Pallets for fruit packing

A season in a few weeks

A packer can use few pallets for most of the year and then a very large number in the weeks fruit comes off the trees. The pattern is closer to a project than to a standing order, so a request tells a seller the dates.

Pallet needs

• 48x40 for cased and bagged fruit
• Dry storage until packing day
• A surface free of splinters and protruding nails
• Grade B is usually enough for a clean, intact deck

The Fruit Ridge harvest guide goes through the season. For the town, read Sparta and the Fruit Ridge.

After the season

A packer ends the season with a yard of used pallets. Selling them in one lot is easier than working through them in pieces; the sell page shows how to describe a stack, and grades helps put names on it.

A dated figure

The Fruit Ridge accounted for 65 percent of Michigan's apple production in 2006. That is a figure from that year, not a current share.

Bins and pallets are different

Fruit comes off the trees in bins, large boxes that hold hundreds of pounds, and bins ride on pallets or are built with their own base. After packing, fruit moves in cartons on pallets. A request should say which it needs.

Packing sheds in the Sparta area see both flows, so a shed's pallet need may be larger than its carton count implies.

What a shed manager counts

Count the peak day's cartons, divide by the cartons per pallet, then add a margin for damage and pallets that go with the buyer. The result is the daily need; multiply by the length of the peak to find the total. Any pallets left at the end of the season are the surplus to sell or clear.

Controlled sheds and ordinary yards

A shed with a roof keeps pallets dry. A yard without one does not. Fruit packers who store pallets outdoors between seasons should check them in spring: wood that has been rained on for months can be damp through and mouldy underneath.

A pallet that fails that check is worth less to a buyer and may not be fit for fruit at all.

Pallets and cold storage

Apples go into cold storage in bins and come out in cartons over the following months. The wood pallets under those cartons go through repeated temperature changes. Use sound pallets and dry them between loads.

Packing-season pallets

Fruit packers need many pallets over a few weeks, and the pallets sit near produce. They should be clean, dry and free of strong odours, with sound decks.

A packer ordering ahead of harvest should state the date, the count and the grade, and ask for a sample. Stock bought in advance should be stored indoors.

Source: The Right Place, 2023 Manufacturing Report; Wikipedia, "Fruit Ridge (Michigan)" (read 12 November 2026).

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