When and how to harvest radicchio: the advice of Ortomec experts

One of the most beloved vegetables of the Old World: is radicchio! Its pungent taste and deliciously bitter make it one of the most consumed types of lettuce, especially in winter. But when and how to harvest radicchio to prevent its leaves from ruining? For optimal harvesting we need efficient machines, able to cut this specific type of vegetable with the utmost care and precision.

As for the time of harvesting, on the other hand, radicchio must be harvested when it is firm to the touch, avoiding to ripen excessively the head, which would be only more bitter. There are those who prefer to pick radicchio when the vegetable is little bigger than an orange or grapefruit, those who, instead, proceed to its collection when it is younger and tender.

Read on to find out all the Ortomec experts advice on when and how to harvest radicchio!

Harvesting radicchio in all simplicity and safety: discover how with Ortomec

Ortomec offers your company a wide range of pickers for radicchio made with the most innovative technology, for a precise and safe cutting of vegetables. Thanks to Ortomec machines you can collect radicchio by managing the cutting height and adjusting the working speed of the oscillating blade and conveyor belt.

Ortomec machines are equipped with electronic sensors. This revolutionary technology is able to detect the height of the leaves of the vegetables that you need to cut. This is how Ortomec solutions ensure a product processed in a homogeneous way, in full compliance with the standards desired by large retailers.

Using a picker of this type allows you to optimize the radicchio harvest and, at the same time, limit the intervention of the operator who will simply adjust the desired length of the product through a button. Collecting the radicchio – all the rows you want – will never have been so easy!

Are you looking for a harvester that can work perfectly even on terrains with differences in level? Ortomec has also thought of farms with this specific need. Ortomec’s radicchio harvesting machines can also be equipped with a balance system designed precisely to ensure that the cutting head automatically tilts towards the desired direction.

Since radicchio is a round vegetable, when harvesting it is good to take care not to drop it, thus avoiding cuts or pressures that would compromise its quality. The Ortomec radicchio harvesting machines are equipped with a bar belt to accompany the vegetable in the conveyor belt and, possibly, also with an optional slatted belt that allows a correct movement of the vegetable without pressure.

How to harvest radicchio in extreme conditions?

Is it possible to harvest radicchio in unfavorable weather conditions, however, ensuring a clean and not too heavy work for those who have to do it? Sure! With Ortomec harvesters, the workforce dedicated to the collection of radicchio can work in an upright position, protected from wind and rain thanks to the roof mounted on the machine. The guards placed on the perimeter of the machine act as a reinforcement, protecting the operators from cold and weather.

Ortomec machines are equipped with a lighting system that allows you to collect radicchio in the field – even in low light – as if we were inside a warehouse or another room illuminated by artificial light.

How to collect radicchio with Ortomec solutions? By means of an ad hoc patented belt, the leafy vegetable is raised until it reaches the machine. The product arrives on an inspection belt on which the operations of cleaning, waste and packaging of radicchio take place. In fact, in the Ortomec pickers there is an integrated cleaning system for cleaning and embedding the same directly in the field.

Ensure an intact and flawless product with Ortomec machines to collect radicchio! From 7200 to 9000, Ortomec solutions process all types of lettuce such as radicchio flawlessly, quickly and safely. But not only radicchio: Ortomec is specialized in the production of harvesters for any type of leaf vegetable, lettuce and aromatic herbs.

Would you like more information about our harvesters and seeders? Contact us: we will be happy to answer any of your questions or curiosities.