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I've got two citrus trees in my back yard that thought they had something on me, height wise, but not any more! Check out Instructables user Thinkenstein's PVC fruit picker tutorial.
This fruit picker was designed for oranges, but it works for other fruit also. The body of the picker holds several oranges before needing to be emptied. That speeds up the picking process when there are lots of fruit.
The main feature of interest is the "J" shaped channel at the end of the pipe. One makes a spear-like thrust with the picker to get the fruit inside the pipe. The stem of the fruit follows through the "J" channel. A twist and pull of the picker put the stem at the end of the "J" slot, where a sharp razor blade cuts it. The fruit falls into the head of the picker.
Watch out grapefruits, here I come!
Great Idea Thinkenstein!!!
Fruit season is coming up again soon down here, and the antique "hook and yank" piece I have was not working so well..
Thanks!
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Pvc is fairly light it seems like you could get rid of the metal rod all together and just have the fruit travel all the way down the pipe.
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You could connect a cloth tube sock (might have to stitch a long one together, or use some long soft plastic tubing) to the other end of the pipe, and have it run down into a bucket. This way, when the fruit is picked, it will softly fall down into the bucket. Might have to be careful about it getting caught in tree limbs, though.
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