Content
- 1 When does sea buckthorn ripen?
- 2 Some tips for harvesting and processing
- 3 How to collect sea buckthorn berries
- 4 Devices for collecting sea buckthorn
- 5 How to make a device for collecting sea buckthorn with your own hands
- 6 How to quickly collect sea buckthorn by cutting branches
- 7 When to collect sea buckthorn leaves
- 8 How sea buckthorn is harvested on an industrial scale
- 9 Conclusion
Collecting sea buckthorn is an unpleasant task. The small berries are tightly attached to the branches of the tree, and it is quite difficult to separate them. However, difficulties usually arise for those people who do not know how to accurately determine the time of harvesting, as well as in the absence of special devices.
When does sea buckthorn ripen?
To make it easier to harvest sea buckthorn, you need to know the ripening time of the berries. It is difficult to separate unripe fruits from the branches, and when they are ripe, they will practically fall off the stalk themselves. The time of harvest is influenced by two important factors: weather conditions and whether the variety belongs to a certain ripening group.
If you focus on the ripening group, then the harvest time for sea buckthorn falls in the following months:
- in the second ten days of August, early varieties are harvested;
- As for late varieties, sea buckthorn is harvested in September from about the 20th.
Considering the weather conditions, the cleaning time may be delayed or may occur earlier. The berries are known to be ready by their deep orange color and round shape.
There is another important factor - the intended type of processing. Before harvesting the berries, you need to decide what to do with them. If you need whole berries for fresh consumption, storage, or making jam, then they must be collected at the initial stage of ripening. Sea buckthorn fruits can hang on the branches for a long time, but over time they become soft. Later you won't be able to tear them off without damaging them.
It is better to pick overripe berries for making juice or oil. You can crush them with your hands directly on the branches, placing a container for collection. Overripe sea buckthorn is highly saturated with juice, which allows you to obtain the maximum yield of the final product.
Some tips for harvesting and processing
To collect sea buckthorn quickly, you should use the wise advice of experienced gardeners:
- It is more convenient to cut the berries from the branch in the direction from the tree trunk.
- During cleaning, special clothing and gloves are used. Sea buckthorn juice is very difficult to wash off. While wearing overalls, the gardener does not worry about getting dirty and concentrates only on the work. Gloves protect your hands from injury and allergic reactions when exposed to juice.
- The most convenient container is a regular rain umbrella. It is hung upside down under a branch with fruits. You can additionally spread a cloth under the entire tree.
As for processing, the easiest way is to simply store sea buckthorn with its branches in the cold and brew tea in winter. Berries you can just freeze it or mix with sugar in a 1:1 ratio. A more complex storage method involves drying or making jam.
In the video, how to quickly collect sea buckthorn and when is the best time to do it:
How to collect sea buckthorn berries
Gardeners collect sea buckthorn at home by hand. A similar process is provided for when growing berries on an industrial scale. To simplify the procedure, many methods and devices have been invented.
Is it possible to collect sea buckthorn with branches?
The easiest way is to collect sea buckthorn with branches, then put them in the freezer. Within a day, the berries will freeze and easily separate if you run your hand over them. Cutting branches is not considered a barbaric method if the rules are followed. For work use pruning shears or gardening scissors. Branches cannot be broken off. Only fruit-bearing shoots with berries are cut, which are subject to sanitary pruning in late autumn.
Difficulties in collecting sea buckthorn manually
You can manually collect sea buckthorn from a tree only in small quantities. Exhaustive work is accompanied by skin irritation when acidic juice comes into contact. You should always work with rubber gloves. On large plantations, harvesting is also done manually, but to speed it up, special tools and devices are used.
Home manual fruit harvesting is carried out using scissors, tongs, and homemade scrapers. Many gardeners wait until the first frost, spread a cloth under the tree and shake the branches. Most of the harvest is lost. All that remains is to sort the berries from the foliage.
If it is already October, sea buckthorn is collected by hand for oil or juice. The process takes place using rubber gloves. The berries are pressed with your hands directly on the branch, placing a container where the juice will drain and the cake will fall. Before such cleaning, it is advisable to wash the sea buckthorn with a hose with a dispersing nozzle.
Devices for collecting sea buckthorn
On large plantations, you need a tool for collecting sea buckthorn, which speeds up and also simplifies the process. Most devices are simple mechanisms that can be made and used at home.
Forceps
The simplest device for collecting sea buckthorn is tongs. The tool can be bought in a store or made from improvised materials. However, this method of picking berries is only suitable for patient people. The pliers do not injure the tree, the fruits are plucked whole, but all the work takes a lot of time. Using a tool, you need to remove each berry separately. The use of pliers is important if there is only one small tree growing on the site.
The video shows how to work with tongs:
Slingshot
The tool helps to quickly collect sea buckthorn from branches by cutting. The slingshot is bent from wire or a vegetable peeler is used. In the last option, the knife is removed from the kitchen tool. A string is pulled onto the slingshot. The berries are cut directly from the branches, placing a container for collection.
"Cobra"
The instrument was invented by folk craftsmen. Attached to the wooden handle is a wire loop shaped like a cobra's head. The berry is captured at the stalk itself. The risk of cutting fruit buds is completely eliminated.With the help of a simple device you can reach any hard-to-reach areas.
Scraper for collecting sea buckthorn
A scraper will quickly help you clear sea buckthorn from branches. The design resembles a mixture of a slingshot and tongs. A spring is twisted from an elastic wire at the base of the tool. The protruding two ends in the upper part are bent at a right angle. There is no need to hook the string. The scraper works like tongs. With the bent ends they clamp the branch with berries and pull it towards themselves. The cut fruits fall inside the placed container or onto the spread film.
Knapsack, or harvester for harvesting sea buckthorn
A store-bought tool helps to correctly collect sea buckthorn without injuring the tree. Harvesters are made of plastic, metal or wood. There are different configurations, but the operating principle is the same. The harvester is a hand-held attachment with a container for collecting berries. Fruits are cut using a working surface resembling a comb.
Other tools for quickly collecting sea buckthorn
Every gardener looks for convenient ways to collect sea buckthorn and comes up with clever devices. Without any difficulty, a small number of fruits are cut from the branches with nail scissors. The accuracy of the wood is guaranteed, but such work takes a lot of time.
The video demonstrates a method using scissors:
Another invention is the cone. It is rolled up from a tin measuring 10x15 cm. A neck with a diameter of 1 cm is made at the top of the cone. The bag is pressed against the second wide side with a rubber ring. During harvesting, the cone is pressed with its neck against the branch and the fruits are cut off. The entire harvest is collected inside the bag.
Stores sell special gloves for collecting sea buckthorn, which can be used instead of a scraper.The essence of the device lies in special caps - claws. The tip is placed on each finger, and all elements are connected to each other by a string, forming a scraper. All a person needs to do is grab a branch with his hand, pull it towards himself, and all the berries will be cut off.
How to make a device for collecting sea buckthorn with your own hands
To make a tool for collecting sea buckthorn with your own hands, you need to find an elastic steel wire with a diameter of 4-5 mm and a length of about 500 mm. The spring can be made in the shape of a half ring or a ring. In the second case, the center of the wire is leaned against the neck of the bottle and one turn is twisted.
A string is fixed to the ends of the resulting workpiece. It turned out to be a slingshot-type scraper. If you need an instrument without a string, like a pliers, then the upper parts of the ends are bent to one side at a right angle.
The video explains in detail how to make a scraper:
How to quickly collect sea buckthorn by cutting branches
Quick harvesting on large plantations is carried out along with the branches. This method is allowed and is considered painless for the tree if everything is done correctly.
How to properly cut branches with berries
To prevent damage to the tree, the branches are cut with sharp pruning shears. Select only thin old shoots that are subject to autumn pruning. Young and thick branches are not touched. You can't break off shoots. The cut is carried out so that a stump 5 cm long remains at the base. Next year new shoots will come out of it.
Cut branches with fruits are sent for further processing. It is not advisable to wash them, as the berries will crack. It is better to carry out this procedure before cutting. The bush is doused with water from a hose.
Methods for processing cut branches
When the branches are already delivered home, they begin to separate the fruits from them. Sitting on a comfortable chair, you can slowly pick the berries with your hands, cut them with a knife, nail scissors or a scraper with a string.
You can save the harvest until spring directly on the branches. You will need a refrigerator or a cool room where the temperature is constantly maintained no higher than 0OWITH.
When to collect sea buckthorn leaves
In addition to berries, it is customary to collect sea buckthorn leaves for medicinal purposes and brew tea from them. Drying is carried out naturally on trays, but they need to be placed in the shade. In order for the medicinal collection to be healing, sea buckthorn leaves begin to be collected and dried in mid-June. The dried product is stored in a dry room with an air temperature of +18OWITH.
How sea buckthorn is harvested on an industrial scale
Harvesting on an industrial scale usually begins with the onset of cold weather, when the berries are already frozen. They spread a film under the bushes and, tapping each branch, knock down the fruits. To prevent the berries from becoming crushed when falling, slides are made of plywood or plastic. The fruits simply roll onto the film.
In addition to upholstery, the method of cutting branches is practiced. In this state, the crop is removed from the plantation and sent for further processing.
Conclusion
Collecting sea buckthorn is tedious and time-consuming. However, the berry is very healthy; in winter it will help cure colds and get rid of vitamin deficiency.
