Tools for Harvesting
Different crops require different harvesting tools, and having the right tool will make your job easy and fast.
Let’s look at the most useful tools for you to use in your greenhouse.
At the very least, you’ll need shears and a harvesting knife.
Shears don’t have to be fancy. If you don’t lose shears like we do (all the time), you may think of investing in a shear sharpener.
A harvest knife, though it may seem simple, is infinitely easier to use than a pocket knife. They usually run about $15 and are a great buy in our opinion.
Storage Bins and Crates
An optional tool that we use is plastic crates. We always have at least a dozen of these in the greenhouse being used for harvesting, organization, storage, and more. We also use crates to divvy up our CSA produce and deliver it to the pick-up.
An important thing to know if you’re using crates is that crates used in food production must be non-porous. This allows the crates to be washed and sanitized easily, and makes it much more difficult for dirt and germs to cling to the plastic.
Sanitation is Key
Sanitation is necessary for any fruit or greens.
With fruit, the most common – and easiest – way to do that is by using a diluted solution of bleach.
With greens, you’ll want to do a cold dunk. Every time we harvest, we do a triple dunk in cold water using metal basins all in a row.
The dunk not only rinses off dust, dirt, and stray pests (like aphids), but the blast of cold acts as a signal to the stomates to close. (Closed stomates means less wilting.)
Dunking your tools in a bleach solution is a great habit to get into as well. Bleach will kill a majority of harmful pathogens and help prevent the spread of plant diseases.
An easy way to build this habit is to have a bucket of bleach solution every day in a well trafficked place (like on a workbench) that you can dunk tools in.
Proper Hand Protection
Gloves are the last thing that you’ll want as you handle plants and growing tools.
You’ll protect your hands, and ultimately gloves will help you work faster.
We hope this video and post gave you some ideas about harvesting equipment.
Be sure to check out our other useful videos on our Youtube channel, and happy growing!
