On Wed, 24 Jan 2007 01:10:37 -0600, sherwindu
wrote:

What works best for me is a lightweight aluminum 3 legged ladder. That lets you
get
in really close to the tree. I bought an 8 footer in South Haven Michigan, and
it wasn't that expensive.

That's one of those that are very wide at the bottom and very narrow
at the top? Like this:

http://www.ladderking.com/1100.htm

--

On Mon, 22 Jan 2007 22:21:48 -0800, LurfysMa
wrote:

I have an orange tree that produces decent oranges. Every year, I have
a battle getting the oranges from any but the lowest branches.

Two years ago, I bought one of those pickers with the wire basket,
like this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Fruit-Picker-W...6?ie=UTF8&s=hi

It works more or less, but there are problems. The claws can be
difficult to use, especially if the fruit is close to a branch or
another orange. On my tree, the oranges tend to cluster. It doesn't
really grab the fruit so I have to pull down pretty hard in order to
be able to apply any twisting motion at all. Sometimes I end up
tearing off part of the branch. This shakes the tree and causes other
oranges to fall and get bruised.

I just did another search and the only thing I came up with is this
one:

http://www.amazon.com/Fruit-Picker-t...28da1 7020204

It looks like it might work better.

Has anyone used it? Care to share experiences? It gets good reiews on
Amazon.

Does anyone have a better idea or pointer?

This isn't going to answer your question...

I came across this old patent for a Fruit Picker not too
long ago while searching for something else:

http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPAT174760

I have no idea if it was ever built/produced, but it does
look like a unique design. If you can make stuff or know
somebody who can, this would be a nice design to build from.

--
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI/Zone 5b
Remove no.spam for email

In article ,
LurfysMa wrote:

On Tue, 23 Jan 2007 09:43:20 -0600, Omelet
wrote:

In article ,
LurfysMa wrote:

On Tue, 23 Jan 2007 21:04:21 +1300, "George.com"
wrote:


"Dick Adams" wrote in message
...
Hold a ladder while your spouse or child does the picking!

Dick

better still pay the lad down the road a pittance to do it for you.

I don't want to pick the while tree -- just 6-8 at a time. I picked
the whole tree one year and I couldn't eat them fast enough. Most went
bad. They stay on the tree nicely for at least a month, probably
closer to two. I don't want top haul the ladder out every 2-3 days.
The wire basket picker works more or less. I was hoping to get some
idea if the grabber variety or something else worked better.

--

Refrigerated Oranges last weeks for me.

(sigh) Yes, that will work up to however much space you want to
dedicate to that. So I can pick maybe 15-20 at a time.

Doesn't solve the problem and I'd rather have them fresh picked.

--

I cheat.

I have a 40 cubic ft. refrigerator... (a Hobart on the sun porch)

But alas, I have no orange tree. :-(
--
Peace, Om

Remove _ to validate e-mails.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch" -- Jack Nicholson

On Wed, 24 Jan 2007 12:23:48 -0600, Omelet
wrote:

In article ,
LurfysMa wrote:

On Tue, 23 Jan 2007 09:43:20 -0600, Omelet
wrote:

In article ,
LurfysMa wrote:

On Tue, 23 Jan 2007 21:04:21 +1300, "George.com"
wrote:


"Dick Adams" wrote in message
...
Hold a ladder while your spouse or child does the picking!

Dick

better still pay the lad down the road a pittance to do it for you.

I don't want to pick the while tree -- just 6-8 at a time. I picked
the whole tree one year and I couldn't eat them fast enough. Most went
bad. They stay on the tree nicely for at least a month, probably
closer to two. I don't want top haul the ladder out every 2-3 days.
The wire basket picker works more or less. I was hoping to get some
idea if the grabber variety or something else worked better.

--

Refrigerated Oranges last weeks for me.

(sigh) Yes, that will work up to however much space you want to
dedicate to that. So I can pick maybe 15-20 at a time.

Doesn't solve the problem and I'd rather have them fresh picked.

--

I cheat.

I have a 40 cubic ft. refrigerator... (a Hobart on the sun porch)

But alas, I have no orange tree. :-(

Tell you what, haul your frig over here. We'll pick the oranges
together (bring your ladder, too) and fill up the frig. I'll keep the
frig until the oranges are half gone and then you can take it away and
have the rest. Deal? :-)


--

On Wed, 24 Jan 2007 13:19:49 -0500, Leon Fisk
wrote:

On Mon, 22 Jan 2007 22:21:48 -0800, LurfysMa
wrote:

I have an orange tree that produces decent oranges. Every year, I have
a battle getting the oranges from any but the lowest branches.

Two years ago, I bought one of those pickers with the wire basket,
like this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Fruit-Picker-W...6?ie=UTF8&s=hi

It works more or less, but there are problems. The claws can be
difficult to use, especially if the fruit is close to a branch or
another orange. On my tree, the oranges tend to cluster. It doesn't
really grab the fruit so I have to pull down pretty hard in order to
be able to apply any twisting motion at all. Sometimes I end up
tearing off part of the branch. This shakes the tree and causes other
oranges to fall and get bruised.

I just did another search and the only thing I came up with is this
one:

http://www.amazon.com/Fruit-Picker-t...28da1 7020204

It looks like it might work better.

Has anyone used it? Care to share experiences? It gets good reiews on
Amazon.

Does anyone have a better idea or pointer?

This isn't going to answer your question...

I came across this old patent for a Fruit Picker not too
long ago while searching for something else:

http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPAT174760

I have no idea if it was ever built/produced, but it does
look like a unique design. If you can make stuff or know
somebody who can, this would be a nice design to build from.

That's great. 1876. I was just a lad.

I'll hire someone to build one right away. ;-)

--

In article ,
LurfysMa wrote:

On Wed, 24 Jan 2007 12:23:48 -0600, Omelet
wrote:

In article ,
LurfysMa wrote:

On Tue, 23 Jan 2007 09:43:20 -0600, Omelet
wrote:

In article ,
LurfysMa wrote:

On Tue, 23 Jan 2007 21:04:21 +1300, "George.com"
wrote:


"Dick Adams" wrote in message
...
Hold a ladder while your spouse or child does the picking!

Dick

better still pay the lad down the road a pittance to do it for you.

I don't want to pick the while tree -- just 6-8 at a time. I picked
the whole tree one year and I couldn't eat them fast enough. Most went
bad. They stay on the tree nicely for at least a month, probably
closer to two. I don't want top haul the ladder out every 2-3 days.
The wire basket picker works more or less. I was hoping to get some
idea if the grabber variety or something else worked better.

--

Refrigerated Oranges last weeks for me.

(sigh) Yes, that will work up to however much space you want to
dedicate to that. So I can pick maybe 15-20 at a time.

Doesn't solve the problem and I'd rather have them fresh picked.

--

I cheat.

I have a 40 cubic ft. refrigerator... (a Hobart on the sun porch)

But alas, I have no orange tree. :-(

Tell you what, haul your frig over here. We'll pick the oranges
together (bring your ladder, too) and fill up the frig. I'll keep the
frig until the oranges are half gone and then you can take it away and
have the rest. Deal? :-)


--

lol Only if you want to move the damned thing for me! ;-D
--
Peace, Om

Remove _ to validate e-mails.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch" -- Jack Nicholson

On Wed, 24 Jan 2007 21:18:46 -0600, Omelet
wrote:

In article ,
LurfysMa wrote:

On Wed, 24 Jan 2007 12:23:48 -0600, Omelet
wrote:

In article ,
LurfysMa wrote:

On Tue, 23 Jan 2007 09:43:20 -0600, Omelet
wrote:

In article ,
LurfysMa wrote:

On Tue, 23 Jan 2007 21:04:21 +1300, "George.com"
wrote:


"Dick Adams" wrote in message
...
Hold a ladder while your spouse or child does the picking!

Dick

better still pay the lad down the road a pittance to do it for you.

I don't want to pick the while tree -- just 6-8 at a time. I picked
the whole tree one year and I couldn't eat them fast enough. Most went
bad. They stay on the tree nicely for at least a month, probably
closer to two. I don't want top haul the ladder out every 2-3 days.
The wire basket picker works more or less. I was hoping to get some
idea if the grabber variety or something else worked better.

--

Refrigerated Oranges last weeks for me.

(sigh) Yes, that will work up to however much space you want to
dedicate to that. So I can pick maybe 15-20 at a time.

Doesn't solve the problem and I'd rather have them fresh picked.

--

I cheat.

I have a 40 cubic ft. refrigerator... (a Hobart on the sun porch)

But alas, I have no orange tree. :-(

Tell you what, haul your frig over here. We'll pick the oranges
together (bring your ladder, too) and fill up the frig. I'll keep the
frig until the oranges are half gone and then you can take it away and
have the rest. Deal? :-)

lol Only if you want to move the damned thing for me! ;-D

You are getting free oranges.

--

In article ,
LurfysMa wrote:

lol Only if you want to move the damned thing for me! ;-D

You are getting free oranges.

Sweetheart.... you have NO idea what it took to move this Hobart unit,
much less what it took to get it into the back porch and on to coasters.
:-)
--
Peace, Om

Remove _ to validate e-mails.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch" -- Jack Nicholson

I have a 40 cubic ft. refrigerator... (a Hobart on the sun porch)

But alas, I have no orange tree. :-(

Tell you what, haul your frig over here. We'll pick the oranges
together (bring your ladder, too) and fill up the frig. I'll keep the
frig until the oranges are half gone and then you can take it away and
have the rest. Deal? :-)

lol Only if you want to move the damned thing for me! ;-D

You are getting free oranges.

An inexpensive 18 cu. ft. refrigerator will cost $400-$500
plus tax plus delivery charges of at least. And you want
to borrow one for $30 worth of oranges plus you expect
delivery? That's chutzpah!

I live in Maryland (just west of Ball-a-mer, the city that
slurs, and if you live within 150 miles of me and let me
"borrow" it for storing homebrewed beer and mead, I'll pick
it up and give you 12 gallons of damn good beer a year.

Dick

In article ,
LurfysMa wrote:

On Tue, 23 Jan 2007 23:36:32 +1300, "George.com"
wrote:


"LurfysMa" wrote in message
.. .
On Tue, 23 Jan 2007 21:04:21 +1300, "George.com"
wrote:


"Dick Adams" wrote in message
...
Hold a ladder while your spouse or child does the picking!

Dick

better still pay the lad down the road a pittance to do it for you.

I don't want to pick the while tree -- just 6-8 at a time. I picked
the whole tree one year and I couldn't eat them fast enough. Most went
bad. They stay on the tree nicely for at least a month, probably
closer to two. I don't want top haul the ladder out every 2-3 days.
The wire basket picker works more or less. I was hoping to get some
idea if the grabber variety or something else worked better.

when i season I am up our plum tree every second day. I am dumb enough to
clamber along branchs with plastic bag in hand.

Maybe 30 years and 30 pounds ago...

--

Good attitude.

I don't know how old you are but old men have no business up ladders or
trees. We just don't bounce like we used to. Don't let anybody sweet
talk to into the arms of potential energy. It can get real ugly, real
fast. Pick 'em from the ground or leave 'em.
- Bill

Coloribus gustibus non disputatum

On Fri, 26 Jan 2007 02:35:05 -0000, (Dick Adams)
wrote:

I have a 40 cubic ft. refrigerator... (a Hobart on the sun porch)

But alas, I have no orange tree. :-(

Tell you what, haul your frig over here. We'll pick the oranges
together (bring your ladder, too) and fill up the frig. I'll keep the
frig until the oranges are half gone and then you can take it away and
have the rest. Deal? :-)

lol Only if you want to move the damned thing for me! ;-D

You are getting free oranges.

An inexpensive 18 cu. ft. refrigerator will cost $400-$500
plus tax plus delivery charges of at least. And you want
to borrow one for $30 worth of oranges plus you expect
delivery? That's chutzpah!

I live in Maryland (just west of Ball-a-mer, the city that
slurs, and if you live within 150 miles of me and let me
"borrow" it for storing homebrewed beer and mead, I'll pick
it up and give you 12 gallons of damn good beer a year.

I think you misunderstood almost all of this thread. Too much
moonshine?

--

LurfysMa wrote:

I think you misunderstood almost all of this thread.
Too much moonshine?

More likely, not enough shine.