The invention relates to a device for collecting small fruit detached from fruit trees, which includes a tarpaulin (18) having a distal end and a proximal end that is attached to a winding shaft supported by a bearing structure (14) and coupled to a motor for rotating same, and means for deploying and retracting said tarpaulin, and which is characterised in that said means include at least one and preferably a plurality of bands (5), provided with bending and shape memory capacity, having one end that is connected to a winding drum that is also supported by the bearing structure with an axis parallel to the axis of the tarpaulin and onto which said bands are wound, the other end being connected to the distal end of said tarpaulin thus, during the unwinding thereof, the bands adopt a straight configuration that has a certain rigidity and push the distal edge of the tarpaulin, separating same from the shaft thereof, deploying said tarpaulin above the ground.
