About
Lingonberry is a wild forest berry with bright red fruit and a pronounced tartness. It is picked in late summer and autumn in coniferous and mixed woods, when the berries ripen on low evergreen plants.
Fresh harvest season
An orientation window for local open-field harvest in the regions already documented in the atlas — not retail, import, or storage availability.
Atlas regions summary: August 1 – October 31
Regions with data: Tver OblastLeningrad OblastRepublic of Karelia
By region
| Region | Season | Peak | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tver Oblast | August 1 – September 30 | — | Approximate |
| Leningrad Oblast | August 25 – October 31 | — | Approximate |
| Republic of Karelia | August 21 – October 31 | — | Approximate |
In the kitchen
Fresh lingonberries are tart, so they are more often processed: cooked into jam and preserves, made into cordials and sauces, or mashed with sugar. Their sharp flavour keeps well in these preparations.
Seasonality by region
Republic of Karelia(RU-KR)
Season: August – October; Beginning; Active; Ending BeginningActiveEnding
- Season
- August 21 – October 31
- Confidence
- Approximate
Evidence
Lingonberry. Karelia Minprirody order No. 1539 of 6 July 2026 (via SampoTV / AiF): mass harvest from 21 August in the south and centre, from 28 August in Arctic municipalities. Start 21 August from the south; end 31 October is editorial (the order gives starts only). Leningrad LHR tables and bilberry are not mapped here. No explicit peak: available sources do not justify a narrower window without false precision.
Sources
Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Republic of Karelia
Official publication 10 July 2026, No. 1001202607100002, registered 7 July 2026 No. 708. The portal copy is a scan; species calendar dates in this package are taken from contemporaneous Minprirody press reprints (SampoTV 360 and AiF Karelia), not from an OCR of the annex.
Karelia 2026 wild-berry harvest start dates (SampoTV 360, 8 July)
SampoTV 360 / Minprirody of the Republic of Karelia / KarRC RAS
8 July 2026: dates on the recommendation of the KarRC RAS Forest and Biology Institute. South and centre: cloudberry from 11 July, bilberry from 25 July, lingonberry from 21 August, cranberry from 12 September. Arctic about a week later. Mass-harvest starts, not season ends. Bilberry is not mapped onto catalog blueberry.
Karelia names berry harvest start dates (AiF Karelia, 8 July 2026)
AiF Karelia / Minprirody of the Republic of Karelia / KarRC RAS
8 July 2026, Petrozavodsk: the same dates as SampoTV, citing Minprirody and KarRC RAS. South/centre: cloudberry 11 July, bilberry 25 July, lingonberry 21 August, cranberry 12 September; Arctic +7 days. No season end.
Leningrad Oblast(RU-LEN)
Season: August – October; Beginning; Active; Ending BeginningActiveEnding
- Season
- August 25 – October 31
- Confidence
- Approximate
Evidence
Uchebno-opytnoye and Volkhov forestry regulations: lingonberry berries September–October. On 23 August 2023 MK in Leningrad Oblast reported picking already underway the previous weekend. Start 25 August is editorial; peak follows the LHR tables. Bilberry from the same table is not mapped here. Moscow and Voronezh are not copied. No explicit peak: available sources do not justify a narrower window without false precision.
Sources
Committee for Natural Resources of Leningrad Oblast / Roslesinforg Sevzaplesproekt
Order No. 27 of 26 Nov 2018, in force to 18 Dec 2028. Forestry in Vsevolozhsky and Tosnensky districts. Narrative: berry picking usually from July (bilberry) to September (lingonberry). Food-resource table: lingonberry berries September–October. Medicinal berries and leaves August–September. One forestry, not the whole oblast.
Committee for Natural Resources of Leningrad Oblast
Food-resource table: lingonberry berries September–October, weather-dependent. Exact order day was not captured in the research package — publicationDate is the document year. No intra-September start day.
MK in Leningrad Oblast
23 August 2023: the previous weekend pickers returned with full buckets of lingonberry; “its time is just beginning”; in a good year picking can run into October. Ladoga shore and the Karelian Isthmus, light coniferous forest. One-season report, not a forestry calendar.
Tver Oblast(RU-TVE)
Season: August – September; Beginning; Active; Ending BeginningActiveEnding
- Season
- August 1 – September 30
- Confidence
- Approximate
Evidence
Wild lingonberry. Historical Forest Plan of Tver Oblast (2008): lingonberry fruits VIII–IX → under §8: 1 August–30 September. October bounds from neighboring regions (LO/Karelia) were not added. Decree No. 8-pg (2019/2025 amendments) is applicability/corroboration of the current Forest Plan only, not the calendar. Peak unset.
Sources
Government / forestry department of Tver Oblast
2008 Forest Plan: lingonberry fruits VIII–IX (end IX → 30 September from the same source).
Governor of Tver Oblast
Current Forest Plan approval instrument; the VIII–IX calendar is not taken from this act.
