Cherry picking for beginners a how to guide for cherry picking a cherry tree. there are many kinds of cherries vans, lapin’s, sweet heart, rainier etc. To pick them all its generally the exact same except for rainier or royal Anne and whatever else they are called. Cherry picking takes hard work and determination not just pulling cherries off a tree. I knew this because I cherry pick every summer and I make amazing money doing it. You can’t just simply pop the cherry off the tree no that would be to simple you need to have the stem so the cherry lasts longer. You also need to take out all the rotten cherries the disfigured ones the small ones, anything that won’t sell or will sell with difficulty. When picking the cherry use index finger and thumb of both hands and pick into a pale or something of the sort (its faster if it is hooked to a harness that hangs from your neck). Grab the stem of the cherry and do a pushing twisting motion towards the branch you are picking from the cherry stem should pop off the stem quite easily if it doesn’t its probably the variety or its green. When picking always pick as many cherries as you can into your hand before your hand travels back to the bucket or pale to put the cherries away. If you want the most cherries in your hands before putting them away into the bucket you should slide the cherries into the palm of the hand you are picking the cherries with after awhile you will get the catch of it. Cherries need to be picked fast and aggressively but not to aggressive if you do the spur will come off the branch a small piece of wood with leaves coming from all parts of it.
This is the growth from the year before if this is ripped of their will be no cherries there next year and you probably won’t be there either. If picking fast put a pale inside your pale so when you go to pour the cherries you can take out the other pale and empty it for best speed production and better for your back too. The best advise for cherry picking is get the bunches always if cherries are easy to get, get them all at once when cherries are beside each other push the two stems toward each other with one hand as your other hand is still picking and push together they should come off easily and together their saved yourself a trip to the bucket. Bottoms of the trees are typically the fastest and easiest to pick so you should save those for the tops of your buckets so you exert less energy and tops to fill the starting eighty percent of the bucket. When picking heat is your enemy always start early around five is good because around 1 it starts getting extremely hot in most cherry regions. And remember practice makes perfect. Always sort the cherries when they are poured into the bins or boxes and clean picking is always appreciated. Have fun and pick some cherries.