BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
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The present invention relates to a planting ground
material for cultivating plants such as planting trees and
flowers in the planting fields of civil engineering works such
as gardening and landscape design, and more particularly to a
cased planting ground material for walls and slopes.
2. Background Art
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At present, planting containers to be installed on
walls or slopes are filled with compost through the top of
the containers, and plants are planted to the compost. Most
of the containers have plants planted on the upper surface
of the compost. Some containers have an opening on the side
thereof, through which plants are planted into the inside
compost. The materials of the containers include pottery,
plastics, and palm fibers.
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It is hard to irrigate and fertilize the compost
installed on walls and slopes. Therefore, the irrigation and
the fertilization are desired to be reducible in number of
times as much as possible. Besides, in view of safety and
working property, the compost and the containers are desired
to be as light as possible.
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Therefore, lightweight articles such as peat moss are
often used as the compost in such containers for walls and
slopes. In these cases, the compost needs to be filled by
hand, which gives rise to a problem in that the compost
cannot be filled thickly. The filled compost is accordingly
low in water and fertilizer retention capacities by unit
volume thereof, requiring more frequent irrigation and
fertilization.
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Meanwhile, for compost to be used in these applications,
coconut dust formed articles are conventionally known. However,
when watered to swell and softened, the coconut dust formed
articles lack their strength; and installing on walls or
slopes collapse these articles easily. Besides, in irrigating,
the coconut dust formed articles swell and are restored to the
state prior to the forming, resulting in low density and in
small water and fertilizer retention capacities by unit volume.
Also, there is a problem in that the compost is in poor
contact with roots.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
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In view of the foregoing, an object of the present
invention is to provide a planting ground material to be
used for cultivating plants such as planting trees and
flowers, suitable for walls and slopes.
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Another object of the present invention is to provide a
planting ground material which is light in weight and
excellent in safety and working property.
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Besides, still another object of the present invention
is to provide a planting ground material in which high water
and fertilizer retention capacities are provided so that the
irrigation and fertilization can be reduced in number of
times.
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Furthermore, still another object of the present
invention is to provide a planting ground material in which
compost thereof is in tight contact with roots and the
compost itself will not collapse.
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To achieve the foregoing objects, the present invention
is to provide a planting ground material, especially for use
on walls and slopes, comprising compression formed compost
and a case for holding the compost.
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Here, the material of the aforesaid case preferably has
adequate strength for limiting the restoration in restoring
the compression formed compost.
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Besides, the material of the aforesaid case may be
selected from among metal, synthetic resins, woody materials,
natural and synthetic fibers, paper, and combinations
thereof.
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In addition, the aforesaid case may have a net-form,
cloth-form, or plate-form surface.
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Moreover, the aforesaid case may comprise an opening or
an openable portion for planting.
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The cased planting ground materials according to the
present invention are light in weight, offering excellent
working property. This also maintains high safety during the
installation of the material.
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Besides, since the cased planting ground materials
according to the present invention are high in water and
fertilizer retention capacities, the irrigation and
fertilization thereto are reducible in number of times.
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In addition, the cased planting ground materials offer
tight contact with roots, and the compost itself will not
collapse. The materials also offer high mobility in installing
and the like, and can maintain preferable conditions for
cultivating plants.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
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The accompanying drawing is a perspective view of a cased
planting ground material according to the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
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Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in
detail with reference to the accompanying drawing. Here, it
should be noted that the present invention is not limited
thereto.
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The drawing shows a cased planting ground material,
especially suitable for walls and slopes, 1 according to the
present invention. The cased planting ground material 1
comprises a case 2 and compression formed compost 3. In the
embodiment shown in the drawing, the compression formed
compost 3 is in a state where it has been restored by
irrigation.
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The compression formed compost to be employed in the
present invention is compression formed in advance, and is
restored by irrigation. The material of the compost includes
coconut dusts, coconut chips, coconut fibers, peat moss,
bagasse, beaten bark, straw, soil, and fertilizers. For
example, a compression formed ground material for
cultivating plants as disclosed in Japanese Patent
Application No.Hei 8-221297 is preferably used.
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The compression forming may be performed by
conventionally-known methods.
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In the present invention, a pressure of 250 kg/cm2 is
applied in the compression with compression ratios ranging
preferably from 1.3 to 4, and more preferably from 1.5 to 3.
Compression ratios smaller than 1.3 decrease the formed
article in strength, and compression ratios greater than 4
lead to harder restoration.
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The present invention includes the case for holding the
aforesaid compression formed compost. The case limits the
restoration of the compression formed compost, thereby
keeping the compost high in density. As a result, the
compression formed compost is high in water and fertilizer
retention capacities by unit volume in spite of its light
weight, so that the irrigation and the fertilization can be
reduced in number of times.
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In the present invention, the compression formed
compost is preferably limited within restoring
magnifications from 110% to 300%, and more preferably from
140% to 250%. At restoring magnifications equal to or
greater than 300%, the water and fertilizer retention
capacities are not adequate, nor be preferable for growing
roots of plants.
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Besides, in the present invention, the compost is
preferably limited by the case so as to fall within 0.11 to
0.20 g/cm3, more preferably 0.13 to 0.16 g/cm3, in density
after restoration. At densities below 0.11 g/cm3, the water
and fertilizer capacities are not adequate, nor be
preferable for growing roots of plants. In addition, such
compost is too soft to support plants.
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The compost is restored while being confined in the
shape of the case, which allows the compost after
restoration to take the same shape as that of the case.
Therefore, by means of the case, the compost can be formed
in an appropriate shape corresponding to the installation
place thereof, thereby permitting free planting.
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The case in the present invention may be made of any
materials as long as the materials have adequate strength
for limiting the restoration of the compression formed
compost. The materials include metal, synthetic resins,
woody materials, natural and synthetic fibers, and paper.
One of these materials may be used alone, or some
combinations thereof may be used. In view of workability,
strength, and the like, metal materials are particularly
preferable. Meanwhile, in view of weight saving, natural or
synthetic fiber materials are preferable. As for a case of
fiber materials, a bag case of coconut fibers and the like
is preferably used in terms of strength, cost, easiness of
fabrication, and the like. The bag case may also be used as
an outer bag of the compost in compression forming.
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The case may take any surface form as long as the
compression formed compost can be limited and held in
restoring. The surface forms include net-form, cloth-form,
and plate-form, for example. A net-form surface is
particularly preferable; here, the net needs to have
adequate dimensions for retaining the compost.
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The case does not require to be closed at all sides.
An opening or an openable portion for planting is preferably
provided.
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Besides, wire nets, which bind the upper and lower
surfaces of the compression formed compost to hold, may be
used as the case in the present invention.
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The using of the firm cases formed as described above
allows fixing devices such as a hook to fix the compost onto
a wall surface or sloping surface easily. This also prevents
the compost from collapse in carrying the cases. In using a
bag case of coconut fibers, retainers corresponding to the
fixing devices may be provided inside the bag. For example,
retainers such as a wire net, a wire, and a metal belt are
arranged at appropriate positions inside the bag. Then, the
compost is stuffed into the bag, and compression formed.
Hereby, the retainers can be built-in in advance.
Alternatively, retainers such as a wire net, a wire, and a
metal belt may be arranged on the outer periphery of the
case to allow the fixing devices to install the case onto a
wall surface.
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The watered and restored article of the compression
formed compost can receive plants planted on all over the
surface thereof even when the article is in a thin plate
shape of, for example, 5 cm or so in thickness. Therefore,
the available area for planting plants by volume of compost
is large. Besides, in the present invention, plants are
planted to the planting ground materials mountable on walls,
which gives the plants an appearance of growing from wall
surfaces, leading to excellent design.
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In addition, using sheet-covered compression formed
compost can prevent the compost on walls from scattering due
to strong wind, and those on slopes from run-off due to rain.
[Example]
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Hereinafter, examples of the present invention will be
described in more detail. Here, it should be noted that the
present invention is not limited thereto.
Example 1
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Compression formed plate compost of coconut dusts, of
30x30x3.5 cm in dimension and 700 g in dry weight, was
inserted into and held in an iron net case of 30x30x5.0 cm
in dimension to obtain a cased planting ground material for
walls and slopes according to the present invention. Here,
the used coconut dusts were of 32 me/100g in fertilizer
retention capacity. After watered, the compression formed
plate swelled into integration with the case, thereby being
held and fixed. The restored article was left for one day
after the watering. Table 1 shows the weight, the density,
and the water and fertilizer retention capacities by unit
weight of the article at the time point.
Example 2
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Compression formed plate compost of coconut dusts, of
30x30x3.5 cm in dimension and 700 g in dry weight, covered
with a bag case of coconut fibers was watered to swell. The
used coconut dusts were 32 me/100g in fertilizer retention
capacity. The compost was of 31x31x5.6 cm in dimension after
swelled. Table 1 shows the results of the same evaluations
as those in the example 1.
Comparative Example 1
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Commercially available coconut dust compost,
compression formed into a brick shape of 10x20x6 cm in
dimension and 600 g in dry weight, was watered to swell.
After swelled, the coconut dust compost collapsed and could
not keep its rectangular solid shape. The volume thereof
after the swell was 8 liter. Table 1 shows the results of
the same evaluations as those in the example 1.
| | Weight after watered (g) | Density after watered (g/cm3) | Water retention capacity by unit volume (ml/cm3) | Fertilizer retention capacity by unit volume (me/cm3) |
| Example 1 | 3900 | 0.16 | 0.71 | 0.050 |
| Example 2 | 4200 | 0.13 | 0.65 | 0.042 |
| Comparative example 1 | 3800 | 0.08 | 0.40 | 0.024 |
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As shown in Table 1, after watered, the ground materials
of the examples 1 and 2 are increased by approximately 40% in
weight, density, and water and fertilizer retention capacities
by unit volume as compared with the comparative example 1.
Accordingly, this shows that the embodiments 1 and 2 are
excellent.
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The light weight of these cased planting ground
materials for walls and slopes offers better working
property, and the high strength thereof allows free-installation
on walls and slopes.
Example 3
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The cased planting ground materials for walls and slopes
obtained in the examples 1 and 2 were planted with flowers
(pansies and English ivies), watered, and hung on a wall. It
was confirmed that the flowers had rooted immediately, and
that the roots were extended in the cased planting ground
materials after a week.
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While the presently preferred embodiments of the present
invention have been shown and described, it will be understood
that the present invention is not limited thereto, and that
various changes and modifications may be made by those skilled
in the art without departing from the scope of the invention
as set forth in the appended claims.
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The features disclosed in the foregoing description, in
the claims and/or in the accompanying drawing may, both
separately and in any combination thereof, be material
for realising the invention in diverse forms thereof.
