DIY Apple Fruit Picker Pole Bottom Cap

In this series of the Apple Fruit Picker articles, much has been discussed on the the Apple Fruit Picker tool - and for good reason. When harvesting fruits, the apple fruit picking tool functions mainly to grasp, catch and recover the fruit into the fruit basket. The apple fruit picking tool is mounted on the top end of the fruit picker pole.

Thus far, nothing has been discussed on the bottom end of the pole.

A cap that covers the bottom of the the biggest of the three poles has its advantages, aside from aesthetics. It can be improvised with readily available materials.

How to Improvise and Install the Fruit Picker Bottom Cap

Materials

The first thing to know is what possible jar or bottle plastic cap would fit on the pvc pipe end. It so happened that the bottom end of the outside pipe has a bell end.

Fortunately, finding a bottle plastic cap that would cover and fit this bell was easy. I simply used the bottle cap of a discarded Gatorade bottle as shown below.

• Jar or Bottle Cap that will allow the pipe end a snug fit.
  
  
• Construction Adhesive
  
  

Procedure

1. Spread adhesive liberally on the inside of the cap.
   
   
2. Spread adhesive liberally along the rim of the pipe's bottom end.
   
   
3. When the adhesive on both parts is dry to the touch (around 15 minutes), fit the pipe end into the cap as shown below.
   
   
   
   
   
4. Allow the adhesive to dry and cure thoroughly.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Advantages of the Fruit Picker Pole Bottom Cap

• Stopper for the Interior Poles
  
  When the two interior poles are retracted into the outside pole, there needs to be a stopper at the end that will catch all the poles. The stopper prevents the two inside poles from sliding past the bottom end of the outside pole. This is especially true when transporting the collapsed poles as shown below.
  
  
  
  
  
• Easy on the Palms
  
  The apple picker poles when fully extended attain a maximum length of 16 feet. Because the material is made of lightweight pvc, it can be supported by one hand when the pole is at a vertical position.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Occasionally, the top part of the apple fruit picker pole will rest on some of the tree branches as shown below.
  
  
  
  
  Notice that the apple fruit picker pole's bottom is supported only by the palm of one hand.
  
  
  
  
  The fruit picker pole bottom cap rests flatly on the base of the palm. It doesn't dig into the skin and doesn't hurt the apple fruit picker user.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Prevent Digging into Soil
  
  When the poles of the fruit picker are retracted, there is a tendency for the bottom end to collect soil, dirt and debris if it is not covered. The pole bottom cap prevents the poles from digging into soil and collecting dirt and debris.