Homemade Fruit Picker

Homemade Fruit Picker FARM HOME Miscellaneous My homemade fruit picker works great for picking apples pears and other fruit It makes picking fruit a fun job says Chad Travis Drasco Ark The picker consists of an 8-ft long aluminum handle that supports an 8-in dia 5-in deep wire basket made from a box spring bed frame Four curved metal fingers are located on one side of the basket The fingers extend a few inches above the basket and bend inward at a 90-degree angle A piece of felt at the bottom of the basket taken from an insulated rubber boot cushions the fruit as it falls into the basket To pick fruit I reach up into the tree and pull the basket toward me until the fingers contact the fruit Then I give the basket a gentle tug which causes the fruit to break loose from the stem and fall directly into the basket Depending on the size of the fruit the basket can hold 3 to 4 apples or pears I ve used it to pick several hundred pounds of fruit at a time It s lightweight and easy to use says Travis I looked at some fruit pickers used by nursery suppliers but they were plastic and smaller than mine To help keep the fruit from bruising I covered some of the metal prongs on the sides of the basket with rubber vacuum hose using zip ties to secure them I used a discarded aluminum TV antenna pole to make the handle It attaches to the basket with a short length of pipe that fits inside the pole and is bolted to a pair of metal straps that are welded to the bottom of the basket Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Chad Travis 574 Greers Ferry Rd Drasco Ark 72530 ph 870 668-3400

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