It’s finally here – the season for raspberry harvesting. This is the time when the red fruits of the raspberry plant turn up in your favorite fruit basket and when your local fruit and vegetable market starts selling them at a premium.

The raspberries are one of the most popular fruits in the world and their popularity is not limited to just this region alone. The best part is that raspberries are relatively easy to grow and they produce fruits in abundance all through the year. So, what are you waiting for? Get your gloves and hat and get to harvesting your raspberries!

The best way to get the most out of your raspberry harvest is to adopt some specific harvesting practices. Here’s everything you need to know about the different types of harvesting, why you should do it, how long it should last, and the best tools for the job.

What is the difference between canning and harvesting?

Canning is a process that is often used for preserving foods for long-term shelf life. It involves putting the food into jars and processing the jars at very low temperatures for a very long time period to kill off bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms.

Harvesting, on the other hand, is just the act of collecting the fruit from a plant without doing any processing. Harvesting fruit from the raspberry plant will leave the fruit in its whole state, without any processing. So, you can harvest the fruit before canning and keep the fruits in their whole state, or you can harvest the fruit after canning and make jam or jelly.

When to harvest raspberries

The best time to harvest raspberries is when they are fully ripe. You can easily tell if a raspberry is ripe by simply looking at it. Ripe raspberries will have a yellowish colour, soft, plump, and slightly wrinkled appearance. Wait until your raspberries are fully ripe before picking them. Do not wait until the berries are ripe, then decide that they are not ripe enough.

Rinse off your harvested raspberries in water as much as you can before placing them in containers. This will prevent the growth of bacteria on the surface of the berries.

If you have a raspberry patch in your garden, you can also harvest the fruits when they are fully ripe. But make sure to stake the plants because they will start to grow vigorously when ripe and they may pull down the rest of the plant.

How to harvest raspberries

– Rake fallen berries: Pick any unripe or old berries off your plants, then rake the fallen berries so that they do not get onto the ground. This will reduce the amount of work you have to do in harvesting raspberries.

– Clean up your patch: Pick off any leaves that are lying on the ground, and clean up any other traces of the plant so that the patch does not collect dust, soil, or other contaminants.

– Keep a strict schedule: Harvest your raspberries when they are fully ripe and place them in containers as soon as possible to prevent spoilage.