When to Harvest - the Sonora Pacific group

When to harvest?
When to
Harvest
Think about why you harvest. It's
because somebody wants to eat.
Your goal is to give the consumer
what they want. Your produce
should look and taste the way they
want it by the time it reaches
them.
If you harvest your entire field at
once, some of the produce will be
under-mature (too small, green, or
bitter) and some will be overmature (too soft, short shelf life).
Either way, it's produce that
nobody wants. So why harvest it?
Since the quality is lower, you
have to accept a lower price. You
lose money on every kilo.
Pay attention to maturity. You can
use simple measures of maturity
to help you choose and harvest
only produce that can reach its
best eating quality (leaving the
rest in the field to be harvested
later). The consumer will be
happier, and you will be known for
better quality, which will help you
sell more and make a better profit.
Millennium Challenge Account
Cape Verde
Ministry of the Environment,
Rural Development and
Marine Resources
Demonstrating postharvest tools.
Agland Investment Services, Inc.
Te c h n i c a l Te a m
Coordination:
Lizanne E. Wheeler
Editor, Designer, Layout Artist:
Chase DuBois
Technical Collaboration: Dr. Farbod Youssefi,
Dr. Lisa Kitinoja, Lizanne E. Wheeler
Post-harvest tools.
on e i n a seri es of 5
Postharvest
www.mca.cv/pt/formacao/documentos-formacao/
Maturity indices
Harvest when ripe
Can harvest before ripe
Different fruits and vegetables are
judged by different maturity indices.
The following fruits and vegetables do
not ripen after harvest. They should be
harvested at full maturity. Use the
indices listed below for your products
to determine when they are mature.
Other products continue to ripen after
harvest. For these you need to think
about transport time. How many days
after harvest does your product reach
the consumer?
The most common indices are:
• size
• color
• sweetness (sugar content — use
Carrot
sufficient size, uniform taper,
makes crisp sound when broken
refractometer to measure)
• firmness (use penetrometer to measure)
But what is the optimum size? What is
the optimum color? Again, it depends
on the consumer.
Most fruits and vegetables should be
harvested at the optimum maturity
desired by the consumer, then
transported to the market as quickly
and carefully as possible.
Some products continue to ripen after
harvest. This is an advantage. Instead
of waiting for these products to ripen
in the field, you can harvest them early
and let them ripen during transport.
They will reach the optimum eating
quality desired by the consumer just
before they arrive in the market.
If a tomato takes 5 days to reach the
the market, maybe you harvest pinkgreen tomatoes…
Eggplant
40 days from
flowering, glossy peel
Corn
Cabbage
silks are dry,
kernels exude
milky sap when
cut open
firm
Garlic / Onion / Potato
plant tops begin to dry out and fall over
If you harvest these products before
they are mature, they will not ripen
and their quality will be inferior.
Also in this category:
• Cassava
• Bell pepper
• Cucumber
• Cabbage
…so that 5 days later,
your tomato is red, and
the consumer wants to buy it.
Also in this category:
Papaya
1/4 color change from green,
minimum 12% SSC (refractometer)
• Banana: cross-section becomes rounded
• Mango: shoulder starts to form near stem
end, minimum 12% SSC (refractometer)
•
•
•
•
Orange / Lemon
Pineapple
Strawberry
Grape
• Guava
• Passion fruit
• Breadfruit
• Watermelon
• Avocado