How to pick fruits on tall branches? A silly question?

I have tall Asian pear trees and persimmon tree.
My question is how to pick fruits on tall branches.
I hesitate to ask my neighbor to bring his ladder to pick persimmons knowing he is always busy and I am too old to climb on ladder.

Problem with persimmons is when they get ripe and if I drop on the ground, I end up having smashed persimmons.

 

How about trying to use a telescope handle with one of those fish-catch thingies attached at the top? What are those fish catch thingies called in English? We had something similar that I used for the plums.

In my opinion there are no stupid questions, just stupid answers. Now I worry that my answer's a stupid one.

 

Is this silly question?

With our apples and pears and other fruit we just lean a ladder up there and hand pick them. You need to watch for a ladder at a garage sale. That's what I did just for my fruit trees.

Barb in Pa.

 

I have seen a "picker" which is a wire basket on a pole. The person on the ground extends to picker to the fruit, gets it into the basket (more manual dexterity than I have!) and then jiggles the basket until the fruit detaches from the tree. It must be a time-consuming process, but for fruits like persimmons and pears, it would be worth every minute.
The pickers are usually sold by fruit tree nurseries on-line. http://www.starkbros.com/products/tools has one, as do other nurseries, I'm sure.

 

Is this silly question?

Well, Look at you.... I have their apple peeler and wouldn't live without it any more.

Just never thought of a thingie-ka-bob- for pickin. I only have a few trees and I have a hubby to climb those trees and pick. LOL




Barb in Pa.

 

Yep, I was going to tell you just what marlingardener said. On to the ladder though, they do make a fruit picking ladder that has only ONE leg on the backside in the center to support it and you can get into a much tighter space with it. But if you aren't comfortable climbing a ladder the fruit picker basket is the next best option. A picking apron (Dooley makes and sells them on here) is a very handy "tool" also. We have apple picking bags and I have one of her aprons and both are essential for picking/harvesting in the orchard and garden if you are picking very much at a time.

 

There are tree (three legged) ladders, and wire basket pickers that go on a pole.

 

I have a wonderful fruit picker that I bought through Lee Valley Tools
http://www.leevalley.com/en/garden/page.aspx?p=10165&cat=2,2120,33277&ap=1
The nice thing is you can attach it to any length pole you need. I use it for apples and love it!

 

we made a fruit picker using a coffee can, long pole and nails. We would cut a V shape on one side of a coffee can with tin snips, and nail the other side to a long wood pole. Put the can up to the fruit, cut the stem by pushing on it with the sharp metal V, and the fruit would drop into the can. Works well for apples and pears, not quite so good for small fruits like cherries or soft like peaches.

 

Thank you for good suggestions everybody!

Everyone of you gave me good idea about fruit picker and I thank you.
When I was checking Harrisseeds.com I found fruit picker made of wood handle and it cost $22.95.
Only problem of this fruit picker is handle is not expendable and I don't think I can pick fruits on tall branches.

 

I did a quick search on-line and found three basket pickers:
*Ames True Temper item #2324500 10'telescoping handle for $18
*Ace Hardware (deliverable to your closest store) item #7205990 maximum length 96" for $37.99
*Amazon.com fruitpicker basket 48"-96" extension handle $22.90

The telescoping handles would be metal, of course. You can also buy the handle and the basket separately, but I think that would be more costly.

 

Thank you marlingardener for checking fruit pickers for me.
Now I am waiting for many persimmons to ripe on tall tree.
Can I use ordinary fruit picker to harvest these fruits without squashing knowing ripened persimmons are very soft?

 

Doopy, your answer to my question is good one too and not stupid at all.
I think this forum is very friendly and everybody is very helpful compared to other garden forums.

 

I'd think that you could pick ripe persimmons with a telescoping fruit picker--the advertisements specifically mention plums, which are a soft fruit, too. Probably you couldn't just keep picking until the little basket is full without smashing the ones on bottom, but if you picked two or three at a time, I don't think there would be any problem.