Build A Fruit Picker For Next to Nothing!

I have the second part of my Apple Grafting video ready to publish but surprise of all surprises Dtube was acting up. So instead, you get this article about building a Fruit Picker! I sincerely hope you find it useful!

If you follow any of my writing and homesteading adventures for any length of time you'll find two things (among the many) that I really love to write about are Maple Syrup and Apples. I'm pretty easy to fascinate apparently, but I get tickled every time I taste the sweet syrup from a tree or an Apple (sweet, sour or somewhere in between) fresh from the branch.

Both of these things just speak to the goodness of God and the blessings He's bestowed on us. So today, a little out of season perhaps because it's not fall, I want to show you how to make a fruit picker. It works for all kinds of fruit but it works particularly well for apples.

First Iteration

This is the finished product the first time around. It works. It works well. I'm going to show you how simple it is to make, but I think you'll agree that PICKER 2.0 is far superior

First things first, you'll need some tools and supplies. So here's what I used:

1. A long board that I ripped with my table saw to use as my picking pole.
2. 1x1 wire mesh.
3. Side cutters
4. Drill and Bit
5. Steel wire to wrap it together.

(You're going to love how simple this is!)

1x1 Wire Mesh - the kind you use to make rabbit cages works just fine

Cut a 13x10 (you can count the wire spaces) piece of mesh witch side cutters

Bend them over to form a cylinder

Trim down from the top 2 inches to leave wires sticking up.

Bend them to create picking fingers

Only do this on one side, on the other side, trim them the rest of the way down

Drill and attach your basket (with your steel wire) to your picking pole - cut a piece of mesh for your bottom of the picker basket

As always, gather quality helpers.

Pick apples (or pears or other fruit) from the safety of the ground!

Let short people pick fruit too!

Enjoy your bounty!

It worked well, but there were improvement to be had! I read this in a book I had... the sleeve. It works amazing and limits bruising.

PICKER 2.0

Cut and Sew a long sleeve (about 1 foot wide and about 3 feet longer than your picking pole). Use a durable but soft/flexible material. We actually used a faux velvety type material for it

Sew it to the bottom of the basket, removing the wire mesh from inside

Pick Apples! Hold a loose loop in the end, let the apples slide down, pinch off above that apple, pick the next one, as the loop begins to fill with apples, open the bottom end into a bucket and let them slide down!

Pick MORE apples without bruising them

Then make some applesauce (another post for another day.

I still use this to this day.

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Remember to GROW WHERE YOU ARE!