Type of blueberry
It's the first elemnt of the chain of quality, the fundament of quality. Types with soft or weak fruits will be hard to produce so that they will be able to survive the long deliveries and have good parametres on the shelf. A series of licensing varieties such as Draper, Liberty, Aurora have great parameters, but in Polish conditions they are often unreliable in yielding. Therefore, their participation on Polish plantations is not large, but it is slowly growing. In this case, you do not have to work as much as you want with the varieties Bluecrop or Chandler to get good quality when selling, which does not mean that you can not destroy them on the bush-recipient path.
Quality of blueberries on the bush
It is not the same with quality on the shelf, you can have great fruit on the plantation, but the cold store is weak. The path of fruit from the bush to the warehouse is a basic element of good quality. The first matter is a collection of blueberries, it requires battles of good manual skills, gentle handling of fruits. Containers where blueberries are picked should be as close to the worker's twig and hands as possible, then the amount of fruit held in the hands will be smaller, ie less risk of wrinkles. The method of inserting broken fruit into containers is also important, it can not be done from a great height. Conclusion one, quite small and low collection containers, best attached to the person's breaking belt.
Cooling time of blueberries
This is a very important element, the shorter the better. Lowering this time is a logistical challenge on every plantation. If it is about 2 hours, it is a good result and that is enough.
Time 30 minutes from harvest to cool, is possible only when the plantation of refrigerated trucks, stationary containers are not suitable for this because when reloading on the car the fruit will cover with dew. Employees must have broken fruit every 20 minutes, which gives us less than 2 kg for a capacity of about 5 kg/h, so the containers to be cut can not be more than 2kg, because then the time of pulling the container will be more than 30 minutes. The number of such refrigerated vehicles also must be appropriate to the size, number of accommodation units and amount of bats. There is another problem, when placing fruit into the container, the door must be opened and closed frequently, it will cause problems with obtaining low temperature on the refrigerated truck, but what's worse may cause dew on already chilled fruits.
The lack of cooling of broken blueberries directly on the plantation or specific quarters makes it impossible to obtain a time of 30 minutes. It is physically impossible. Accepting the fruit takes a few minutes, arriving at the reception point, arriving from the plantation to the cold store, unloading time, returning to the collection point, all this makes 30 minutes a fiction. 2 we pass a very good result and it requires a good organization, it is also quite sufficient.
Quality of blueberries on the bush
It is not the same with quality on the shelf, you can have great fruit on the plantation, but the cold store is weak. The path of fruit from the bush to the warehouse is a basic element of good quality. The first matter is a collection of blueberries, it requires battles of good manual skills, gentle handling of fruits. Containers where blueberries are picked should be as close to the worker's twig and hands as possible, then the amount of fruit held in the hands will be smaller, ie less risk of wrinkles. The method of inserting broken fruit into containers is also important, it can not be done from a great height. Conclusion one, quite small and low collection containers, best attached to the person's breaking belt.
Cooling time of blueberries
This is a very important element, the shorter the better. Lowering this time is a logistical challenge on every plantation. If it is about 2 hours, it is a good result and that is enough.
Time 30 minutes from harvest to cool, is possible only when the plantation of refrigerated trucks, stationary containers are not suitable for this because when reloading on the car the fruit will cover with dew. Employees must have broken fruit every 20 minutes, which gives us less than 2 kg for a capacity of about 5 kg/h, so the containers to be cut can not be more than 2kg, because then the time of pulling the container will be more than 30 minutes. The number of such refrigerated vehicles also must be appropriate to the size, number of accommodation units and amount of bats. There is another problem, when placing fruit into the container, the door must be opened and closed frequently, it will cause problems with obtaining low temperature on the refrigerated truck, but what's worse may cause dew on already chilled fruits.
The lack of cooling of broken blueberries directly on the plantation or specific quarters makes it impossible to obtain a time of 30 minutes. It is physically impossible. Accepting the fruit takes a few minutes, arriving at the reception point, arriving from the plantation to the cold store, unloading time, returning to the collection point, all this makes 30 minutes a fiction. 2 we pass a very good result and it requires a good organization, it is also quite sufficient.
