How do the pros pick blueberries?

I've recently discovered that totally, totally blue blueberries are tastier than those with even a hint of red. But I find it very slow to examine each berry. I have to turn each one around. Pull it out of the shadows. If I were earning a living by the number of pints I picked in an hour I'd be sunk.

Any hints and tips about identifying totally ripe berries speedily?

TIA
LAS

I don't know how pros do it - probably pick now & sort later.
I can usually recognize ripe fruit by touch - the difference between ripe/firm and green/hard.

I've discovered that blueberries, like tomatoes, will ripen after being picked. So that makes me relax just a little during picking. Not totally, because I'm sure ripened on the bush is better. After picking I put them all in a bowl of water, so they can roll around and reveal their reddish sides. I put those few in the window and add them to a batch a couple of days later.

you can by a berry picker which harvests them faster. Sorting them is a bit of a time consuming proposition though. http://fantes.com/fruit.html

For me i just hand pick the ripe ones.

But you are right just a little red makes them very tart still. All dark blue ones are very sweet.

Then I guessed right? The pros (with berry pickers) just pick them all and let the reddish ones ripen off the bush?

Different sized growers do it different ways. But often there are several harvests over a 4 to 6 week period. In many packing houses fruit can be sorted by electroinic eyes by color and drop through holes for size. But many berry growers are very small operations. Usually they ripen up by the time they make it to market. Some growers can speed ripening with ethylene gas...the gas given off off bananas. They do this with tomatoes.

Thanks so much, Drobarr. That's exactly the info I was looking for.

Do you have a history with blueberry picking?

Can you tell us how you chose your username?

TIA
LAS (My initials - :-) )

obarr is my last name. I have a Ph.D. in agronomy so Drobarr sort of fit.

I work for an ag chemical company developing crop protection products(conventional and organic) in numerous crops including blueberries so I am very familiar with commercial blueberry production both in the PNW as well as here in the Northeast.

I have about ten blueberry bushes I pick on my own property as well as huckleberries, goosberries, currants, lingonberries, grapes, raspberries, blackberries etc.

I love this website as it helps me to keep learning from all my fellow gardeners and get good ideas as wll as share some as well.

We're lucky to have you! I knew that before I saw this latest post. :-)