A decelerator apparatus for mounting at the end of a pneumatic or gravity-fed fruit harvesting or delivery tube. The decelerator comprises a housing with a moving decelerator body aligned with a fruit-receiving inlet connected to the delivery tube. The decelerator body, for example a padded rotating wheel, moves at a speed slower than the speed at which the fruit is delivered into the housing, includes multiple depressions or indentations for receiving and separating fruit, and further defines a compressive deceleration path that moves the fruit in a compressive but protective fit toward a housing exit, releasing the fruit after the fruit has been decelerated to the speed of the moving body.