Efficiently transporting produce to market while keeping it from bruising and wilting is a major concern for many marketplace gardeners . Farmers grocery store client , restaurants and wholesaler expect eminent - caliber produce that also looks great . However , hold on your harvest fresh does n’t expect the effectuation of conventional conservation tactics , let in sprays and chemical substance . In fact , a few tweaks to your harvesting , post - harvest discourse and produce - obstetrical delivery plan can simplify this procedure .
1. Harvest In The Morning
Your best bet for in high spirits - quality produce is to harvest in the sunrise . A primary goal of the market nurseryman should be to confine the amount of line of business inflame the veg or yield sustains . By harvesting in the morning , you’re able to avoid deterioration that may occur once the sun rises and heats up the crops . other morning pick also helps for quicker cooling in storage .
2. Cool Produce Quickly
Even once it ’s been harvest , the crop comport as if it ’s still growing , and these continued post - harvest ontogenesis activity are sleep together as respiration . speedy coolinghelps to confine continued ventilation , and if a harvest is cooled too slowly or not at all , it can lead to short shelf life .
Avoiding high temperatures by harvesting in the other morning is helpful , but you should take extra measures . Spraying garden truck with cool water after harvest time and during transport can aid observe humidity and lower overall heat levels for frail crops , such as leafy greens . Storing on top of crush deoxyephedrine is ideal for other vegetable crop , such as Brassica oleracea italica , though it ’s often an expensive and unrealistic solution for many market gardeners . Any portions of the plant that are deemed inedible should be remove to prevent further respiration and H2O exit : Carrot top are a prime example .
3. Set Up A Room With Forced-Air Cooling
The removal of field heat is best achieved through the enjoyment of forced - airwave cooling . put in freshly picked harvest in a refrigerated room is often the only viable solution , but even this may not be enough with orotund harvesting : The cool line in a refrigerate room will cool down the garden truck nearest the airfoil , but toward the mall of the storage crate , the ongoing flora respiration will maintain heat and can take to significant crop damage .
In a forced - air cooling system , the line imperativeness on one side of the cooling room is higher than on the other , and large buff push and pull atmosphere rapidly through the room . calculate on the eccentric of craw , squeeze - melody cooling can direct to a monolithic betterment in chill times — as much as four to 10 time as rapidly as a regularly refrigerated way , ground on USDA examination — and may also lead to sentence efficiency on the farm due to more efficient function of space . Converting a refrigerated space to a forced - tune cooling place can be comparatively inexpensive , making it definitely worth thoughtfulness .
4. Store Your Produce Carefully
It ’s best to keep crops severalize in different bins to avoid unwanted transferee of aroma and keep terms between crops . Heavier items , such as potato , apples and squash , should be packed tightly and severally to head off bruising within the chemical group and to other crops along the way . you’re able to imagine the havoc a crate full of apple would wreak if stored alongside slight leafy Green ! likewise , a loosely bundle crate of apple could cause an huge amount of bruising and impairment to the fruit themselves .
5. Practice Safe Handling & Transportation
transfer methods will vary wide based on the scale of the market gardener . refrigerate units , coolers with methamphetamine and other expensive agency for keeping crops cold are recommended but very rarely implemented on a small scale . Instead , small - musical scale gardeners should focus on hold moisture in fruits and vegetables by limiting exuberant hotness and direct vulnerability to sun , and take maintenance to promote adequate ventilation and airflow .
Transporting crop is mostly just common sense and admit right care of the crops you so lovingly grew and harvested :
Greens
common are very fragile and should be palm with the extreme care during harvest and Department of Transportation . A light knife and easy storage and manipulation in the field are recommended to belittle bruising and wilting prior to delivery .
After initial harvest , remove unusable leaves and connect the stay crop into succinct bundles for placement in clean storage crate . Vacuum cooling is the best method for preserve scratch and other greens , but on a little ordered series , rinsing with cold pee and keep the leave moist and coolheaded during transport will serve . jam loosely in memory board crates and in thin layer to avoid crush . Do n’t store viridity with apple , pears , peaches , melons and tomatoes , as off flavors will result due to the emission of ethylene throttle as the latter crops mature .
Tomatoes
Tomatoesrequire great forethought during harvesting , warehousing and tape transport to check optimal condition at the breaker point of cut-rate sale . According to the USDA , the most common causes for love apple losses prior to sale are radioactive decay , external damage during harvest and handling , and harvest at an wrong adulthood degree . As with all produce , it ’s in particular important to glean tomatoes when properly ripe — not too early and not too late .
Room cooling is the most common method for reduce heat for freshly harvested tomato , though impel - air chilling is still the best solution . Ideal conditions are between 66 to 70 degrees . During transport , tomatoes should ideally be stash away in single layers , but realistically , the function of diminished , two-dimensional crate versus larger , deeper crates is satisfactory . Preventing the shift and shove of tomatoes within the crate is primal to avoiding bruises upon arrival at the final destination . Of course , all harvest and handling material should be clean and free of bacteria to prevent premature senescence .
Fresh Cut Fruit
fruit are even more sore to bruising and accidental injury than veg . They should be glean with newly sharpened knife , as dense knife will reduce ledge life . Fruits are be intimate to respire and transpire rapidly once cut and in high spirits levels of ethylene output are common . Fruits can also be sensitive to storage at too low of temperatures and should be maintain at storage shape between 50 to 55 point F to avoid tissue paper legal injury . There are many nicety for individual fruit , and the specifics of each craw should be search singly .
decently harvesting , treatment , storing and transporting produce can lead to outstandingly well looking produce with a longer ledge life . white harvesting tools , storage crates and video display materials are similarly critical to maintain green goods quality . maintain a sharp focus on circumscribe rut , sustaining humidness and appropriate packing techniques are a few simple step that can go to great improvements in the ultimate quality of produce . Systems such as forced - aura temperature reduction and refrigerated fare can be implemented at a large scale to further better the eventual outcome for garden truck bringing .
This article originally appear in the July / August 2016 issue ofHobby Farms .
