Method for mechanically harvesting tomatoes

摘要

Tomatoes are mechanically harvested by moving a mechanical harvester through a row of growing tomato plants, severing the plants below ground, and picking up the severed plants along with loose tomatoes and some dirt clods, while returning loose dirt to the ground. The severed tomato plants are separated from the loose tomatoes and dirt clods and are shaken to remove the tomatoes from the plants. These tomatoes are recovered and conveyed forwardly past sorters. In the meantime the originally loose tomatoes and clods are passed rearwardly countercurrently to the mainstream of tomatoes, by the sorters for recovery of good loose tomatoes. Preferably, the pickup is made at about 15% slower than the ground speed of the harvester, while the separation between plants and the clods and loose tomatoes is made at the ground speed and the separated plants are carried away from that separation step at a speed about 15% greater than the ground speed of the harvester.