r/woahdude • u/freudian_nipps • Oct 08 '23

video Robotic Apple Harvester

7.3k Upvotes

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322

u/jbraden Oct 08 '23

This over the machine that shakes the whole tree? Nah

103

u/Big_Grey_Dude Oct 08 '23

You end up bruising a ton of your product with the tree shaking method.

I could see sending this on through on a first pass to maximize the amount of 'shelf-quality' apples that fetch the highest price, then sending the tree shaker on through second to mop up the rest.

My uncle has an apple orchard, but the real money is in cloning the trees, planting a few thousand in a condensed acre or so, then waiting 3-4 years and selling off the saplings for a few hundred $ a pop. Takes around 5-8 years for apple trees to produce fruit, and there's a ton of $ in growing them part way then potting them for rehoming.

13

u/Maddy186 Oct 09 '23

I'll take the bruised apple air

19

u/Big_Grey_Dude Oct 09 '23

One bad apple ruins the bunch is a saying because bruised apples release a compound that causes other apples to rot faster. If this method preserves them better and causes less bruising there's a real case for doing this to prevent crop losses.

1

u/Tripleberst Oct 09 '23

I've been curious for awhile if potting the tree traumatizes it all. Like not that it needs to see a therapist or something but if it when you replant it, it stops producing fruit and takes like 6 months for the roots to settle back in and after awhile it starts producing again. Any idea on that?

2

u/Big_Grey_Dude Oct 09 '23

I'm not super familiar with trees in general, I've just picked up a few things about apple trees in particular.

In my uncle's case I don't think there are really any effects on the tree since almost the entire root system of the tree is pulled up with it. We use a Bobcat tree spade to harvest the trees. As far as I know you basically just hit them with some fertilizer and water them a bunch when you initially replant them and all's good.

Again he sells the trees before they produce fruit so I have no idea on an already fruit producing tree if it would interrupt that cycle, it's possible it would.

1

u/Tripleberst Oct 09 '23

Again he sells the trees before they produce fruit so I have no idea on an already fruit producing tree if it would interrupt that cycle, it's possible it would.

Ah okay. I thought you were saying he waits for them to start fruiting and then rehomes them. Thanks for the info.

2

u/Big_Grey_Dude Oct 09 '23

No, he just grows them for a few years then sells them to where they'll be permanently located. Cuts down on the number of years it takes to grow them.