How to harvest sea buckthorn: methods and adaptations
Of course, you can buy sea buckthorn, because it is quite difficult to collect it (there are needles on the branches, and the berries themselves are small). In addition, this berry shrub very often grows along roads, so it is difficult to be sure of the quality (environmental friendliness) of such a product. It is much better to either grow your own sea buckthorn bush, or find an orange berry plant in the depths of the forest.
Well, then let's talk about how to determine the timing of ripening and harvesting of sea buckthorn, methods and devices for the fastest and most efficient berry picking.
Content
When to harvest sea buckthorn
The timing of harvesting sea buckthorn depends not only on the variety (early, medium or late), but also on the climatic zone, as well as on what you are going to do with the berries, in what form to use and store.
So if your goal is make compote or preserves from sea buckthorn (jam or marmalade)or you want it to consume fresh, then the harvest should be started when the berries are not yet quite bright orange, but rather pale orange (the color is closer to bright yellow). In this case, they are very dense, their skin is hard, there is still little juice in them, which means that it will be convenient to remove them, and you will not damage the fruits. The optimal time is the second half of August - early September.
By the way! At the beginning of ripening, sea buckthorn berries have the highest content of vitamin C and other useful elements, so at this moment it is recommended to use it fresh.
It's another matter if you plan to do sea buckthorn oil or juice... In this case, you should wait a couple of weeks until the berries acquire a bright orange color and are completely filled with juice, but at the same time they become very soft, which means that their collection will become more difficult. The optimal time is the second half of September-October.
Naturally, the timing of harvesting sea buckthorn in the middle lane (Moscow region), in the Urals and Siberia will differ. However, on average, the beginning of berry ripening takes place at the end of August - beginning of September, while the harvest can successfully hang on the branches until late autumn and even winter (November-December), if birds do not peck it.
Note! Sea buckthorn is believed to be better and easier to harvest after the first frost. You can simply shake the bush, and all the berries will fall onto a prepared tarp (just like a mulberry tree). But, as practice shows, the first light autumn frosts obviously will not make your picking easier, the berries will still stick tightly to the branches. So you really have to wait severe frosts. In addition, in winter it becomes very sweet, because all the acid freezes out, only fructose remains. Just tilt the bush, knock with a stick - and all the berries are below, and without debris (leaves and branches).
Video: when and how to collect sea buckthorn
What and how to collect sea buckthorn: methods and devices for collecting berries
You can pamper yourself and your loved ones with the most useful natural sea buckthorn berries only if you adopt a variety of methods and devices for picking berries.
By the way! It is most convenient to pick berries from new varieties (Chuiskaya, Giant), which have a long stalk and dry separation (a short stalk with a wet separation, such as Altai Novosti is not your option). Therefore, when choosing seedlings for planting in your garden do not forget about such an important nuance.
Collection tips
Collecting sea buckthorn berries will be much easier and more convenient if you adhere to the following rules and recommendations:
- Convenient procedure for picking berries - top down, that is, from the base of the branch you need to move to its tip.
- To avoid injury or allergies, be sure to work in thick gloves, and in order not to get dirty (sea buckthorn spots are very difficult to remove),wear old unwanted clothes or an apron.
- As for containers for collecting sea buckthorn, it is very convenient to install the most regular umbrella... And it's also good in addition lay polyethylene or some kind of fabric on the ground.
Ways and methods
There are several ways to harvest sea buckthorn:
- Manual. The most laborious (real torment) and completely ineffective when the berry is fully ripe (it will burst with a bang, especially when the crop is fully ripe or overripe).
- Scissors or tweezers with curved edges. Take the tool and just cut the berries onto a tarpaulin or plastic laid out in advance.
- Squeezing sea buckthorn juice straight from the branches. Substitute a clean container and, squeezing tightly, run your hand in a clean rubber glove from the base to the end of the branch, where all the juice from the crushed berries will drain. Naturally, the resulting juice will need to be filtered before drinking.
By the way! Very comfortably combine harvesting and pruning sea buckthorn.
- Cutting berry branches with pruners... Some people think this is harmful to the tree. Indeed, not all branches can be pruned.Pruning is subject to "blind" branches with berries, which this year did not give any growth (they have no leaves at the end), that is, next year they will simply dry up.
Advice! Take the cut sea buckthorn twigs with berries home and put in the freezer... When the fruits are frozen enough, you can easily separate them from the branches. In general, this trick mimics the collection method after frost.
- Using special devices for quick picking (including from cut branches with berries).
Video: harvesting and pruning sea buckthorn in the fall
Special collection devices
Many gardeners are interested in how you can speed up the process of collecting sea buckthorn berries, how you can use them, what tools.
To quickly collect sea buckthorn, several special devices have long been invented and successfully used, the manufacture and use of which will be discussed further:
Cobra
One of the most popular folk devices for quickly collecting sea buckthorn is "Cobra", which got its name because of its similarity to a snake, if you look at the tool from the side.
To make "Cobra" you will need the following tools at hand:
- a plump branch (12-15 centimeters);
- thin steel wire (elastic);
- small carnation and hammer;
- masking tape or insulating tape;
- pliers.
The creation process is as follows:
- A handle is made from a branch, it should be turned and adjusted to size.
- Drive a nail into the upper part, to which you subsequently attach a loop (press with pliers and wrap with electrical tape).
- From the wire you need to make a kind of loop, which outwardly is very similar to a burning candle, its wick.
With the help of such a simple device, you can very quickly collect sea buckthorn berries, cutting them off the stalk with a light movement.
The technique of harvesting sea buckthorn fruits is shown in the diagram:
Video: device "Cobra" for collecting sea buckthorn with your own hands
Scraper
To make a handy sea buckthorn scraper, you will need:
- 0.5 meters of steel wire. For example, with an aluminum braid, although this is not essential, the main thing is that it is elastic and not thin (so that it can be easily compressed).
- Glass bottle.
- Pliers.
You can make the scraper itself as follows:
- First you need to make a spring. To do this, wrap the bottleneck around to make one curl (i.e. 1 turn).
- The ends of the scraper should now be aligned with pliers.
- Then bend it at an angle of 90 degrees.
- In order not to lose a homemade device, if you wish, you can tie a string in order to put the scraper on your hand.
Video: how to make a scraper to quickly collect sea buckthorn
It is not difficult to work with such a device: press a twig and peel the sea buckthorn berries from it into the dishes hung (or suspended) around the neck, moving from top to bottom, from the beginning to the base of each branch (it is better to do it slowly so as not to pick small twigs with leaves).
By the way! It should be borne in mind that sea buckthorn does not like damage to the bark. However, such a scraper slides along the branch only slightly touching the bark, and in order to tear it off, you need to really, really try.
Video: how to collect sea buckthorn with a scraper
Glove
You can also make a glove, or rather make special claws (from a very strong fishing line) for collecting sea buckthorn berries. With such a device, not only is it very quick and convenient to pick fruits (you just need to cut the berries with a stretched fishing line from the stalk), but also your fingers will be completely protected from thorny needles.
Comment from creator! “I used the mechanic's gloves: polyethylene with a polyurethane coating. Putting on my glove, I dipped my fingers into the melted wax. The resulting wax caps were converted into bronze using the investment casting technique, then I soldered the bolts clamping the fishing line (ordinary fishing line 0.5 mm thick). Putting on a glove again, I glued the finished caps into place.The wax caps must be expanded by 2% before casting to compensate for casting shrinkage. "
Video: sea buckthorn harvesting glove
And if you get too confused, then you can make mittens for harvesting sea buckthorn, which were presented in 1984 in the magazine "Young Technician".
Slingshot with a string of fishing line
Very similar in essence to the previous device is the use of a slingshot, on which a string of fishing line is pulled, the difficulties in making which (unlike the first device) can hardly arise.
Or you can take a vegetable peeler, remove the knife from it and pull on a thin fishing line (string). You just need to work carefully so as not to rip off all future fruit buds.
And picking berries is very simple for her: hold a branch with one hand, with the other, use a tool to cut the fruits into containers.
How to clean harvested sea buckthorn from leaves
If you harvested one of the special devices for quick harvesting not very carefully (is it possible otherwise? - a rhetorical question), then in any case you will need to clean the berries from leaves and twigs that have fallen into the container. It is not difficult to sort through it, but it is time consuming. If there are a lot of berries, then you can use the following rather simple method shown in the picture (leaves and twigs will stick to the board, and the berries will roll down) and in the following video:
Video: how to quickly separate sea buckthorn berries from leaves
How to keep sea buckthorn for the winter
Note! In one of the following articles, we will definitely tell you how to properly store sea buckthorn, what can be prepared from it. In the meantime, you can watch the next video.
Video: how to make sea buckthorn oil
If you are greedy for natural products, and the word "chemistry" makes you shiver, it's time for you to start picking such a healthy berry as sea buckthorn. Now you know what methods and devices exist for this. Forward for sea buckthorn!