for Franquette?
We found none, and we do not guess one. The walnut guide gives roughly 5 to 8 kg of dry in-shell nuts a mature grafted tree as a general range for the crop, which is not specific to Franquette. International reputation is a starting point. The real test is how Franquette trees in your own district are cropping, so ask the farmers who have them.
Sourced from: Walnut Farming in India: Popular Varieties & Growing Advice — BookMyCrop, National workshop on Promotion of Walnut and Almond in Himachal Pradesh, Dhiman, Rohiwala and Dev, Chip budding techniques for walnut — Indian Farming 75(6), June 2025 (Dr YS Parmar University, Nauni), Morphological study of walnut cultivars at ICAR-CITH Srinagar — Indian Journal of Horticulture (flowering types; seen as a search extract), Walnut Farming Guide (commercial guide; spacing and Himachal variety list, not an extension recommendation) — AgriFarming. editorial policy.