I’m interested in hearing from folks who manage an orchard specifically to have a soft landing for their fruits. What kind of equipment or methods do you use so that your persimmons, pawpaws, or other soft fruits don’t go splat when they fall?
I have seen a few people growing various flowers underneath their trees as well as grasses which can be pushed down to create a soft bed for when their fruit falls.
I have been looking at haymaking equipment and something like a sickle bar mower seems like it might be a good option, and then just pushing/blowing that hay created underneath the trees. Obviously in that scenario the proper grass or grain should be grown between rows.
Another option I could consider would be dual cropping and growing oats or something else which could actually be harvested and then the hay or straw created could go back to the orchard.
The important consideration I’m trying to make is proper row spacing to allow for equipment…
Suspend tarps under it. It catches it and it’s easy to just pour it into a container. When the crops over take it down and move to the next one. For mulberry I just lay it on the ground and shake the tree.
I use a fish net supported by PVC to protect my koi from the great blue herons. it’s easy to assemble/disassemble. detracts from the look but i’ve had the great blues empty the pond in a night. maybe this would work? you could move it to the tree that is dropping fruit. so you may not need that many (?)
For persimmon, it would sort of depends on your pruning plans. While the trees are smaller, blue grass and white clover would be fine. The trick there is leaving enough grass late in the summer so it doesn’t scorch in the heat and also cushions the drop. Too much grass as they drop can make fruit harder to find. Obviously anything (mowed) with stems (including weeds or even hard/thick stem grass like wheat) could skewer fruit. Some varieties like a118 might still be fairly firm when falling.
I’m assuming you’re asking about managing a number of trees for commercial fruit sales, and not a backyard setup. I dont have any answers based on experience, but curious in the discussion - I will also have persimmon and pawpaw and am hoping to do u-pick/PYO in a few years once they’re fruiting.
The solutions are possibly quite different depending on if you’re harvesting yourself, or if you’re planning to have customers harvest. My concerns are complicated. Let’s go one fruit at a time:
Persimmon:
The trees that drop their fruit. I’ve considered
Netting/tarps. Might be spendy to purchase, and take a bit of work to set up, and take down and clean for storage. I think would work well to catch fruit and keep it clean and dry. Keeps it off the ground away from animal feces, dirt, crawling insects. Would keep customers away from trees and removes temptations to climb or pull down on branches.
let soft grass under the trees grow tall and lay over. I have fine fescue planted in my orchard. It is very shade tolerant and also very plush when gown out. I think it would make for very soft landings. Still, I’m worried about the sanitary aspect of on-ground fruit eapecially for fruit that is consumed without cooking and the skin is eaten too. Customers may be turned off at the idea of picking fruit off the ground when it’s laying next to a rotted persimmon or racoon feces. Fruit may get lost in the grass.
Bring in straw or hay. To me this sounds like a lot of extra work and cost. Sure, you could grow it yourself, but the space set aside to do so would be more profitable being used for additional fruit trees, assuming a space-limited situation. Same issues as soft grass with cleanliness. Straw would probable need to be removed or mulched before fall to not make a vole haven.
Hybrids and some DV trees may hold fruit. I suppose these trees dont require any form of soft landing since they will require hand picking. Trees will need to be pruned to ladder heights if picking yourself, or pruned to very low heights if customers are doing u-pick, as they will need to be standing on the ground.
Pawpaw:
Mostly the same issues, except pawpaw skin isn’t consumed, so less worried about cleanliness, apart from customer perception. The fruit is heavier, might need more cushioning? I’ve only gone pawpaw u-picking once, and they had far more customers than fruit available, so there was nothing left on the ground, and most fruit on the trees were not quite ready. People were using ‘buckets on a stick’ to bump fruit to see if it would fall. People were also climbing trees… Unsure what might is best here. For now, plan is to keep trees small so all fruit can be picked from the ground or with a bucket on a stick. If the grass provides sufficient cushoning, then great. If neither of those options are working well, then I’ll try nets to catch fruit and keep customers off the trees.
I suspect dealing with this soft fruit harvest issue is easier if you’re harvesting the fruit yourself and selling it on farm or elsewhere. Managing and teaching customers may be challenging.
Keeping customers AND trees safe could prove to be an insurmountable U-pick challenge. Having a stand for persimmons and pawpaws and U-pick for apples etc might be a better strategy… I’m not sure what route is best. By the time I expect trees to be producing I’ll be running out of space for my breeding aspirations so we’ll see how that plays out.
Good thoughts on grass species selection and other variables mentioned.
I’m a little concerned that suspended tarps could present an issue with catching wind and getting damaged in storms. Some type of netting might be safer? Tarps would be great forbsomething like mullberry when you can lay them out, shake the tree, and pick up and move to the next tree.
Does anyone know if persimmon and pawpaw trees are amenable to a once per day shaking to force the day’s harvest of ripe fruit? I havent heard of it being done, but if so, that may greatly speed hand harvest. And since they can be picked up immediately, they arent spending time on the ground.
Regarding u-pick vs on farm sales. It seems like people often go to a u-pick as a family, and its about the experience more than getting a good deal on fruit. As such, people are willing to pay a high price (like $8/lb, around here anyway). And, they do all the work. I dont know for sure, but I feel like on-farm sales of pre-harvested fruit might not be able to get as high of a price, and it takes a significant effort to harvest them.
They don’t turn as orange which would be a knock in terms of marketability. When they are fully ripe, they may not appear to be ripe if you are judging solely based on color that other varieties get. But, it’s been a good performer, and supposedly the pulp keeps well (I just freeze them whole so I don’t know about that).
