Wild Bunch, The

So you're about to journey into your favorite woods, and enjoy another experience of picking berries. Did you know - if the crop is moderate to heavy - you can choose four to ten times as many wild berries in an hour, with an inexpensive tool known as a rake Huckleberry?

How to get more fruit in your bucket!

Real berries on most plant species Huckleberry grow only on growth this year. So do not try to "bull" your way through the plant. Since the teeth of a rake are usually metal, and very robust, there is a high risk of damage to the wild plant if you try to tilt more than necessary. The more you hang up, and more leaves in your bucket, which is from time to choose.

If the berries are very rare, you're the best selection of hand. However, over harvesting of blueberries, plus a rake increase yields higher Handpicking ... for obvious reasons!

Think small!

Huckleberry rakes work better with a small bouquet of berries to manage. Short, fast, relaxed shots, with just the right amount of berries and twigs like a target, you will provide the greatest return. Until you get the hang of the action of the wrist, hunt small twigs first, at the end of the main branches. Drag your teeth in just under the lowest Huckleberry in a clump of perhaps three to five bays, to start, then pull the teeth and through the pack loose wild blueberries.

Your first slide: "What Just Happened?"

Probably one of two things. Either you're going too slow, and blueberries have been pinched and squeezed while you rake a bit hung up on tiny branches. Or, you went too fast, and most berries flew over your rake, peppering the surrounding vegetation. Like shrimpers rookie in the film Forrest Gump, who got old boots and a toilet seat in their first catch, your first effort can earn you rake more leaves than fruit.

Not as easy as it sounds, but you'll get better, fast! If you're a fisherman or fisherwoman, you know what I mean when I describe "setting the hook. You get the line semi-tight, and then just at the right time, you feel a tug, give a little wink of the wrist and "Fish!". You can describe and explain how the movement of the wrist whatever you want, but until you experience the sensation of dozens - or even a few hundred - you will never know how to set the hook, and catch that lunker.

Round 2!

Then try again. As you drag the teeth under the blueberries, perhaps six to ten berries this time you want to rake up against the light "pressure" bays attached - like the baton to the intake line fish. Note that if you try to take too many branches at once, the pressure turns your rake in a growl among the twigs, reducing the effectiveness of your efforts, and increasing the risk of damage to the plant.

The instant you feel any pressure, you will make a short, sweet "snapshot" of your wrist, upward or outward. Too slow, and you hang the branches and blue berries, through lots of leaves. (This occurs because you're pulling the fruit off, instead of jumping.) Too fast, and more fruit fly over the rake in rake.

Practice, practice, practice!

Do not give up! At first you may feel like it would be faster to take the hand. And that would be! But hang on, things will change, and once they change, you will rack up gallon after gallon of cranberry rake a lot faster than you ever thought possible. Once you get comfortable, each movement of the wrist will lead to a dozen (or more) beautiful purple berries in the blink of an eye.

Using both Han.