Shakers Affect Florida Orange Fruit Yields and Harvesting Efficiency

ORANGE harvesting studies were conducted with air and trunk shakers plus abscission chemicals and compared with hand harvesting from the 1979-80 through the 1984-85 seasons. These harvesting methods were also superimposed on several tree size management practices. Severe freezes occurred during four of these seasons. The air shaker reduced yields on average of 16% while the trunk shaker reduced yields an average of 5%. Harvesting efficiencies of the air and trunk shakers average 77 and 87%, respectively. Tree size management practices did not affect the fruit removal performance or harvesting efficiencies of the shakers.