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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] When should I pick blueberries?

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  • From: "Lee Sharp" <leesharp@cableone.net>
  • To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] When should I pick blueberries?
  • Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 15:54:21 -0500

Betsy, You are on the right track when thinking about using a sheet or large sheet of plastic to catch the berries. You can purchase a piece of plastic at most builder supply stores. Place it on the ground as close to the plant root system as possible with the opposite side extended about 4 feet out from the plant. Reach up into the plant and bend the fruiting limbs over the plastic and give the limb a gentile shake or bump it with your hand , fingers extended. Maybe a pair of gloves would help. The ripe fruit will fall from the plant. This is the same principle the commercial pickers employ but they use rotating paddles to bump the branches and the machine has a platform to catch berries. You would need to put something under and close to the outside edge of sheet or plastic like the handle of a hoe, rake, or anything to elevate the outside edge to keep berries from rolling off. After you pick one side you can move whatever used to catch fruit on around the plant. Might be best to scoop berries from sheet before relocating to new position around the plant.
Lee Sharp
9A,Ms


----- Original Message ----- From: <Hilborn.E@epamail.epa.gov>
To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Monday, August 03, 2009 11:00 AM
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] When should I pick blueberries?



"Jim, picking blueberries one-by-one may seem tedious, but really it
only takes a few minutes to pick a couple of gallons. The ripe berries
practically fall off in your hand. Once you learn the correct pressure
to apply, you can basically "strip" a branch with your hand and come
away with only the ripe berries."

Kevin, I think that I need a picking tutorial.

It takes me about 1 hour per gallon. It seems that all I do in July is
pick blueberries!

The rabbiteye berries in zone 7 do not all ripen at once, but the
fruit-bearing twigs are long and heavily laden with both ripe and green
fruit. As I gently lift them to strip the large, ripe berries, about 20%
fall to the ground - some from the movement of the twig, some fall out
of my hand as they overflow my hands capacity to retain all the berries.

I have not had luck with a bucket or bag under the twigs, as the leaves
below the twig deflect the berries in unpredictable directions. I am
considering a sheet to spread under my work area during picking.

Hints/tips would be welcomed. As I pick I dream of some labor-saving
catchment device, but I do not have an engineer's talent for product
innovation.

Betsy Hilborn
7a NC

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