Cotton is harvested either by hand or machine. Countries like China, India and West Africa still rely heavily on hand picking. Other countries like the United States and Australia are mostly machine harvested. The two methods of machine harvesting are spindle or stripper.
Hand harvesting commences as the bottom bolls open, whilst the plant is still green and will continue until the top bolls open. It can take up to three months to compete the hand harvesting process as it is usually done in three to four stages. Hand harvesting is a much longer process and requires extensive labour resources. Cotton that is hand harvested is normally free of trash prior to be ginnned.
Machine pickers harvest cotton from open bolls whilst the plant has been defiolated and leave unopened bolls and empty bolls on the plant. This is accomplished by revolving spindles that pluck the fiber out of the boll. Machine strippers strip the entire plant of opened and unopened bolls. The fiber removed from the plant also contains the cotton seeds and is referred to as seed cotton. After harvesting, the seed cotton is transported to the gin.
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