How to collect sea buckthorn: terms and fixtures, how to make it yourself

Sea buckthorn berries are widely used for cooking various dishes and preparations, as well as for medicinal purposes. Despite its great popularity, few gardeners know when and how to properly harvest sea buckthorn, which leads to a decrease in yield. Compliance with useful recommendations and the use of various devices greatly simplifies the process of picking berries.

When to harvest sea buckthorn

Sea buckthorn ripens over a long period - from mid-August until the first frost. The exact ripening time depends on the region of growth and the specific tree variety.In places with a fairly hot climate, the berries are ready to eat already at the end of summer, and in cooler regions it is better to harvest in September-October.

The timing of the harvest is also affected by further uses. If you plan to make jam, jam and compote from berries, then you need dense berries that are harvested in early autumn. For juice and oil making, softened fruits are more suitable, which can be obtained at a later harvest.

The longer the berries hang on the trees, the softer their skin becomes, and it becomes more difficult to collect whole fruits.

Is it possible to pick unripe berries

Not fully ripe berries with oblong stalks are easier to pick, but they do not contain enough nutrients. Unripe sea buckthorn can be eaten without negative consequences, while its taste characteristics are less pronounced. It is recommended to use unripe fruits for processing or as a decorative element when decorating various dishes.

How to correctly determine the ripeness of fruits

Ripe fruits acquire a pronounced gilded yellow or rich orange hue. Berries are densely placed on the branches, which complicates the collection. It is better to harvest freshly ripened sea buckthorn, as it has the most useful characteristics and contains the maximum amount of ascorbic acid, carotene and other useful components.

As a rule, most of the berries ripen in August. By the beginning of the autumn season, it is possible to harvest the bulk of the crop in warm regions.

General Harvesting Rules

Before you start harvesting, it is recommended that you familiarize yourself with the basic rules. To get a large harvest with high taste characteristics, it is recommended:

preliminarily inspect the fruits to determine the degree of their ripening;
start harvesting only if there are no visible damage or signs of rot;
if the berries are not fully ripe, it is better to wait until autumn.

Table of ripening and picking berries in different regions of Russia

The ripening period of sea buckthorn directly depends on the growing region. This is due to the fact that each region is characterized by a certain climate, humidity level and other conditions. In particular, there is the following ratio of regions and ripening dates:

Leningrad region and Siberia - end of September.
The middle zone of the country, Bashkiria, the Moscow region and the near Moscow region, as well as the Ukrainian village of Shulginka - the end of summer.
In the Urals - before the first frost.

Special collection tools

To make it easier to pick ripe berries, you should use special tools. Convenient equipment eliminates the need for manual collection and saves a lot of time. What kind of device to use, it is worth deciding depending on individual preferences, the amount of crop, the size of the tree and financial possibilities.

Cobra

The contraption called a cobra can be built by yourself using thin metal wire and a piece of wood. It is enough to bend the wire in the form of a loop and fix it on a wood handle with electrical tape. The top of the wire loop should be bent so that it looks like the end of a burning candle, and the side should be made oblong like a snake.

It is convenient to cut off thin stalks and get sea buckthorn from the most inaccessible places. When using a cobra, it is necessary to make sharp movements for greater efficiency.

Glove

For collecting sea buckthorn, a specially sewn glove is suitable, at the bottom of which an open bag with wire is sewn. A rounded metal comb is fixed above the bag. When the arm is bent, the wire on top of the bag is bent, and the branch with berries is between the comb and the thumb. To collect the fruits, it remains to slide your finger down and straighten your palm to close the bag.

After that, you can start picking on other branches without fear that the collected berries will crumble. The disadvantages of such a glove are problematic access to high branches and the possibility of leaves and crushed berries getting into the bag.

Using a loop

Collecting with a loop is in many ways similar to using a cobra. You can make a loop from wire or thin steel. Harvesting occurs by cutting the stalks. The main advantages are the speed of collection and the ability to extract berries from high and hard-to-reach branches.The loop can be made in various lengths depending on the height of the tree.

Quick method using tongs

The use of tongs with a built-in fruit compartment makes it possible to harvest with maximum care in relation to the tree. The device breaks each berry separately, and the branches remain unharmed. Handwork has a positive effect on further crop volumes that will ripen for the next season. Despite the speed of collection, it is recommended to use this method only if there are a small number of trees on the site.

Scraper for fast harvesting

You can make a scraper for picking berries using a metal wire about 50 cm long, covered with an aluminum sheath. In the middle of a piece of wire, it is enough to make a curl like a spring, making a turn around any rounded object. Externally, the device is similar to a fork.The end of the scraper must be leveled and bent at a right angle to one side. Harvesting is done by pressing down on a branch and scraping off the crop in one downward motion. It is recommended to keep a bag under the fixture or spread a film on the ground around the tree.

Slingshot

A device in the form of a slingshot helps to collect berries by cutting them from branches. The tool is bent from a reliable wire or a vegetable peeler is used, removing a knife from it. Having pulled a fishing line or a string on a slingshot, the berries are cut from the branches, substituting a bag from below. So that the string does not break the integrity of the tree buds, it is not recommended to press the branches with great force.

Cone

You can independently make a cone-shaped device from a tin, bag, gum or thread. The manufacturing process consists of the following steps:

cut out of the jar a plate 10 cm wide and no more than 15 cm long;
by rolling, prepare a conical blank with a hole diameter of about 1 cm;
tape the bag to the lower base of the cone.

During picking, it is enough to press the metal part to one side so that it cuts the berries from the branches. Despite the laboriousness of making the device, its use prevents the crop from scattering on the ground.

Knapsack or sea buckthorn harvester

In specialized stores for gardeners, you can buy a harvester for convenient and efficient harvesting of sea buckthorn. The device is produced in various modifications, including metal, plastic and wooden variations. Despite the abundance of configurations, devices operate on the same principle.

The collection method involves cutting with a working surface that looks like a comb. A harvester, also called a knapsack, is a hand-held nozzle with a container where the crop falls.

Hook

A spring hook for picking sea buckthorn can be made independently or purchased at a gardening store. The device is brought to the branch and clamped between the two ends. With a sliding motion along the branch, all the fruits are removed into the bag.

The main advantage of this device is the high speed of harvesting.

The disadvantages of the tool are the inability to reach remote areas and the fact that the hook also cuts the foliage and ruins the decorative look of the tree.

Tray

As an additional tool, you can use a tray made of wood with a plywood bottom. The use of a tray in combination with a scoop makes it easier to harvest. The tray is used as a container for berries, so it is recommended to choose a device with small dimensions so that you can hang it on your lower back or neck.

For this purpose, the removable ends of a wide and durable belt are fixed on the side walls in the central part. Suitable tray dimensions are 70 x 50 cm, wall height is about 10 cm.

Comb

Combing is one of the fastest ways to harvest trees. With the help of a comb, the berries are combed from the branches in large volumes. Despite the quick picking, due to the action of a hard comb, some of the thin-skinned berries can be damaged. In addition, foliage and some of the branches come off the tree along with the fruits.

Make a do-it-yourself collection device

You can simplify the manual method using a device that is made from a plastic bottle. The device can be made independently at home in the following way - cut off the bottom of the bottle, cut out 4 petals and put the neck on a long stick.For greater reliability, you need to nail the neck of the bottle to the stick with a simple nail.

Collecting sea buckthorn by hand

The traditional method of harvesting sea buckthorn involves the removal of each berry from the trees separately without additional tools. This technology is the most labor- and time-consuming, but allows you to get the maximum amount of crop, while not damaging the shoots and branches of trees.

Cutting branches with berries

To speed up the manual technique and make it as convenient as possible, it is allowed to cut branches with berries and then separate the fruits in another place. This technology is simpler and more comfortable, but in case of incorrect or excessive pruning of branches, it is possible to harm the tree, which will affect the future harvest.

When further sorting the crop, it is not necessary to pick each berry from the cut branches.Just store them in the freezer and take them out as needed. Frozen sea buckthorn is much easier and faster to pick from branches. It is important to bear in mind that after a hard freeze, you should not cook jam from berries or process them to make juice. If processing of the crop is planned, then the juice can be squeezed directly on the tree in the following way:

put on special cooking gloves;
put a clean container under the branches;
run your hand along the entire branch from the bottom to the top, pressing the sea buckthorn with your fingers.

You can also harvest after the first cold snap. To do this, you need to lay a blanket under the trees and knock down the sea buckthorn with a stick wrapped in a soft cloth so as not to damage the fragile skin. Frozen berries will fall on the bedspread, after which it remains to collect them in a storage container. This collection technology is most often used in commercial cultivation.

Cutting berries with small scissors

Hand picking sea buckthorn using small scissors allows you to carefully pick all the berries and not break the integrity of the branches and shoots. In addition, unlike the use of various devices for picking fruits, cutting with scissors provides the highest yield in the next season. The disadvantage of using small scissors is that it is more time consuming than other methods.

In addition to the standard small scissors, you can use a specialized fruit picker with pointed elements to collect sea buckthorn.

A device with a pruner fixed above the funnel allows you to remove the fruits without damaging their skin and without damaging the branches of the tree. To prepare such a device, it is necessary to fasten the handles with metal strips to each other. The metal elements themselves are fixed by a lever fixed on an elongated pole.In the process of collecting, it is enough to bring the funnel under the branches and press the lever so that the pruner cuts off the stem. The fruits will roll down the sleeve from the funnel into the allotted container without the risk of damage.

How to clean harvested sea buckthorn leaves

If one of the specialized devices was used to harvest sea buckthorn in order to speed up work, then in the future it will be necessary to clean the fruits from leaves and branches that have fallen into the container. It is quite difficult and time consuming to manually sort through the crop, so it is recommended to resort to easier options.

One way to iterate involves using an oblong vegetable board or similar object. Having placed the board at an angle of about 45 degrees, it is enough to pour the entire harvested crop on top in small portions, as a result of which the berries will roll down, and the foliage and branches will remain on the board.

Also, for sorting the harvested crop, it is suitable to use a shredder, with which cabbage is cut. The shredder is set at an angle with the blades up. A dish or box is placed under the base. Berries are poured in portions on the upper edge, after which they roll down due to the rounded shape, and the branches are held back by knives.

If sea buckthorn was frozen along with branches and leaves, then sorting should be carried out at a low temperature. In the heat, the crop begins to quickly thaw and wrinkle, which makes it difficult to sort through to remove branches and debris.

Rules and terms of storage of sea buckthorn

Sea buckthorn does not contain molecules that destroy vitamin C, so it can be stored fresh for a month. The recommended ambient temperature is no more than 3 degrees. Freshly harvested sea buckthorn can be left on the branches by placing them in a box inside the refrigerator or by placing the fruits in a separate container.To preserve the crop, the container must be opaque and tightly covered. Dishes with fruits should also be stored at a low temperature. During the entire storage period, the berry will not lose its useful characteristics.

A common storage option for sea buckthorn is freezing. When exposed to cold, the crop retains its taste characteristics and pronounced aroma. Freezing shelf life is up to one year.

Freezing should be done in the following order:

Sorting berries to remove leaves, branches and other debris. It is important to eliminate unripe, dented and damaged fruits.
Place the selected crop in a large container and pour water for washing. To avoid leaving dents, sea buckthorn should not be placed under a stream of water.
Lay the washed berries on parchment or cloth napkins and wait for natural drying. Raw berries should not be frozen, as their shell will collapse and the juice, along with vitamins and other nutrients, will flow out.
Wrap a cutting board with cling film and sprinkle sea buckthorn in one layer, then leave the harvest in the freezer for a day at a temperature of -12 to -17 degrees.
When the fruits are sufficiently frozen, it remains to pour them into a plastic container and return them to the freezer for further storage.

Crop preservation

Sea buckthorn berries can be canned to keep fresh. To do this, rinse the fruits well, mix with sugar and scroll in a meat grinder. The proportion of sugar to harvest is 0.7:1 kg. Mixed products should be transferred to sterilized glass containers and left in a dark room with a temperature of about 0-5 degrees. Canning can also be done in the following ways:

Pour the washed fruits into containers and fill to the top with warmed syrup. Close the containers with airtight lids and turn upside down. After waiting for complete cooling, remove the glass container in the basement or refrigerator.
Pour sea buckthorn into jars and put in a bowl filled with hot water. Banks need to be covered with lids and kept in boiling water until the sea buckthorn starts to let the juice out and falls to the bottom. After 15 minutes, you will need to remove the jars from the water and close tightly.

Dry storage

If there is no possibility of storage in fresh or canned form, then it is allowed to dry sea buckthorn. Thus, the crop will also not lose its taste characteristics. It is recommended to dry not only fruits, but also foliage with particles of tree bark. For dry storage, the leaves and bark should be laid out on a smooth surface and left in a well-ventilated, dark place with a low humidity index.

After waiting a few days, the raw materials can be poured into a prepared bag. The shelf life of raw materials is about 5 years without loss of original characteristics.

To dry the sea buckthorn itself, you will need to perform more actions. First you need to sort out the harvested crop, remove the damaged specimens, wash thoroughly and wait for drying. Then a solution is prepared from a teaspoon of soda and 1 liter of water, heated almost to a boil.

Berries are placed in a soda mixture for 5-10 seconds and immediately washed with warm water. When the crop dries out a little, it remains to spread it on a baking sheet in the oven and cover with paper. In order for sea buckthorn to dry quickly, the oven should be heated to 35-40 degrees and wait 2-3 hours. The dried crop is recommended to be stored at a temperature of 18 degrees.