Pick your own etiquette: what New Zealand farms ask

Nearly every rule on a self-pick farm exists because of something that actually happened, and most of them protect next season rather than this one.

The ones that protect the plant

Do not snap canes. Raspberry, boysenberry and blackberry canes break more easily than they look, and a broken cane costs the plant the rest of its season. Work one side of a row at a time rather than reaching through.

Twist, do not tug. On cherries and tree fruit, pulling takes the spur with it, and that short woody stub is what fruits next year.

Pick along a row rather than stripping one plant. It leaves the block looking picked rather than raided, and the plants do better for it.

Stay in the block you are sent to. Farms rotate rows so fruit ripens in sequence and everyone finds something. An untouched block is usually being saved for tomorrow.

Eating as you pick

Every farm expects some. None expects lunch. The unwritten measure is a few as you go, and farms that stop offering self-pick often say this is the reason. If a farm charges an entry fee, ask whether it covers what you eat, because sometimes it explicitly does.

Dogs, children and prams

Dogs are almost never allowed, even leashed and well behaved. It is a food-safety rule that applies to commercial growers rather than a matter of preference. Where a farm does permit them, its listing says so; never assume.

Children are welcome nearly everywhere and are why a lot of these farms open to the public at all. They do need watching around netting, irrigation lines and ladders.

Prams are fine on some blueberry farms with mown grass rows and impossible in most berry fields. If it matters, phone first.

Health and safety on a working farm

These are workplaces. Follow the parking instructions, keep off tractor tracks, and do not climb on anything. If a row is roped off there is a reason, usually spraying or a repair.

Withholding periods

If a block has been sprayed recently it will be closed. Growers take this seriously and so should you: a farm that closes a block on the day you arrive is protecting you, not being awkward.

And the one that matters most

Phone before you drive. Berry farms open and close on the week, and a wet spell or a picked-out block can close a farm at a day’s notice. Growers would far rather answer the phone than turn you away at the gate.

Updated 10 September 2026