Of course, you can buy sea buckthorn, because it is quite difficult to collect (there are needles on the branches, and the berries themselves are small). In addition, this berry bush very often grows along roads, so it is difficult to be sure of the quality (ecological cleanliness) of such a product. It is much better to either grow your own sea buckthorn bush, or find an orange berry bush in the depths of the forest.
Well, then we’ll talk about how to determine the timing of ripening and harvesting of sea buckthorn, methods and devices for the fastest and most efficient collection of berries.
Harvest dates
When to harvest sea buckthorn depends on several factors: the climate of the area and the conditions created by it, the timing of the ripening of the variety, and how you plan to use the collected berries.
Depending on the variety
The berries will ripen no earlier than they should according to the characteristics of the variety. But in any case, they are collected only when ripe or overripe. Ripe ones are eaten fresh or used to make compotes, jams, or make preparations. They are bright yellow, with a dense skin, quite hard, and contain relatively little juice. When removed, they are almost not damaged.
To obtain juice or oil, you will need overripe berries, so they are left on the tree for another 2 weeks. By the time they are harvested, they turn a bright orange color, become soft and easy to crush. You can leave the berries hanging on the branches until frost; when frozen, they become sweeter.
Depending on the region of growth
The further south the region in which the tree grows is located, the earlier the berries will begin to ripen. There are no exact dates for harvesting sea buckthorn, but it roughly looks like this: in the Moscow region and central Russia - in the 2nd half or late August-early September, in the Urals and Altai - in mid-September, in Siberia - at the end of September. In the southern regions and the Caucasus it can be collected starting from the end of July.
A smart approach to harvesting healthy fruits
Since sea buckthorn is very beneficial for health, many summer residents use various devices to collect it.
Traditionally this is done very simply. Cellophane or a piece of thick fabric is spread under the bush. Then, with a strong stick they hit the branches and trunk of the plant, after which the ripe berries fall down. When the bush is empty, the harvest is poured into containers or wooden boxes. You can build such a simple device as in the photo shown. Some berry connoisseurs are thinking about how to quickly collect sea buckthorn without tools without damaging the fruit. Of course, this can only be done manually, directly from the bush. Each berry must be carefully separated from the branch and stalk, lowered into a prepared container. For convenience and speed of harvesting, the dishes are hung around your neck. Although it may seem like a very time-consuming process, skilled hands can easily cope with the task.
Opinions often differ on how to properly collect sea buckthorn. Therefore, everyone decides for themselves which method to use.
There are several options for homemade devices for harvesting healing berries:
Experienced summer residents know firsthand how to collect sea buckthorn from branches using a homemade loop. Sometimes it is called “cobra”. To make such a device you will need a wooden beam for the handle and thin steel wire. First, a loop is made from wire, resembling the head of a cobra with an open hood. Using an awl, it is attached to a prepared wooden handle. With the ready-made device, you can quickly collect fruits from bushes even in hard-to-reach places. To avoid pricking your hands, the loop is attached to the edge of the branch. After this, all the fruits are cut off with a sharp movement.
Before using the “cobra”, you need to place a wide container under the bush for falling berries.
Another device for collecting sea buckthorn is a scraper. It is made from aluminum wire, 50 cm long. A curl is bent in the center of the segment, like a spring.
It can be obtained by attaching a wire to the neck of a glass bottle in one turn. The ends of the device are aligned and bent to one side by 90 degrees. With the finished device, clamp the branch into a curl and remove the berries, moving it down.
When using a scraper to collect sea buckthorn, the berries are often crushed, resulting in the loss of precious liquid.
If you don’t want to bother with how to pick sea buckthorn berries using tools, you can take scissors, a blade or a special mitten.
Using these items, it is easy to remove ripe fruits from branches that have been previously cut from the bush. This method is convenient to use on a summer cottage in the yard or in the house. Carefully cut berries with scissors are sprinkled with sugar or made into jam. Needless to say, it turns out to be a very tasty dish for the winter.
A tin tube is an equally effective way to collect sea buckthorn from a tree. It can be made from a tin plate 10 cm long. The diameter should exceed the size of the berries of the bush. One end of the tube is attached to a plastic bag. When the device is brought to the fruits on the tree and lightly pressed on the stalk, they are smoothly downloaded into the bag. Simple technology allows you to collect a lot of berries in one visit. It all depends on your mood, finger dexterity and speed of movement. Sometimes orange berries are collected using ordinary tongs.
Of course, picking sea buckthorn berries is not an easy task. After all, the bush reliably protects them with thick thorny branches from uninvited guests. And the fruits themselves hold tightly to the shoots. The delicate skin of the berries, which collapses when pressed, also complicates matters. Due to such factors, summer residents cut off sea buckthorn along with its shoots with large scissors or pruners.
They bring them home and then remove them from the branches. This option is acceptable if the plant is located far from the holiday village. But it’s worth the effort, because sea buckthorn is a real storehouse of beneficial vitamins for the body.
Harvesting methods
Various methods are used to collect berries; you can collect them manually or using special devices. Whatever is more convenient.
During frosts
Frostbitten berries fall off easily, so you can simply shake them off the branches onto material placed under the tree, such as a tarpaulin or film. In order for the fruits to fall off, just shake the branches and the berries will gradually fall off on their own. The advantages of this method of harvesting sea buckthorn: the berries taste the sweetest, do not burst or choke. Cons: the fruits become watery and are not suitable for fresh consumption.
Picking sea buckthorn by hand
Picking berries by hand is long, tedious and unsafe, since the tree branches are thorny and can easily be injured. It is necessary to work in thick, thick gloves to avoid injuring your hands. It is also advisable to wear thick work clothes and an apron to protect against falling berries and their juice; when they get on clothes, they leave stains on them that are difficult to wash off.
Devices and devices that make it easier to pick berries from a branch
It is much easier to collect sea buckthorn not with your hands, but with the help of special tools. They can be made by hand or purchased in a store. The industry produces plastic, metal and wooden scrapers specifically designed for such purposes.
Scraper
This simple and easy-to-use device is made from steel wire. You will need a piece 50 cm long. There should be a curl in the center of the scraper wire; you can make it by wrapping the wire around the neck of the bottle. The ends of the wire must be aligned and bent to one side at an angle of 90˚. It is not difficult to work with such a scraper: you need to move it along the branch, while peeling off the berries. If everything is done correctly, the bark of the branch will not be injured by such a scraper for collecting sea buckthorn.
Cobra or noose
The device consists of 2 parts - a wooden handle 15 cm long, to which a piece of wire is attached. It needs to be bent into a loop shape, reminiscent of a candle flame. Due to the resemblance of the loop to the head of a snake, this device for collecting sea buckthorn was so named. “Cobra” can remove fruits even from those places that are difficult to reach.
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Slingshot with fishing line string
This device is similar to a slingshot, but in place of the rubber band there is a fishing line. It often breaks, so you should always have spare material with you.
The picking process looks like this: you will need to hold the branch with one hand, and carefully peel off the berries with a slingshot with the other. To prevent the crop from falling to the ground, you need to spread a tarpaulin under the tree.
Glove with claws or metal comb
You can make such gloves for collecting sea buckthorn from durable thick gloves and metal “caps” on which you need to stretch the fishing line; it will easily cut the berries, and your hands will be protected while working.
Another option for a glove for picking berries: a pocket with metal wire along the edge is sewn into the middle of the glove from the inside so that it protrudes during picking, into which the berries will fall. A small metal comb for removing fruits is sewn just above it and a piece of skin is sewn onto the inside of the thumb. With such a glove you can get sea buckthorn even in the most inaccessible places.
How to collect sea buckthorn?
In order not to spend a lot of time collecting, modern gardeners have found many devices that make the process easier. When figuring out how to properly collect sea buckthorn from branches, you need to understand what can come to the rescue during this work. Savvy gardeners use:
Sea buckthorn tongs
The device resembles a scraper, but with straight jaws. To solve the question of how to quickly collect sea buckthorn from a tree, this option is not suitable. Using tongs, remove each berry separately, which takes time. This harvesting method is for patient people who want an undamaged and completely clean harvest. You can make tongs yourself from thick wire. It is bent in half into a ring, forming a spring. You can fold it into a triangle shape and bend the edges. A similar device is used to collect berries for sale.
Cobra for collecting sea buckthorn
One of the popular devices, which got its name due to its resemblance to a snake. In order to understand how to collect sea buckthorn quickly, you can make a similar device. To make it yourself, take a branch about 15 cm long, thin steel wire, a small nail and electrical tape. A nail is driven into the upper part of the branch, to which a loop is attached, resembling a candle and wrapped with electrical tape at the bottom. Thanks to the long handle, this device can be used to harvest crops in the most difficult to reach places.
Slingshot for collecting sea buckthorn
This device is similar to a fork, but has some differences. To understand how to quickly collect sea buckthorn from branches with its help, you need to know how to make and use it. The device is similar to the previous one; a string of fishing line is stretched between two bases. If you have a vegetable peeler, you can use it by simply removing the knife and pulling on the string. You need to work carefully so as not to damage all future fruit buds. Harvesting is very simple: hold a branch with one hand, and place a tool in the other, which is used to cut the fruits into a pre-prepared container.
Scraper for collecting sea buckthorn
The device is a thick wire, the middle of which is twisted into a spring consisting of two or three turns, the ends should be bent like a poker. For manufacturing, it is better to use steel wire with aluminum braid; it should be elastic, but not thin. The result is something between tongs and hooks. Having made such a device, the question of how to quickly collect sea buckthorn from the branches will no longer arise. It’s easy to use: while the device moves along the branch, it is compressed between the jaws. The berries fall into the prepared container.
Glove for collecting sea buckthorn
There is an almost professional tool for picking small berries. Seeing these gloves, it’s easy to understand how you can quickly collect sea buckthorn. Each finger ends with a metal cap, and a thin wire is stretched between them. This device can easily cut off the entire crop, and you can make it yourself. They take mechanic gloves, dip their fingers in molten wax, cover them with bronze and solder the bolts for the fishing line. Such a product will be cheaper and can be improved to solve the problem of how to collect sea buckthorn quickly and easily.
Cutting branches with sea buckthorn with pruning shears
To make it easier to pick the berries, small branches are cut with pruning shears, and then the fruits are harvested.
Rules for cutting twigs with sea buckthorn berries
Young branches that have just begun to bear fruit should not be cut. The selected shoots are cut off almost at the base, leaving a stump measuring 5 cm. In the spring, new shoots will come from it, which will already bear fruit in 2-3 years. At the same time, you need to be careful not to cut off too many branches (no more than a quarter of the total volume), otherwise you may be left without a harvest for the next season.
How to process cut branches
Peel sea buckthorn from the branches using small scissors or simply tearing them off with your hands. You can also use a scraper with fishing line. It is necessary to pick the berries, starting from the topmost branches, moving to the lower ones, but not vice versa.
The advantage of this method is that you can comfortably peel berries from sea buckthorn branches and at the same time carry out autumn pruning of the tree, which will still need to be done.
Squeezing juice directly from branches
The appropriate time to collect fruits using this method is the end of the season (October or November), when they are all already ripe and not firmly attached to the branches. It is advisable to carry out the collection after rain, which will wash away dust and dirt from the tree, or spray it with water from a hose.
To quickly collect, just run along the branches, from their base to the top, crushing the berries so that the juice flows from them. There should be a container at the bottom where the liquid will drain.
You need to work in protective clothing and gloves, since sea buckthorn juice is quite caustic and can even corrode the skin. The collected juice must be filtered to remove particles of leaves and bark that have fallen into it.
Making a collection device with your own hands
You can simplify the manual method using a device that is made from a plastic bottle. You can make the device yourself at home using the following method: cut off the bottom of the bottle, cut out 4 petals and place the neck on a long stick. For greater reliability, you need to nail the neck of the bottle to the stick using a simple nail.
Collecting sea buckthorn by hand
The traditional method of harvesting sea buckthorn involves removing each berry from the trees individually without additional equipment. This technology is the most labor- and time-consuming, but allows you to get the maximum amount of harvest without damaging the shoots and branches of trees.
Cutting twigs with berries
To speed up the manual method and make it as convenient as possible, it is possible to trim branches with berries and subsequently separate the fruits in another place. This technology is simpler and more comfortable, but in case of incorrect or excessive pruning of branches, it can cause damage to the tree, which will affect the future harvest.
When further sorting the crop, it is not necessary to pick each berry from the cut branches. Simply put them in the freezer and take them out as needed. Picking frozen sea buckthorn from the branches is much easier and faster. It is important to take into account that after severe freezing, the berries should not be made into jam or processed to make juice. If you plan to process the crop, the juice can be squeezed directly onto the tree in the following way:
- wear special culinary gloves;
- place a clean container under the branches;
- run your hand along the entire branch from the bottom to the top, pressing the sea buckthorn with your fingers.
You can also harvest after the first cold snap. To do this, you need to lay a blanket under the trees and knock down the sea buckthorn with a stick wrapped in soft cloth so as not to damage the fragile skin. The frozen berries will fall onto the blanket, after which all that remains is to collect them in a storage container. This collection technology is most often used when growing on an industrial scale.
Trimming berries with small scissors
Manual harvesting of sea buckthorn using small scissors allows you to carefully collect all the berries without disturbing the integrity of the branches and shoots. In addition, unlike the use of various devices for collecting fruits, cutting with scissors ensures the largest harvest the following season. The disadvantage of using small scissors is that it is more time consuming compared to other methods.
In addition to standard small scissors, you can use a specialized fruit picker with pointed elements to collect sea buckthorn.
A device with a pruning shears fixed above the funnel allows you to remove fruits without damaging their skin or causing harm to the branches of the tree. To prepare such a device, it is necessary to fasten the handles together with metal strips. The metal elements themselves are fixed with a lever attached to an elongated pole. During the harvesting process, it is enough to place the funnel under the branches and press the lever so that the pruning shears cut off the stalk. The fruits will roll out of the funnel along the sleeve into the designated container without the risk of damage.
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How to clear collected sea buckthorn leaves
With any method of collecting, sea buckthorn berries are removed from the branches along with pieces of foliage, stalks and various debris. Selecting all this manually is long and laborious. There are 2 ways to quickly clear sea buckthorn of debris:
- Place the berries in a large container and fill with water. The berries will settle to the bottom, the debris will remain on the surface. It must be drained along with the water.
- Lay out a tarpaulin or fabric and place a board at an angle on the edge. Sprinkle the mass collected from the tree onto it in small portions. The berries will fall down, and pieces of foliage, bark and other things will remain on the board.
If necessary, this cleaning must be carried out several times. If anything remains after processing, it can be easily removed by hand.
When and how to collect sea buckthorn leaves?
Nowadays, more and more people like to make tea preparations with their own hands. Particularly popular are dried plant parts, the decoction of which is endowed with beneficial properties. Sea buckthorn leaves are collected before the berries begin to ripen, which is approximately June-July. It is important to choose places remote from roads and industrial facilities. Leaves easily accumulate bad elements, and when using such preparations, instead of benefit, you can only get a negative effect.
