Harvesting the cherry tree

The cherry tree always delights us with its delicious berries. Cherry berries contain countless components useful for our body.

These sweet and sour berries contain citric, malic, succinic, folic and salicylic acids. But that's not all, cherries still contain pectin substances, vitamins of group B, C, A, micro and macro elements and much more. In other words, it is a valuable product on our table.

At the moment, there are a huge number of cherry varieties. Also, the cherry tree is divided into three types, depending on the ripeness. There are cherries of early ripening, mid-ripening and late.

Early cherry can be harvested in the second half of June. These varieties include: Miracle cherry, Shpanka, Malyshka, Dessertnaya Morozova, Assol, In memory of Yenikeev, Chocolate girl, Youth.

Mid-season varieties harvested in July, by the second half of the month. These varieties include: Zhukovskaya, Kharitonovskaya,Volochaevka, Turgenevka, Morozovka, Vladimirskaya, Griot Moskovsky, Novella.

Late varieties harvested in August. The late varieties include such varieties as: Generous, Malinovka, Lyubskaya, Tamaris.

Cherries ripen faster in sunny places. As soon as ripe berries have appeared, they must be picked, otherwise they may fall off or birds will peck them.

It is best not to remove unripe berries, as they will not be able to ripen, such as apples or pears. If transportation is planned, then the berries can be removed two or three days before full maturity.

Harvesting is best done before lunchtime or in the evening, when the sun is no longer as hot. The weather must be dry. In the event that the summer is rainy, the taste of cherries can deteriorate significantly due to the abundance of moisture.

Also, excessive moisture can contribute to deformation and crushing of the berries. And the decay process can also accelerate. In this case, you need to harvest and process the berries as soon as possible.

Harvesting can be done manually or mechanically.

In small areas, collection is usually done by hand. It all depends on what the harvest is for. It can be transportation, processing, fresh consumption. There are several techniques for manual assembly:

collection together with the handle (this technique is used for long-term storage, transportation)

picking berries without cutting (this technique is called "milking" - it is used only when it is planned to process or consume the cherry immediately. In this form, the cherry can be stored for no more than two days)

picking cherries with a part of the stalk with a pruner (in this version, the stalk is left half, for longer storage)

It is undesirable to shake the berries off the tree, as the berries may wrinkle when struck. It is still recommended to lay a film under the tree so that the harvest takes place without loss.

You need to store cherries in a ventilated container, these can be birch bark or willow baskets or boxes, you can also use cardboard boxes or baskets with burlap inside (they are called "pillars").

The cherry harvest will surely delight you. Choose the best harvesting method for you and you will definitely succeed.