Cultivation of Pearls

Cultivation and harvesting of pearls is a complicated process which requires plenty of time and patience. That is why, jewelry with pearls is so beautiful and unique.




A complicated process of pearl growing is not a natural function of an oyster, it's a defensive reaction to conditions disturbing the biological processes that take place in an oyster. Because of the fact that a normal functioning of each organism, including oyster, depends on conditions surrounding it, that's obvious that the better the conditions the better the physiological development of an oyster and stronger defensive reactions. Only carefully planned pearl husbandry farm is able to create optimal conditions for the development of pearls. There are four stages of pearl husbandry.

Stage 1

It's fishing of young oyster or undeveloped oyster. The season for fishing starts in July and finishes in August, this activity is done with the use of specially constructed wooden frames. Young oysters are very sensitive to the light and they immediately search for a haven in order to escape, people fishing for oysters take advantage of this characteristic. That is why half of work is done by the oysters themselves, they simply search for protection in the frames prepared for them. In the past, it used to be done by young girls or newly married women who were trained to do it properly. The caught oysters are kept in frames until November, which is around 4-5 months, they grow to the length of 1.5cm. Gradually as they grow they are moved to larger frames, after three years they reach the size of 7 cm.

Stage 2

The second stage of cultivation includes seeding process of nucleus into the oyster. The best period for that is their hibernation at the end of April and October. Before the seeding process 3-year-old oysters are carefully cleaned, sorted and put into frames for the next 10 days during which the nuclei are prepared. These are usually small globules of 1.2-6 mm in diameter, produced from freshwater oysters' mussels. The seeding process is usually done in special rooms, well-lit with single tables. Workers use only sterile tools made of stainless steel, which are adapted to the size of nuclei and shape of epithelial tissues. Usually, there are two nuclei implemented into the oyster, one into the gonad and one into the foot. The whole process demands almost artistic skills, accuracy and precision. The time must be short because of the fact they inappropriate seeding may cause undesired reactions. If the oyster is damaged it turns the defensive reaction into healing the injury instead of producing a pearl. Once the seeding process is completed oysters are put to the frames for a period of 4-5 weeks. Then, by applying X-rays people check whether oysters accepted or rejected the nucleus. Those oysters which started creating pearls are put into the frames and placed next to the rafts. The process of pearl development begins at the moment of division of cells. In optimal conditions, average oysters produce 0.15 mm - thick layer of mother-of-pearl per year.

Stage 3

The third stage of pearl cultivation is the pearl harvest after a three-year long breeding. It is usually done between December and February because mother-of-pearl grows much slower then. The frames with oysters are pulled to the shore and pearls are removed. It's done on special large tables where mussels are opened, the mussel are used for producing mineral fertilizers. Statistically speaking, only half of cultivated oysters survive till the harvesting, every twentieth gives pearls of the highest value and 40 percent of produced pearls are disqualified.

Stage 4

The fourth stage of pearl cultivation is technical processing and classification of pearls. The pearls are classified according to their size, this is done by using special sieves. The pearls of particular class are sorted further on and divided into additional criteria. The last classification is done during the process of jewelry manufacturing e.g. producing necklaces. They are drilled and then, classified according to the color, shape, the quality of luster and their special features of their surface.