Homemade fruit picker with quick-change attachments. Apparatus for picking apples: designs and production. Homemade Fruit Picker Treetop Pickers

Autumn harvesting is a responsible process. To sell or process the fruits, it is important to harvest them without damage, so you cannot just shake the tree, and if you pick each apple by hand, it will take too long to collect. To simplify the task, it is recommended to choose a suitable apple picker. This device helps to pick the fruit without damaging the skin or flesh, and significantly saves time compared to the manual method.

Purchased apple pickers

Fruit pickers for picking apples can be made independently, using available materials for this. But it is much easier to acquire ready version in the shop. In this case, the gardener can choose from the following options:

Important! The device is not always equipped telescopic handle... In stores you can find a fruit picker with a grip for apples, but at the same time with a fixed length of the handle. Therefore, before buying, this point needs to be clarified.

There are other options for collectors. For example, there are models with an additional line that allows you to grip the handle. Collet pullers can be equipped with a special knife for cutting cuttings.

DIY apple fruit picker

The easiest way is to order a fruit picker online or buy a ready-made one at the nearest shopping center. Moreover, there is a choice of models, and a very good one. However, many gardeners prefer to make a fruit picker on their own, since even improvised materials are suitable for this.

DIY apple fruit picker

DIY "tulip" fruit picker from a plastic bottle

There are very simple designs, for example, the "tulip" described above with a plastic bowl. In order to repeat the finished model, you only need a plastic bottle (1.5-2 liters), as well as a sufficiently long line (3 m). A pole or tube can be used as a handle for this design.

The plastic bottle is washed, the bottom is cut off to make a bowl. This can be done with scissors. The volume of the bowl is determined arbitrarily so that it is convenient to use it. With the help of a knife, slits are made in the upper part, reminiscent of the opening tulip petals. Then they take an awl and make holes in each of these petals so that you can stretch the fishing line through them. Its ends are then passed through the neck of the bottle.

Important! A through hole should be made in the pole where the bowl will be fixed. If it is not possible to make a hole, then you will have to use glue.

The line is threaded so that its short end can be securely fastened. And the long end should be such that it is convenient to squeeze the edges of the structure if necessary.

The fruit picker is ready, and you can check how well it works at the nearest apple tree.

Similarly, make a collection from the bottle "bowl". This is an almost primitive construction. In the same way as in the previous case, they take a one and a half liter plastic bottle and cut off the bottom of it. You just don't need to make petals, but you can simply cut out the edge with sharp teeth, making shallow cuts around the perimeter. For the handle, take a pole, tube or pole, on which the bowl is fixed with a nail or other fastening material.

Alternative pickers

Apple collections can be done differently. For example, the following options are possible:

Many summer residents also use other homemade structures, including those made from fishing nets. Some improve the options described above, adding to them, for example, linen bags to pick several apples at once. The only drawback of such products is the lack of telescopic handles. But, in general, they are quite convenient and perfect for a small farm.

When the time comes to collect fruits from tall trees, the most beautiful and ripe ones turn out to be so high that it is impossible to reach them even with the help of a ladder. Of course, in this case, you can use a long stick with which the fruits are knocked off. Some summer residents shake trees, but the apples are damaged and lose their attractive appearance. Alternatively, you can use an apple picker. If it is not at hand, and you do not want to spend money at all, then you can make such a tool in a short time yourself. As a result, it will be possible to obtain a fruit picker that will not differ in efficiency of use from that produced in the conditions of the plant.

The choice of design features before manufacturing

If we consider fruit pickers, then they can be divided into several groups. The first of these are tools that are equipped with cutters at the end of the rod. With this add-on, it is possible to cut the stalk, and the apple will fall into the container, which is located in the immediate vicinity of the cutter. Such a device for picking apples has a movable knife, which is driven by a special pull. Working with such a device is quite tedious, since the cutter is located on the rod, or rather, on its long shoulder. This creates additional weight, which is quite decent. The apple picker can also belong to the second group, the tools of which resemble mechanical armequipped with fingers. The latter are made of wire. After the apple or pear is grasped with the help of special fingers, the latter are clamped by means of traction, and the fruit is in the container. This action is performed using a traditional twine. This is what allows the fetus to be torn off. As a minus of this tool, one can single out the fact that the branch itself can break off together with a pear or apple.

The third group of fruit pickers

If you are going to make a device for picking apples, then you can take the third group as a basis, which is the most common in terms of design features. Such structures are made of elastic lightweight plastic or fabric. And the shape of the product is a bowl with petals. A special container must be attached to a wooden pole. Apples are removed by a fairly simple turn of the pole around the axis, which is oriented along. In this case, the leg is trimmed by means of the tool petals.

Preparation for making a fruit picker

The device for picking apples from a tree should be made only after you have chosen one of the proposed ideas. The third variety will form the basis for a simplified design of the fruit picking tool. First you need to prepare a plastic bottle. If you have to collect fruits that are quite impressive in size, then a container volume within 2 liters is suitable, while for medium-sized apples or pears a bottle is suitable, the volume of which is limited to 1.5 liters. Every summer resident will surely have such bottles in stock.

Process technology

If you will be making a device for picking apples with your own hands, then you need to cut off the bottom of the bottle, and then make a corner cutout. It will be convenient to use both a knife and scissors. The above cut along the bottle can also be made on the opposite side.

After the bowl has been prepared, it must be attached to a pole, the last of which can be a long light rail. Fixation can be done with wire or self-adhesive tape. After that, it can be assumed that the picker is ready for use. To use it, the tool must be brought from the bottom of the pear or apple, and then rotated around the axis. This will allow you to cut the stem of the fetus using the cutout that is located on the instrument. The apple will end up in a bottle that can simultaneously act as a collection container and a cutter. A similar device for picking apples from plastic bottle can be used without lowering the container for some time. Several fruits can fit in one bottle.

Making a fruit picker from a bottle and fishing line

Before making a device for picking apples, you need to decide on design features future instrument. The basis can be all the same plastic bottle, a mop handle, which is sometimes replaced with a PVC pipe or as well as a fishing line. The length of the latter can vary from 2.5 to 3 meters. You will need scissors and an awl.

Manufacturing process

To begin with, you will need to make the so-called enough, which is made from a plastic bottle. The bottom of the container must be cut in such a way that it looks like a crown. Two holes are made in each petal, for this you can use an awl or a hole punch. In the next step, the product should be given tenacity. For this, a fishing line is used, which is pulled through the neck into the container so that its upper end is threaded into each hole in a circle. You need to bring the line back through the neck. This will produce a bottle that has no bottom. Two long ends will come out through the neck.

The next step is to fix the holder, in the role of which a full PVC pipe should be used. The double line from the bottle must be passed through the hole of the holder, leading out from the back. If the mop handle has a removable handle, then this is a good solution. The ends of the line are to be fixed to this part of the holder. Two holes are made in the handle, into which the fishing line is threaded, the ends are fixed on the other side tightly. The handle is then put back on the handle. If you are making devices for picking pears and apples, then it is important to assemble the entire structure in such a way that the plastic bottle is tightly attached to the holder. The cut edges of the bottle are folded. In this case, you need to make grasping movements. This is the principle of collecting fruits with this tool. If the mop is devoid of a removable part, then you need to remove its end, while you should retreat 10 cm. On the sides you need to make two holes where the ends of the fishing line are threaded. After they need to be fixed together, and then tied.

For a PVC pipe, several bottle caps can be used as a handle. If you use ten caps, making a hole in the central part of each with an awl, then the free ends of the line can be threaded through the caps, securing them to the latter. For the stability of the covers, you need to glue them together or make a knot by placing it with inside first cover. This will allow you to get a fairly convenient removable handle made of caps. In this case, it is necessary to use the same technology as in the case of the mop handle.

Conclusion

If you decide to make a device for collecting apples from the ground, then you can use one of the above technologies. However, the bottle may need to be positioned not along the holder, but at a certain angle. This will allow you to collect up to four apples in one container, depending on the size, and then pour them into a bucket. One of the listed devices is easy enough to make yourself. You don't even have to visit a store to buy materials.

With the onset of autumn, gardeners, amateurs more and more often order a Garden Fruit Picker for fruits.

Without which it is simply not possible to harvest, so as not to damage it. This is when the garden is still young, then a fruit picker for apples with a telescopic handle, as if it were useless. Indeed, from not tall young trees, you can harvest without tools. The older the garden grows and the higher the trees, the harder the harvesting process becomes every year. Ladders and climbing trees with a bucket in our modern time are no longer suitable for everyone. Especially if the gardener is of retirement age. To help them, these devices were developed. To many experienced gardeners fruit pickers are not new. But beginners need to know.

What is a fruit picker or fruit picker

Whoever used to call it that this device... Each summer resident calls him his own, who is a fruit picker, who is a fruit picker. These are synonyms that have the same purpose and task. And there is also a telescopic collector for cherries and cherries. What does telescopic mean, we will figure it out the same.

A fruit picker or picker is:

• a device that is used for harvesting in the garden. When the height of the trees is large enough, there are a lot of fruits, then the harvest must be collected as soon as possible. So that they do not fall or get damaged. Indeed, in this form, they will quickly deteriorate;
• the fruit collector will help you collect them without damage and quickly enough. It all depends on the volume of the crop. We didn't have time to collect them, the birds were already right there. They ate everything, and ate as much as spoiled;
• if there is a need to protect the fruits from birds, then you can use not expensive, but effective method... Garden protection nets, an inexpensive and easy-to-use remedy.

If a collector for harvesting in an orchard is said to be telescopic, it means that it has a rod. Which is one with him. Such a rod can change its length.

A fruit picker with a telescopic handle is always a must

If we are talking about harvesting from trees, and they can be more than one meter high, then it is clear that the length of the fruit picker is in no way sufficient to reach the fruit. Therefore, a rod must be attached to it. Which may be sold separately or included in the kit. Rods are:

• wooden,
• plastic,
• telescopic.

For wooden and plastic, the length is stationary, and telescopic ones are of different lengths. The telescopic apricot collector is very convenient and easy to harvest. Such a fruit collector with a telescopic handle is sure to come in handy for cherries that grow very high. When the standard length of a wooden rod is not enough, then you need a rod whose length can be adjusted.

Which trees can be harvested with a fruit picker

With it, you can remove fruits, small in size, such as cherries, without damage. As well as large ones, such as apples.

The device allows you to harvest almost all types of trees:

• pears,
• cherries
• mandarin,
• quince,
• persimmons,
• drain,
• cherry plums,
• peaches,
• apricot,

• nuts,
• chestnut,
• apple trees,
• cherries,
• grapes,
• others.

Peach, like plums, is very delicate, and will break if dropped. Therefore, it must be removed with extreme care from the tree. Although the fruits of apple trees are harder, at the slightest impact on the ground, a dent and a crack are formed on them. In which microbes will surely climb. And the life of such a fruit is doomed to rot, even if it belongs to a winter variety with a long shelf life. In order for apples from a personal orchard to be tasted on New Year's holidays, you need a telescopic apple picker. And then some of the fruits will be able to last until spring.

What is a fruit picker for apples and its principle of operation

Harvesting device in fruit garden it is designed in such a way that the fruit, after separation from the branch, falls into a special container. And he stayed there until he was put in a box or basket. Thus, the harvester in the garden can be of several types.

1. Collet:

• wire,
• with a bag,
• with capture.

2. Plastic, in the form of a glass:

• the walls of which are cut into strips with rounded edges at the top. Such devices for harvesting fruit are also called the Tulip picker. Since by its appearance it resembles this flower;
• we pry the apple in such a way that its stalk falls between the petals. Next, we turn the tulip in any convenient direction;

• the stalk is torn off the branch, the apple remains in the tulip. And then it migrates to the basket.

Collet wire

Wirewheels are:

• devices resembling an unopened flower. At the ends of the petals of such a flower, curved edges of the wire are provided;
• in order to stretch a strong thread into these holes. It is needed to hold the fruit when the stalk is detached from the branch;
• when the pear hits such an outlet, pull the thread. The socket will close and the fruit will be safely placed in the basket.

Collets with bag

Collet devices with a bag, are:

• a ring to which a small pouch is attached. At the other end of the ring are the same petal lobes. Which serve as a kind of grip or a kind of knife. They are also spoken of as a fruit basket;

• the bag is designed for the simultaneous removal of several fruits. If a gardener is physically able to hold not one pear, but five or more, then why not. Such collectors speed up the harvesting process a lot;
• some designs of this type provide a sharp metal blade attached to the ring. The attachment point is chosen in such a way that its sharp side is the second part of the blade;
• getting into the hole with a sharp knife on one side, the stalk will cut faster. For grapes whose bunch is very tightly attached to the vine, this is a good suggestion.

Collet with grip

Each telescopic collector with a gripper works on the principle of not letting the fruit fall when it is lifted from the tree branch. Its task is also to:

• the pear, plum, or cherries did not fall out of the device on the way to the drawer. The largest and tastiest fruits ripen on the tops of the trees, closer to the sun. And the capture in order to remove them is definitely needed. A fruit picker with a grab is the design of a fruit picker without which, in some cases, you simply cannot do;
• modern design some devices allow the grip to be triggered with one light press. They are light in weight and can be handled with just one hand. Even a schoolboy will enjoy gardening with such a modern assistant. Bright and modern design which will delight any summer resident.

You can buy an apple fruit picker with a telescopic handle in our online store at any time. Check out the assortment of this product category and place an order.

If this year you have not only a rich, but also a high-lying apple crop, then it will not be so easy to collect it in the traditional way, shaking branches, erecting a ladder. Many gardeners and summer residents in such a situation have opted for a device for picking apples. Such a device can be easily purchased in a specialized store, or you can make it yourself from scrap materials. We will present you both options at once.

Buying an apple picker

Modern collectors are easy to use, lightweight and compact. Their assortment will also be rich: the tools differ in the functions of the apple picker.

Plastic "tulip"... The plastic nozzle-glass is made in the shape of a tulip. Gathering fruit with it is simple - you place the apple in the "tulip", placing the stalk between the petals, scroll the handle around its axis, thereby safely pick the fruit and bring it to the basket in a fruit-collecting glass. But if the apple is firmly attached to the branch, the device will be useless.

Collet devices... The type of such fruit collectors with a telescopic handle is popular, which can be extended in length if you wish. They are supplemented with a convenient dense bag: in one go you can collect several fruits at once. The operation of the device is simple: the tin petals grab the apple, and you break it off with the help of circular movements of the device around the axis. These parts are found both plastic and equipped with a metal knife for cutting a hard cutting.

Wire collectors... They are a fruit invader made of thick wire strings. You put the device on the apple, the wire wraps around it tightly, and with the familiar rotation of the device around the axis you break off the fruit. It remains trapped in the wire frame while you carry it to the basket.

Fruit collector with grab... There are also models with an extension handle - a telescopic tube. The operating device resembles a plastic beak or a three-fingered hand. What is convenient, it can capture both an apple-wound and a rather large fruit. The fetus is cut off by the same twisting of the device around itself. But there are also more advanced mechanisms: you need to pull the line or the lever, after which the "beak" grabs the fruit, and you pull the fruit collector towards you, picking the apple off the handle.

After such a review, you yourself are convinced that the design of the device is simple and it will be quite easy to assemble a homemade fruit collector. We will borrow the principle of the gripping device from those already presented.

Option number 1: fruit collector from a bottle

We will make a device for collecting apples from a plastic bottle. The device will need:

• Plastic bottle.
• Line segment - 2.5-3 m.
• Awl.
• Scissors.
• A wooden pole, a long squeegee handle, a piece of PVC pipe - anything that in length and thickness can become a fruit collector holder.

As soon as everything you need is at your fingertips, we get to work:

1. Trim the bottom of the bottle so that the edges of the neck piece resemble a tulip.
2. Make holes with an awl on each of the petals.
3. Draw the line through the neck of the bottle. The bottom of it (the one that remains at the bottom of the bottle) should be approximately equal to the top.
4. Now we pass the fishing line through each of the holes made. Then we bring it back out through the neck again.
5. To build a device for collecting apples, we just need to fix the grip on the holder. To do this, stepping back slightly from one of its ends, we make a through hole.
6. If it is difficult to drill such a hole (for example, on a wooden pole), then you can proceed as follows: take a regular plastic cover from soda, drill two holes opposite each other through its sides. Through them, fix the fishing line with the invader. Further, if necessary, sharpening the edge of the holder for the diameter of the plug, glue them together with strong glue.
7. We pass the double line several times through the hole made in the cork or holder and securely fix the gripper structure.
8. At the same time, do not forget to leave the long end of the line so long that it is convenient for you, while on the ground, to squeeze and unclench the "petals" with it for a more successful grip of apples.

Option number 2: plastic bottle bowl

And one more do-it-yourself craft from plastic bottles. A fruit picking tool is made in literally two steps:

1. Cut off the bottom of the plastic bottle - you can immediately put it aside. Cut out sharp teeth on the remaining part. In the neck of the bottle with an awl, drill two holes strictly opposite each other.
2. Now preparing the holder - the pole, pVC pipes, mop handles. Adapt the thickness of one of its ends to the diameter of the bottle neck. Putting the gripping element on the pole, fix it through the holes made with two self-tapping screws on the holder. That's all!

Using such a device for picking apples is simple: thread the apple into this bowl so that its stalk is between the cloves. A few turns of the device around you - and the fruit is yours!

Option number 3: closed bottle collector

And again, a craft made from plastic bottles. It is as easy to make it with your own hands:

1. Punch a round hole in the side of the bottle.
2. From the side of the bottom, provide it with sharp teeth.
3. Some gardeners advise making a heart-shaped hole.
4. One of the most convenient ways for you to put the neck of the device on a pole, a stick.

The apple is then placed inside the bottle through the hole made, after which you scroll the device, and the fruit is inside the fruit collector. However, with such a tool, it will not be possible to remove more than two fruits at a time.

Option # 4: sturdy can construction

An apple stalk does not always lend itself easily to a fruit picker from a plastic bottle. For strong twigs, a device made of large tin can (taking into account that an apple can fit in it). This DIY apple picking device is done like this:

1. On one side of the can, cut a shallow line from the top with a household knife.
2. Using pliers, push the sides of the slot so that it becomes wedge-shaped, with an acute angle at the bottom.
3. Opposite this "trap" for the cutting, make two holes.
4. Using a strong wire, securely fix the fruit collector on the pole through the holes.

Option number 5: plastic pipe collector

Another device for hard-to-break fruits. You need to try to find thin plastic pipe of such size that even a large apple can easily pass through it. And converting it into a fruit collector is simple:

1. Make a J-shaped hole in the wall of the top of the pipe.
2. On the lower tail of the "letter", which should be facing up, secure the blade. If the stalk is stubborn, you skip it into this trap and cut the twig by lifting your device up sharply.
3. Cut the bottom edge of the pipe in the form of sharp triangular teeth.
4. Heat the pipe, after which the teeth can be easily bent to form the bottom of the container.
5. Drill holes in the thickness of the pipe through which you attach it to the pole with a wire.

Option number 6: from a fishing net

If you have an aquarium or a fishing net, then you already have a ready-made apple collector. Perhaps, to deal with recalcitrant cuttings, you will need to attach a device to the hoop that would tear off, cut off a branch. By the way, for convenience, the net in relation to the handle can be carefully bent at an angle.

Having understood the principle of operation of the fruit collector, you can make it from other materials at hand. Let's see what the summer residents have already come up with:

• A thick wire hoop and a linen bag stretched over it.
• Basket and galvanized hoop as a knife.
• The design of two metal rings: a bag is stretched over a static one, and a small movable one above it can be tightened with a fishing line around the handle.
• Scissors, spring and pole construction.

Thus, making a fruit collector from scrap materials is absolutely not difficult. And giving free rein to your ingenuity, you can even come up with your own unique model of this device.

During the period of the garden harvest, the apple picker with a telescopic handle is in the greatest demand.

Although many gardeners prefer an apple picker with a regular wooden holder. In this article we will look at the characteristics of fruit pickers. What they are and how to use them.

A fruit collector for fruits is a very convenient and necessary thing in the household. Such gardening equipment is in any case necessary if there is a fruit-bearing garden on the territory of the dacha. Typically, fruit trees grow tall and branchy. And the most large fruits ripen at the top or at the ends of the crown. Such pears and apples can hardly be cut without using a fruit collector with a telescopic handle.

Orchard Fruit Collector - Classification

The tools developed for harvesting fruits in today's market are enough to make a good choice... All of them simplify the removal of fruits from trees, as well as protect them as much as possible from damage. These two points are very important. Since with large harvests or areas, it takes a lot of time to harvest. And damage, even completely invisible, will not allow an apple or plum to withstand the most the right conditions storage.

Already rarely does any of the gardeners do without auxiliary tools. Most of them have been working for more than one or two seasons. Therefore, some summer residents use such an acquisition for a very long time. Of course, this is not a mechanical harvester and you also need to be able to use these devices. But simplest design allows you to quickly adapt and figure out what and where to press or in which direction to turn. Of course, there are more or less complex designs, but they all do not complicate, but on the contrary help in harvesting a garden crop.

The material from which fruit pickers are made today is light and durable. First of all, these are:

• plastic,
• metal.

In addition to the basic structures for such garden tools, additional auxiliary parts.

Additional parts for fruit collectors

As an additional detail, various kinds of fabric materials are used to make bags or, as they are also called, bags, to accumulate fruits. They are needed in order not to remove a peach or any other fruit one by one. Very well for these cases, such additional bags are adapted to some fruit pickers.

Telescopic handles are made of durable plastic. They are usually made in the form of a pipe. That is, their middle is hollow. In which a wire or other material cord is located to bring the gripper mechanism into operation.

On the market are available as the simplest time-tested designs of feeders. And completely new - lightweight, comfortable, with a long service life.

Plastic tulip for fruit picking

Let's first consider the simplest, known to everyone:

The appearance of such garden tools corresponds to their common name - tulip. And the telescopic fruit collector for cherries and cherries cannot be confused with it at all. Since these are completely different designs.

Working with tulips is easy and simple. You just need to grab the fruit so that it gets into the glass. And place its tail, that is, the twig that connects it to the tree, between the petals. Next, you need to turn the handle holder to the side most convenient for you until the apricot or nut is completely detached from the tree. Once this has happened, the fruit will be in the glass. With such devices, you can harvest from a wide variety of fruit trees.

Different types of collet pickers

The material of manufacture and design of such garden tools allows them to be divided into three groups:

• made of durable wire material,
• the main mechanism of which consists of exciting elements,
• having a bag in addition to the main design.

All collet structures in their lower part have a place for fastening the rods. They can be wooden or telescopic. It is only necessary to provide for the diameter of the rod. So that it fits the size of the mount.

Wire pickers for apricots and other fruits

The material of manufacture speaks of appearance such a collector. Its principle of operation is to capture the fruit and close the wire frame. What is done with a thick string or not large diameter strong wire threaded into the loops located at the ends of the wire arcs of the fixture. Then again turn to the right or left with effort. After tearing off, you can put the crop in baskets.

Fruit picker with gripper for small fruits

The principle of operation of such collectors is, of course, adapted not only for cherries. They can also shoot large apples. The main part of the movement is made of plastic parts. It is often a telescopic picker with a grab. Since adjusting the length of the handle is quite an advantageous device. Having placed the fruit between the gripping parts, it is necessary to press the lever or pull the rope in order to close the cavities or parts. Such details may look like a three-fingered hand. When the mechanism is triggered, they are connected in the upper plane. And the fruit is captured, as it were. Now it must be torn off the branch. The method is the same - by the way of a spinning motion.

Collet pickers with bag

Devices of this type consist of the bag itself and the main part to which it is attached. The mount is pretty reliable. Since it can support the weight of more than one heavy fruit. And as you understood, this design is designed to pick up several fruits at the same time. The part to which the bag is attached is round. With tin petals in a circle. Which act as knives. If the moldings are made of plastic material, then an additional metal knife can be attached to the rim. It makes the construction heavier, but it can be adapted for grapes. By holding the tail of the bunch between the knife and the petal of the rim, the sturdy stem can be cut. A handle holder is also attached to such devices. Which is purchased additionally. And it can be installed both fixed length and telescopic.

Fruit picker with telescopic handle for collecting fruits

This type of garden harvesting device must be distinguished separately. Telescopic apple fruit picker, one of the latest developments garden tool... In addition to a convenient main part, a basket for placing fruits, such a tool has a telescopic rod. It is a kind of handle extension, the length of which is adjustable. It can be adjusted to a specific height. And change every time when the fruits need to be removed below or above the previously fixed value.

The telescopic apple fruit picker can be used to harvest the following trees:

• apple trees,
• pears,
• plums,
• apricots,
• hazel,
• peach,
• and others.

Before you start harvesting with such a collector, you need to determine the distance to the plum or other fruits. Set the length of the handle and if it is determined correctly, then you can start working. If you did not guess a little with the distance, then you can always correct it. One of the most convenient ways - using it there is definitely no need to stand on a stool or climb a ladder.