Anybody ever built a bean picker?

I was watching a video on YouTube the other day and it showed the inside of a green bean picker. I was suprised that there wasn't a whole lot to it. Basically it looked like the pick up reel of a baler turned sideways and it sat at an incline so it would pick the top of the plants first and it would pick down to the bottom of the plant as it went by. Of course the reel turns much slower on the bean picker than it does on a baler. Anybody ever built one?

We had a couple little bean pickers for awhile, but then they grew up and left home.

I think that growers and universities should be doing more R&D to invent machines that will eliminate manual labor for picking most crops. We have the technology (air, hydraulics and electronics); it should be just a matter of applying it to pick crops.

That was my thought... WE were the bean pickers. LOL

Can they pick green bean fields more than once?

Or is it like harvesting soy beans the the entire plant gets cut off and run through the harvesting machine?

One time here. The plant is not cut off, the fingers remove the beans. Not much plant left. The picker removes leaves and stems from the heavier beans. All bush beans....James

I'm sure they can build them but, the cost of buying them would certainly limit the market. They do make them for bigger operations. Little guys can't justify the cost.

I'd sure love to see some plans and determine if I have enough intelligence to build one.

Yehbut you can cut off green bean plants and they sometimes shoot out again to make "new" plants.

-- also seems like whatever kind of machine that picks green beans would also work for peas?

I "built" two with my wife. Problem was I couldn't get them to work when the beans were ready to harvest. I wanted to "build" a bunch more with my wife and local floozies, but whenever I suggested it my wife put an end to those thoughts.

Bean pickers are expensive to raise, a pain in the butt to discipline" and all and all just not worth it. I would just hire a bunch of illegals. Our taxes are paying for them anyway.

Gene

I have an older Pixall, 1 row bean picker. The reel rotates faster than a baler pickup. I, too, thought of trying to build one, but after watching sales for 2 years, bought this one. The varieties that we plant have a concentrated bloom.. about 85% of the blooms occur over 4-5 days. Early on, we tried hand picking them but, they are bred for one picking. They bloom a second time but the beans are under developed. I grew up picking the 'old' type beans. These type of varieties yield 40-60% more. Tom

Now there's a ready-made business for someone. Manufacturing Bean Pickers in DIY kit form at a reasonable cost.


:>)

Would like to find a used one someday as all our
bean pickers are adults and working their own now.

No, but I did raise four of them.
Only trouble is, they grew up and moved away.

In 1930s to 1950s there was a lot of migrant farm labor for various crops to be picked- cotton was one crop. 'Black' migrant picking crews were a large part of the migrants northeast to south starting with New England apple harvest to southern citrus and cotton. WW2 interrupted labor supply, machines for some war needs got better and the hand pickers were replaced by mechanical cotton pickers and lots of small combines and corn pickers developed in those years. Canning company contractors around central Wisconsin have pea and bean pickers, sweet corn pickers and less need for local youth to do the special harvests. The Mex workers do some of the special picking, the local city 'blacks' and white druggies won't go to garden crops to pick. Farmers markets around Madison have old whites, Amish, some Asian vendors and some Hispanics, a few of the 'blacks' but mostly older and their kids. Mild Teasing Alert! some of the 'blacks kids say why do plantation nigg** work, food in grocery store easier. Sigh! IF all veggie harvest gets done by machine, then lots of old line varieties will decrease. Couple posters noted the short harvest, top crop bean varieties that are picked by machine and reduced total yields--but those varieties are pickable by machine so no labor disputes to interrupt harvest. Garden bean picking with long harvest time varieties- hand or maybe a Japanese or Chinese small machine might be made soon- Japan has a minor farm labor shortage and lots of engineers. RN