How are cranberries harvested?

Question

why is it in water?

Answer 1

Today's growers use two methods for harvesting: wet harvesting and dry harvesting. Cranberries were first harvested by hand, later, pickers used wooden scoops to comb through the vines and lift off the berries.

In  the wet harvesting method ...which is the most common method..."The grower floods the usually dry bog with up to eighteen inches of water. The next day, water reels are used to stir up water in the bogs. The cranberries are loosened from the vines and float to the surface of the water. They are corralled and loaded into trucks."

The wet method helps separate the good cranberries from the bad:

" Cranberries have pockets of air inside them that make them float and bounce. If a cranberry is damaged or spoiled, it will not bounce."

http://www.teachervision.fen.com/foods/r...

In Massassachusetts approximately 90 percent of the crop is harvested the wet harvest way... by flooding:

http://www.cranberries.org/cranberries/g...

http://www.uga.edu/fruit/cranberi.html

http://www.cranberrycoastcoc.com/cran3.h...

http://www.photozo.com/album/showphoto.p...

http://www.fotosearch.com/PHD135/19030

http://www.capecodtravel.com/attractions...

Fresh cranberries can also be harvested by the dry method  which uses a mechanical picker to comb the berries off the vine with moving metal teeth.

In modern machines, a conveyor belt carries the berries to a receptacle at the back of the machine.

Machines like this have been (& may still be) used to comb the fruits from the plants:

http://www.botgard.ucla.edu/html/botanyt...

http://www.painetworks.com/pages/hq/hq22...

http://www.cranberrycoastcoc.com/cran1.h...

http://wisconsinhistory.org/highlights/a...

http://www.cardcow.com/50782/harvesting-...