Field test results with mechanical harvesting equipment in Florida oranges

During the 1996-1997 season, mechanical harvesting tests were conducted wit h a canopy shaker, a trunk shake-catch harvester, and a fruit pickup machin e. The canopy shaker, which moved continuously down one side of the tr-ee r ow canopy, operated at 1.2 to 2.4 km/h. Orange removals ranged from 55% in larger diameter tree canopies to 95% in smaller tree canopies with machine capacities up to 25 t/h. The trunk shake-catch harvester removed 84 to 94% of oranges shaking 5 to 10 s per tree with machine capacities up to 10 t/h. The fruit pickup machine picked up oranges at 15 to 20 t/h at 97% efficien cy and caused 3 to 7% split peels from handling.