Lifehacks Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for people looking to bypass life's everyday problems with simple tricks. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
I just moved into a house that has a big apple tree in the back yard. All summer long, it's been casting fruit, and the lawn just gets covered with it. They're awkward and somewhat painful when you step on them, and they're constantly jamming the wheels of my push mower.
What are good ways to quickly pick these guys up and get them into the trash can?
(There's no room for a contraption like this rotary harvester in the budget or in the garage...)
I cannot find a common name for this device, but the tool below is specifically designed to roll over fallen apples to pick them up. Search for "apple roller", "apple pickup roller", "apple rolling harvester", "apple mower", "apple weasel", "apple wizard", etc.
Use Google's image search for a really easy way to spot a product without having to crawl through a lot of false positives.
bonus tip ⤴
If you have trouble finding an apple-specific solution, a tennis ball roller does essentially the same thing.
You could put up a sign inviting the neighborhood kids to pick apples from your yard for free.
There is a handy product for this, The Fruit Collector net. It catches the windfalls (mostly) and keeps them good. Check it out www.fruitcollector.net
All apple trees that grow in a residential neighborhood get overgrown. The fallen apples are messy. A good idea is to plant a new hardwood tree next to the apple tree. When the new tree needs more room to grow bigger, you can cut down the messy apple tree & remove the stump. Install topsoil, seed, and you're done.
