Fruit pickers?

[LurfysMa]

I have an orange tree that produces decent oranges. Every year, I have a battle getting the oranges from any but the lowest branches.

Two years ago, I bought one of those pickers with the wire basket, like this one:

works more or less, but there are problems. The claws can be difficult to use, especially if the fruit is close to a branch or another orange. On my tree, the oranges tend to cluster. It doesn't really grab the fruit so I have to pull down pretty hard in order to be able to apply any twisting motion at all. Sometimes I end up tearing off part of the branch. This shakes the tree and causes other oranges to fall and get bruised.

I just did another search and the only thing I came up with is this one:

looks like it might work better.

Has anyone used it? Care to share experiences? It gets good reiews on Amazon.

Does anyone have a better idea or pointer?

[Dick Adams]

Hold a ladder while your spouse or child does the picking!

Dick

[Charles]

The real fruit pickers use ladders.

[George.com]

better still pay the lad down the road a pittance to do it for you.

rob

[LurfysMa]

I don't want to pick the while tree -- just 6-8 at a time. I picked the whole tree one year and I couldn't eat them fast enough. Most went bad. They stay on the tree nicely for at least a month, probably closer to two. I don't want top haul the ladder out every 2-3 days. The wire basket picker works more or less. I was hoping to get some idea if the grabber variety or something else worked better.

[George.com]

when i season I am up our plum tree every second day. I am dumb enough to clamber along branchs with plastic bag in hand.

rob

[LurfysMa]

Maybe 30 years and 30 pounds ago...

[Frank]

Years ago I saw one of these advertised and it looked simple so I made my own - was not that useful. I would suggest two things: first a step ladder - I have an eight footer which is great for outside work; and, one of those grippers to extend your reach in picking up things. I used my wife's kitchen gripper for the first time this year in picking up chestnuts and it saved my back.

Frank

[Omelet]

Weird question here...

What's wrong with using a ladder???

:-o

[Omelet]

Refrigerated Oranges last weeks for me.

[tuckermor]

Ladders can be difficult to maneuver close enough to the tree, get the front feet through the branches, etc. In commercial orchards all the trees are pruned with accessibility for harvest in mind; not always true at home. Orchard ladders are far easier and safer than stepladders, but they are expensive.

That twister picker looks great, but I have never tried it.

[raycruzer]

Although I haven't tried either tool you identified, you may consider using a pruning tool along with your basket tool. This assumes you may be able to extend the basket below the fruit that you clip off with the pruner. Pruners come with poles of a variety of lengths.

Another thought is to build up some semi-permanent benches or ladders that can be kept in the same place throughout the season.

Enjoy your oranges. Oranges will be in short supply this year on the market because of the frost in California. You may be able to sell some of them for a little extra spending cash.

Careful with the ladders!

LurfysMa wrote:

> It works more or less, but there are problems. The claws can be

> It looks like it might work better.

[Omelet]

Well, we used to pick cherries at a local orchard using ladders. :-) They just put up about 6 per tree, and moved them as needed.

They never had more than a dozen or so people in the orchard at any one time.

U-pic cherries.

Gods that holds some good memories!

Bing and Royal Anne's.

[LurfysMa]

(sigh) Yes, that will work up to however much space you want to dedicate to that. So I can pick maybe 15-20 at a time.

Doesn't solve the problem and I'd rather have them fresh picked.

[sherwindu]

What works best for me is a lightweight aluminum 3 legged ladder. That lets you get in really close to the tree. I bought an 8 footer in South Haven Michigan, and it wasn't that expensive.

Sherw> >

[LurfysMa]

That's one of those that are very wide at the bottom and very narrow at the top? Like this:

[Leon Fisk]

This isn't going to answer your question...

I came across this old patent for a Fruit Picker not too long ago while searching for something else:

have no idea if it was ever built/produced, but it does look like a unique design. If you can make stuff or know somebody who can, this would be a nice design to build from.

[Omelet]

I cheat.

I have a 40 cubic ft. refrigerator... (a Hobart on the sun porch)

But alas, I have no orange tree. :-(

[LurfysMa]

Tell you what, haul your frig over here. We'll pick the oranges together (bring your ladder, too) and fill up the frig. I'll keep the frig until the oranges are half gone and then you can take it away and have the rest. Deal? :-)

[LurfysMa]

That's great. 1876. I was just a lad.

I'll hire someone to build one right away. ;-)