Fruit trailer for fruit harvesting system and associated methods

Abstract

A fruit trailer is for a fruit harvesting system including a fruit collector including a vehicle and at least one collector conveyor carried thereby for collecting fruit shaken from a tree, and a fruit removal vehicle intermittently brought to the fruit trailer for receiving fruit therefrom. The fruit trailer may be towed by the fruit collector for receiving and temporarily holding fruit therefrom. The fruit trailer may include a fruit container for receiving fruit from the fruit collector, and a trailer conveyor within the fruit container for conveying fruit therefrom to the fruit removal vehicle. The fruit container may be translatable between a first position adjacent the fruit collector and a second position spaced from the fruit collector. The fruit container may be pivotable when in the second position to an inclined orientation so that fruit is gravitationally fed onto the at least one trailer conveyor.