On 10/23/2015 12:42 PM, Muggles wrote:
The basket approach *tugged* on the fruit. The "twister"
product seems to have the correct approach (grab the fruit
firmly and twist it off). I'm just concerned as to how
long such a device would hold up and whether it would be
able to handle our larger fruit (the basket would accommodate
up to 6-8" diameter fruit; ours are frequently in the 5" range)

I like the idea of it having a snipper to cut the fruit off at the stem
and a bag to catch it in. I was thinking you might be able to use the
idea and incorporate all the pros into whatever you decide to design
yourself.

There's not much of a "stem" on the fruit. And, they're "balls" so
you'd need wide jaws to any cutter if it was to avoid catching the
flesh of the fruit.

[Consider it is not uncommon to have several hundred fruit on
a single tree. So, a single picking season is several thousand
"actuations"]

How tall are the trees?

Probably about 15 feet. But, just as wide. So, when picking the
top of the tree on a ladder, you have to lean in 6 ft or more
to get the fruit at the top of the tree. Those *inside* are
even more tedious (many citrus have nasty thorns -- like
Christ's "crown of thorns"... not tiny little rose bush thorns!)

The trees extend almost to the ground (imagine a 15 ft diameter
ball of green with orange or yellow specks on/in it). So, when
trying to pick it clean, I have to resort to crawling *under* the
lowest branches, then thread my body up through the branches
and stand on my toes to reach any of the "internal" fruit.
SWMBO stands outside the perimeter and I hand individual fruit
to her which she places in a sack.

It would be much preferable to just reach in with a pole and
isolate individual fruit. The "twist picker" looks ideal
save for the size and wear issues. I'm not sure how it would
work for the pomegranates, though.