-8- 



L E^'S REDUCE BRUISINf} 



If the apple grower expects to receive the best price for his product, he must 

 first get those good apples off ohe tree and j.nto storage efficiently and vath as 

 little bruising as possible, In the packing houce survey conducted by Prof, 0, C, 

 Roberts in 1955-56 he fouiod that 2>hol% of all apples that he sampled were bruised. 

 Good organization and management of the harvest operation will help minimize bruising I 



Some pickers damage an unbelievable number of apples. Bruised apples are nore 

 apt to decay and thereby affect the rest of the apples in the box by ripenj.nj faster, ' 

 Research data have shavrr. thet bruised apples respire faster and give off ripening 

 gas early, Saje of bruj.sed apples means dissatisfied customers; dissatisfied 

 customers mean reduced sales I Hew can the grower reduce the amount of bruising when 

 he has an inexperienced crew? 



Carefully conducted studies have shown that much of the bruising v/hich occurs 

 at harvest can be reduced by close supervision. Careful supervision is the back- 

 bone of a good picking crewl Take time to show pickers how to pick properly and 

 avoid bruising. Although many growers have read or heard the previous statements 

 many times, ho^T many actually heed the suggestions? Make use of Special Circulars 

 2k$i "Harvesting Sugges Lions for Orchard Foremen" and 2h6, "Be a Better Apple Picker!' 

 If you do not have copies of these circulars they may be obtained at your County 

 Extension Service, 



Poor pickers cost grcnvers money f Have yoii ever figured out how many less 

 severely bruised apples per box it 'iri-Dl take to more than pay for a bonus to good 

 pickers? If you pay your pickers good wag-'.-s, you can be in the "driver's seat," 

 In other words, a worker will take more constructive critjc:-sm if he is being paid 

 for his efforts. 



H arvest Proced\u-'es Wo rth Consideration 



The folloTfing practices have proven profitable for growers. One or more of 

 these practices or perhaps some modification of a practice may be practical for 

 your situation, 



1, Use inexperienced labor for carrying filled boxes to central locations for 

 handier loading, leveling filled boxes and other time consuming jobs. The good 

 pickers shoald be picking fruit I 



2, Hire a checker to inspect random boxes of the pickers' fruit. Set up a 

 score card for pickers and post whero they can compare their ratings with the rest 

 of the pickers. Pay a bonus to pickers who keep the damage to the fruit at a 

 minimum, 



3, Pay a bonus to pickei'S who stay through .the entire season, 



i;. Some growers have found il advantageous to pick into half bushel peach 

 baskets, The fruit is hauled to the pacJcing house in a truck having a compartmental 

 .platform for holding the baskets. The baskets of fndt are then dumped into the 

 grader. 



5. It has been reported that the use of a lov/ stool, about 2-1/2 to 3 feet high 

 vdth a top large enough to hold an apple box is both a time and labor saver. Pickers 





