This small shrub with yellow berries is famous for its useful properties. The composition of its fruits contains a huge amount of biologically active ingredients and vitamins. From sea-buckthorn make oil, prepare jam, squeeze out the juice. To preserve the maximum of useful properties, some housewives prefer to freeze fresh fruits. The sea buckthorn begins with the onset of the first frosts. This should be done immediately, because gradually the berries become softer and easily choked in their hands.
When to collect sea buckthorn in the middle strip of
Ripe fruit of sea-buckthorn have a rich orange color, they are densely planted on branches. In the middle belt the bush begins to ripen in the summer, at the end of August. Before collecting ripe berries, you need to determine the purpose of this process. Think about what you will use them for. The way in which the sea-buckthorn berries are used will also depend on the time at which they are collected.
If you intend to eat fresh berries or cook compotes and jam from them, collect them at the beginning of ripening - the end of August or the first days of September. During this period the sea-buckthorn is filled with ascorbic acid, has dense skin, which prevents its damage during harvesting. To make marmalade, jam or butter, wait until the middle of autumn, then the sea-buckthorn will be filled with juice and will become softer.
How to collect and store the seabuckthorn
The sea buckthorn should be harvested from the top of the bush, gradually going down. Ripe fruit easily bursts in the hands, sprinkling juice. To prevent contamination of clothes, put on an apron or old clothes, which it will not be pitiful to stain. On hands it is better to put on gloves - this will protect them from sea buckthorn thorns, which can leave numerous abrasions and wounds.
How to assemble a sea-buckthorn:
- Experienced gardeners for harvesting use a special homemade device similar to a loop of thin wire or rope. This loop fastens to the base of the branch and with the help of a rapid sharp movement of the hands cuts all the berries. Before using the hinge, place a volumetric container on the bottom where the sea buckthorn will fall. This method of collection is especially convenient when the berry brush grows in a dense frame of branches and thorns.
- The blade, knife or small scissors are often used for harvesting. With their help, it is easy to cut off ripe sea buckthorn, but this method involves considerable time and labor.
- Resourceful summer residents use the comb, which comb the berries from the bush. However, this is not a very accurate way of collecting. So the fruit of sea buckthorn can crumble under rough ridges.
- With the help of a tin tube and a polyethylene bag, you can carefully remove all the berries from the tree, without damaging them. The tube is attached to the package, after which it is brought to the bottom of the berry, directs it to the tube with a finger, and the sea-buckthorn rolls down on it, getting into the bag.
- The traditional method involves harvesting in late autumn or winter( with the beginning of the first frosts).Under the bush is spread a large blanket or a piece of cellophane, a strong stick is taken and with the help of light frequent strokes on the trunk and branches of sea-buckthorn, all the berries are thinned from it. When the fruits fall off, they are poured from the bedspread into boxes or other storage containers.
- How is it easier to harvest sea buckthorn? If you want to transport the harvested crop from the dacha home, it is better to cut whole branches with berries from the bush and place them in small boxes. This safe collection method will preserve the integrity of the sea buckthorn and bring it to its destination with less loss than if you had to transport the ripe berries taken from the fruit stalks.
The storage conditions for sea-buckthorn berries assume the use of glass containers made of dark glass, closed with a sealed lid. Keep containers in a dark, cool place, but not in the refrigerator. You can freeze the fruits of the plant. To do this, wash the sea-buckthorn, dry it and put it in a freezer in one layer. After freezing the fruits, pack them in vacuum sachets or containers and put them in the freezer. Dry sea-buckthorn at a temperature of up to 60 degrees. To do this, the berries are laid out on a baking sheet and put in an oven, heated to the desired temperature.
Ways and equipment for harvesting sea-buckthorn - video
For gardeners, for the first time faced with the need to harvest, this work may seem complicated. Short stems, thick sprouts prickles will be a serious test for inept hands. Spines painfully hurt the skin, and the juice of delicate, easily bursting berries, penetrating into the wounds, unpleasant pinching and leaves irritation. Since fruits grow on the branches of sea-buckthorn with large clusters, collecting each of them individually can become a day-long hard work. Experienced gardeners use faster and less painful methods for this.
How to collect berries with a device in the form of a loop
There is a huge number of different devices designed to collect sea-buckthorn. They are necessary to simplify and speed up the process. Often, gardeners use simple combs that "comb" the sea buckthorn in a cooked bag or bag, but more often they use "cobra".This tool is a thin steel wire, fixed on a wooden stick. Having looked below video from YouTube, you will learn how to collect sea buckthorn with such a loop.
A quick way to collect ripe fruits with
forceps For those who have great patience, a cropping method using forceps is suitable, for more details see in the video below. The advantage of the method is its accuracy with respect to the tree, which remains unscathed, and the berries, which do not lose their integrity. Gentle shrubs handmade positively affect the amount of harvest that will grow on the tree by the next year. This method is used by gardeners, who have some sea buckthorn bushes on the site.
Collecting sea-buckthorn, cutting off branches with berries
It is difficult to collect sea-buckthorn, the tree reliably protects its harvest from those who want to eat it. The branches of the bush are covered with sharp thorns, and the berries themselves are under numerous branches, firmly attached to the pedicels. Complicating the work is the tenderness of the skin of sea-buckthorn fruit. This determines the desire of summer residents to protect themselves and harvest during harvesting. Often they cut the berries together with the branches using a pruner or large scissors. From the video below you will learn how to do it right.
Berry cutting with small scissors
This method is common for all types of berries and is widely used. Collection takes place with the help of small scissors and hands. The downside of the method is that the work takes a long time. Many gardeners prefer to cut off whole branches, and already at home to pick berries from them. The plus of manual collection is safety for the tree - careful work guarantees the safety of the bush and fruits. See how to harvest with small scissors, in this video:
Scraper for rapid harvesting of sea buckthorn
The goal of each tool for harvesting sea-buckthorn is to facilitate and accelerate this process. Often gardeners use special forks or scrapers to comb the fruit from the bush. The tool is often done through improvised things. In addition to the scraper for this work will need an umbrella or a cut of cellophane, which is covered with earth under the tree. The video will help you learn how to quickly harvest with such a device: