Begonia Harvest
January 10 2014 | Posted in News
Begonia Harvest 2013
The month of December marks the begonia harvest here at CalBegonias. Our begonia field becomes barren and is a much different sight then in August when the begonias are in full bloom. Here is a little sneak peak into how we harvest our begonia tubers and prepare them to be sent to their new homes to be grown for the next begonia season.
??August 2013
Late December 2013
Meet the Green Monster. It’s sole job is to unearth begonia tubers. The Green Monster is a modified potato digger. It brings dormant ??tubers to surface by a blade that passes under the begonia tubers and then lifts them onto a broad chain that jumps a little on a small cam to shake some of the sand off. ??The lumps of soil, each containing a begonia tuber, is then unceremoniously dumped into a bin. Bins of begonia tubers are then loaded on to a truck and transported from our Marina, Ca field to our facility in Moss Landing, Ca.
Bin of soil lumps containing begonia tubers.??
Once the begonia tubers have arrived in Moss Landing most of the remaining soil is washed off and the begonias are dried, sorted and ready to be shipped to their new homes.
The Bulb Washer
A bin of begonia tubers starting the bulb washing process.
The washer dumps recirculated water on the tubers, two settling ponds collect the sand that is later hauled away.
Tubers moving along the bulb washing process.
Flats of wet begonia tubers stacked and ready for the dryer.??
The dryer is 3 standard shipping containers placed side by side and cut so that a hot wind driven down the center container is divided and driven back up to outer two.
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