Homemade Blackberry Harvester

Harvesters work best on large, fully ripe berries.

Blackberry bushes are known for their thorns, causing many a painful scratch to berry lovers. To best avoid these pricks, people use homemade berry harvesters. These devices are quick to make and can be quite useful in foraging.

Types

Several types of homemade blackberry harvesters follow the same basic style of claw-like prongs extending out from a basket to hold the picked berries. Some harvesters resemble rectangular boxes with these claws extending from one side, while others are cylindrical with prongs extending up from the entire circumference of the harvester.

Time Frame

Making a berry harvester takes only few hours at most. The simplest harvester type, a two liter bottle, takes less than an hour to make. These devices can save a lot of time in the long run by allowing berry pickers to harvest up to four to five times as many berries as they could by hand.

Materials

Blackberry harvesters are made from all kinds of materials, including plastic bottles, wood sticks, PVC pipe and metal cans. Each material has certain advantages for usage. Plastic bottles and metal cans make for quick harvesters. Wooden harvesters are easier to find materials for and are both natural and bio-degradable. Metal will last the longest and makes for the most durable harvesters.

Warning

Harvesters tend to remove more than the berry. You'll end up with some debris and plant leaves in the container, which deters hand pickers from using harvesters. They feel it takes too much extra time to separate the leaves from the berries. You'll have to decide for yourself if the increased picking capacity outweighs the drawback.

References

• Neighborhood Fruit: Home Made Berry Picker!
• Woodcraft in Poland: Berry Pickers - Thinking in 3D
• The Berry Picker: The Safest Way to Pick Blackberries and Cherries

Resources

• Knitting Iris: Great Uncle Henry's Berry Picker