Bogs are fed by water that drains from neighboring ponds and lakes. Besides providing nourishment, the water also provides protection against frost for young vines, which begin their annual cycle in early spring. Workers gather berries using a boom. Harvesting Harvesting begins shortly after Labor Day and continues until the end of October. When cranberry harvesting first began, growers would hand-pick the cranberries.
Most growers use the wet-pick method.
Invented in the 1950s in Wisconsin, this method involves flooding the bogs and then using a water reel, known to growers as an egg beater, that moves through the flooded bogs beating the water to knock the ripened berries off the vines. As the egg beater moves through the bogs it is careful not to crush the vines, preserving them for the next harvest. After the berries are off the vines, they float to the surface and workers connect miles of yellow tubing, called a boom, which corrals the berries into a conveyor belt. About 75 percent of the berries harvested in Massachusetts are gathered using the water-pick method and are usually sold as sauces, juices, jams and jellies. The machine rotates through the vines to collect the berries, which are then stored in large crates.