We have been in our tart cherry harvest for the last few weeks. The cherries are very nice this year. They have good size and color. Our cherries are sold to be dried like raisins or craisins, and they are also sold for pie filling.
We use machanical harvesters for tart cherries. There are two parts to these harvesters. The shaker, that is just that it shakes the cherries off the tree. It has a large clamp the attaches to the tree trunk and shakes the tree. The cherries fall off and are deflected on to a conveyor that has driven opposite the shaker. The shaker is on the right and the conveyor on the left.
The conveyor has a bin of fresh water that the cherries move along the conveyor belt and into the water. When the bin is full, it is dropped and a tractor with forks on the back picks it up and takes it to the cooling pad.
A new bin of water is then placed on the conveyor.
There are between 900-1000 lbs of cherries in each bin.
The cherries are then placed on a cooling pad where "spiders" that are made out of PVC pipe run and circulate cold water through them for 2-4 hours before going into the plant to be pitted and sorted.
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