Fruit picking aids

[Quixoticgeek]

So, the fruit season is almost upon us, blackberries are already forming in the hedgerows.

For years I have picked fruit of the hedgerows with an icecream tub in one hand, picking with the other. This is a pain, I would like to move over to something that is more two handed. I've seen things for apples that are carried at waist level and have a sort of skirt type thing for emptying. But given most of my fruit picking is blackberries, sloes, elders and the like. Does anyone have a useful device for picking fruit into? A way to mount the container round my neck, effectively?

Thanks.

Julia

 

[tom.moran]

a tray like people selling popcorn in the cinema? or a belt with lots of small containers on it?

 

[ex-member BareThrills]

Think uncle ray does a picking tool that funnels the fruit directly into a bag like a bush brush sort of thing

 

[Toddy]

I made a basket from cordage that I made from iris leaves (you could just use sisal rope though) and it's firm enough, but slightly squishy enough to hang comfortably on my hip when I'm out collecting. I intended it for collecting ivy berries for dye, but it proved to be the very thing for both rosehips and elderberries as well as blackcurrant. No reason it shouldn't do for brambles too

I'll find a link to the thread and photos.

atb,
M

 

[ex-member BareThrills]

here you go

http://www.raymears.com/Bushcraft_Product/774-Hooked-on-Nature-Berry-Picker/

 

[uripir]

http://www.raymears.com/Bushcraft_Product/549-Jonas-Swedish-Berry-Picker/

Enviat des del meu bq Edison usant Tapatalk

 

[Toddy]

I've tried it on a belt through one handle, carried at my hip and it's very good indeed secure yet it hangs just right for filling with gathered stuff like haws, hips, berries and nuts Quietly pleased with it

This was the thread.
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=88122

M

 

[British Red]

An old creel would work pretty well

 

[British Red]

Lol similar thought to Mary - but she hit post first!

 

[Quixoticgeek]

Think uncle ray does a picking tool that funnels the fruit directly into a bag like a bush brush sort of thing

I've looked at that, but it doesn't work with some fruit. I'm more looking for something to put the fruit into.

a tray like people selling popcorn in the cinema? or a belt with lots of small containers on it?

Not quite ideal, It's too low down, I'm thinking something at about chest level - This page Has something of the right sort of concept, it's a cut off bottom of a bottle on a piece of string round the users neck. Is there anything better?

Julia

 

[Teepee]

Have a look at the Finnish world berry picking championships (I didn't just invent that BTW)

 

[Quixoticgeek]

I've tried it on a belt through one handle, carried at my hip and it's very good indeed secure yet it hangs just right for filling with gathered stuff like haws, hips, berries and nuts Quietly pleased with it

This was the thread.
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=88122

M

Oh that is rather beautiful... I wonder where I can find some nice natural fibre rope. I have some in cotton, but I think it wouldn't be stiff enough...

How thick was the cordage you used? I don't have any irises in the garden. Just stinging nettles...

An old creel would work pretty well

That would do the job quite nicely too. I wonder where I can get one of them, but slightly smaller.

Cheers

Julia

 

[British Red]

Any fishing shop or ebay Julia - they come in many sizes. Should be under £20

 

[Man of Tanith]

http://www.jonsbushcraft.com/making a berry picker.htm
Couple of picking aids you could make yourself rather than pay for

 

[Quixoticgeek]

http://www.jonsbushcraft.com/making a berry picker.htm
Couple of picking aids you could make yourself rather than pay for

Not quite what I am looking for. But thank you.

J

 

[Toddy]

Nettle should work fine for the cordage, just keep it kind of thick.
The irises worked up into about the thickness of a washing line....actually that might work, if you can find one of the blue or yellow two ply plastic polypropolene ones. It'd wash clean of juice more easily too.

You can sort of judge the thickness of my cordage in this photo.

cheers,
M

 

[Quixoticgeek]

Nettle should work fine for the cordage, just keep it kind of thick.
The irises worked up into about the thickness of a washing line....actually that might work, if you can find one of the blue or yellow two ply plastic polypropolene ones. It'd wash clean of juice more easily too.

You can sort of judge the thickness of my cordage in this photo.

So somewhere between ⅛" and ¼" ? Any idea how long a length of cord you used in the end?

Can you confirm that the Iris plant you used was Iris versicolor.

Cheers

Julia

 

[Toddy]

Ehm, not sure to be honest, I just kept making it as I went along. Somewhere around the 30 metres I suspect.
The iris is this one,

It's a small flowered blue one, and I haven't a clue what variety it is; it originally came from my G. Grandmother's garden said my 90+ year old uncle from whom I scrounged a bit of the root mass.
In general Iris leaves make very good cordage though; I often use the leaves from the yellow flag iris for basketry type stuff.
If you can make grass rope, then that too would work for this type of basket.
My aim was light, easily carried, slightly flexible, and grass does all that too. Sweetgrass would be lovely for it

cheers,
M

 

[Toddy]

Having had a quick google I think it's Iris sibirica. It certainly seems to fit the description.

cheers,
M

 

[Quixoticgeek]

The only cordage I've made was nettle, but I would love to be able to make other kinds. I can't quite work out which variety of iris that is from the photo would need a closer shot of the flowers to be sure. I'll talk to my nursery and see what I can find. Would be useful to have a source of cordage growing in the garden. Does the yellow flag iris behave the same way in terms of the leaves dying back for the winter and then being usable for cordage?

Cheers

Julia