When picking labor is limited, prime fruit may easily become overripe. Overripe blueberries are extremely easy to damage. Blueberries that don t look too bad when picked may be totally unacceptable when they reach the consumer. Price, and particularly reputations, depend largely on quality. Once damaged, your reputation and that of your marketing organization may be very difficult to repair.
Consumers long remember experiences with a poor quality product.
Whenever possible, avoid harvesting wet blueberries. Wet berries are very susceptible to decay organisms and often resemble overripe berries leaking juice. Waiting a few hours to begin harvesting after a rain or heavy dew can significantly reduce the chance of infection by postharvest disease organisms and can improve the appearance of the fruit. Manual Harvesting Proper instruction and careful supervision of the picking crew is essential to the success of any harvesting operation. Postharvest quality control begins in the field.