FI59240C - OVER ANCHORING FOR OVER PRESSING AV TORV TILL VAEXTSUBSTRATSTYCKEN - Google Patents

Description

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C (45) Patent ay'Jnnetty 10 07 10:31 Patent .v, cJdelat V (51) Kv.ik? /Int.a.3 c 05 F 11/04, C 10 P 7/06, A 01 G 9 / 10 SUOMI-FINLAND <*> Patent application - Patantansdknlnf 793312 (22) Application cloud - Ansttknlngtdtg 2U.10.79 (23) Alkupllvl — GlMgketadas 2U.10.79 (41) Become public - Graters offtntllf

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', (44) Date of issue and date of issue. -

Patent · och registerstyreleen 'Antftkan utlt | d och utUkrlfMn published 31.03.8l (32) (33) (31) Requested privilege — Bejärd priority (71) Farmos-Yhtymä Oy, PO Box U25, 20101 Turku 10, Finland-Finland (FI) (72) Pertti Rännäli, Turku, Finland-Finland (FI) (7U) Oy Jalo Ant-Wuorinen Ah (5U) Method and device for compressing peat into growing media -Förfarande och anordning för pressning av Torv account växt-suhstratstycken

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for compressing peat into cohesive, wettable, swellable plant growth medium bodies. Such medium pieces are commonly used in transplanting plants, in which the plants are germinated from seed, grown from cuttings or bulbs to transferable seedlings, or the smaller seedling is grown stronger in the medium, usually under greenhouse conditions, and

Many different substrate products have been developed for this transplantation method, one of which is a very useful method of preparation in Finnish Patent 53,979. According to this method, peat is raised from the swamp substantially in its natural form in large pieces or sheets, dried to less than 35% moisture and compressed 1/3. 1/10 of its volume after drying. Such compression pieces are usually made in larger sheets from which the substrate pieces of the desired size are separated by suitable methods, such as sawing. The product obtained is quite useful because it has kept the natural, plant-growth-promoting properties of peat substantially unchanged. However, the problem with the manufacture of the parts themselves is the separation of the above-mentioned products after pressing, which requires separate work steps, although they are simply feasible in themselves.

On the other hand, in our co-pending patent application "Method for producing fertilized and / or limed substrate pieces from peat", a method for manufacturing substrate bodies according to the above-mentioned Finnish patent 53,979 has been developed. that the lime and fertilizer are applied to the individual layers before piling the compression billet. For such a "vii-cut" blank, proper compression is essential to keep the piece satisfactorily sized.

Furthermore, Finnish patent application 770749 discloses a method for treating peat, by means of which peat crumbs in a compressed state can be produced from peat, which, when moistened, swell to a volume substantially corresponding to its natural state. In this method, the peat is lifted from the bog substantially in its natural state, dried to a moisture content of 10-30% and compressed to 1 / 3-1 / 10 of its post-drying volume. These compressed pieces are then cut into thin slices that crumble into that crumb product. This peat product has been proposed for use in the so-called in "pot culture", i.e., a suitable container or bottomless cylinder is filled with that crumb, whereby the crumb, when moistened, swells considerably and fills the container tightly, even the bottomless cylinder, so that the contents do not fall out of it even when lifted from its base. The plant seeds are then planted in these filled and moistened containers. The product is very well suited for use in this way, but its disadvantage is that it requires some kind of support member that externally holds the culture medium, such as a small container or the like, when used in transplantation.

Compressed, swellable substrate pieces when moistened and their manufacture are also described in Finnish Patent Publication 55,859. According to this patent, substrates that are cohesive even when moist, without an external support member, are prepared by mixing an aqueous bitumen emulsion with moist, fine peat. As the water is absorbed into the peat, the emulsion disintegrates and the bitumen particles remain as bonds between the peat particles in the pressed substrate after drying. The disadvantage of this known medium body can be the "internal support" it needs, which, as a foreign substance, inevitably brings its own disadvantages to the product. The airiness of the product suffers, which is detrimental to root development. Also, the absorbed product does not land as easily as one made of pure natural material. The absorbent also incurs its own additional costs.

The problems associated with these transfer media have been substantially eliminated by the new compression method according to the present invention and the compression device developed to implement it. In the application of the method, compression blanks are used which correspond to the desired final growth medium body with a certain degree of compression and are collected from peat which has been dried to a moisture content of less than 35%, preferably 12-28%. The blanks can be formed either from a unitary peat body according to Finnish patent 53 979, as a layered blank according to our co-pending patent application "Method for making fertilized and / or limed substrate pieces from peat" or from comminuted peat, for example from Finnish patent application 770749. The method according to the invention is characterized in that the peat blank is compressed in such a way that the edge areas of a single substrate body and possibly also the center region are compressed more than the rest of the substrate body.

To implement this method, a press tool has been developed, characterized in that it comprises a substantially uniform press response and a press mold to be pressed against it, having one or more molds corresponding to the size of the substrate delimited by blunt-edged edge areas. The center of the mold preferably has a blunt, substantially hemispherical protrusion for squeezing the seed pit in the center of the substrate body.

When supplied in accordance with the pressing method of the present invention, the plate-like peat blank is compressed into individual pieces of peat substrate which are separable from each other without special measures. The main advantage of the method is that it gives very well-cohesive uniform medium bodies from a wide variety of blanks, which, however, swell when sufficiently wetted to their pre-compression state to become sufficiently cohesive medium products.

Depending on the structure of the preform to be compressed, the peat in the method according to the invention must be compressed depending on the case in order to ensure cohesiveness. The lowest degree of compression, about 1/3, can be used with blanks made of good quality intact peat 4,59240, for example according to patent no. 53 979 to give a fully usable product. The above-mentioned layered extruded blanks must use a higher degree of compression, on the order of about 1/10 of the preform thickness, provided that no preform-binding adhesives have been added between the preform layers. A blank made of loose, finely divided peat must also use a relatively high degree of compression, in which case, however, a value close to the degree of compression is a value close to the compression ratio of about 1/20 part of the preform thickness. The upper limit of compression for the most compressible edge regions of the substrate bodies can be considered to be 1/20 part of the preform thickness. In the case of a seed pit to be pressed in the middle of the body, the blank is not pressed quite as much as at the edges so that a through hole is not cut in the body, but a hole is left in the body which forms a suitable seed or cavity when the body swells.

In the press device according to the invention, the size and shape of the press mold used for pressing a single growth medium body may vary according to the respective purpose, but preferably the mold has a square cross-section, whereby when several molds are used simultaneously the peat blank is compressed into a square body pattern.

The edge edges of the mold that press or punch the edge areas of a single substrate body may protrude to varying degrees from the bottom plane of the mold, the protrusion depending on the thickness of the blank and the desired degree of compression. Usually the blank thicknesses vary between about 30 and 85 mm, in which case the protrusion of the edges between 4 and 6 mm can be used in the mold. The compressive central protrusion of the seed pit is preferably about 1 mm lower than the edges. The invention will be clarified by means of the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 schematically shows various press blank structures useful in the method, the substrate bodies obtained therefrom and the pieces moistened and provided with a germinated plant or cuttings,

Figure 2 shows the layered substrate blank, the compressed substrate product and the product moistened, whereby it is substantially swollen to its blank thickness.

Figure 3 is a schematic side view of a press device according to the invention,

Figure 4 shows the mold surface of the press piece, plus 5 59240

Figure 5 is a schematic cross-section of a press mold.

Figure 1, point A, shows a press blank corresponding to the structure according to the aforementioned parallel patent application, wherein the blank is made of peat veneer. The surface of the veneers is sprinkled with the lime and fertilizers required by the piece in accordance with that patent application. The blank structure shown in B corresponds to another embodiment of our co-pending patent application, in which a loose intermediate layer is made in the blank. The blank according to C is instead made according to patent application no.

77 0749, to which the lime and nutrients required by the substrate have preferably been added. From all of these preforms, substantially equivalent media substrates with substantially equal cohesiveness are obtained by the compression process of the invention, using different compression ratios.

FIG. .

Fig. 3 schematically shows a form of a press device used in the invention, which consists of a press piston device 2, a press mold device 3 and a counterpart, i.e. a press plane 4. Fig. 4 shows a press member 3 in a partial plan view. 6 are clearly visible. Fig. 5 shows a partial cross-section of the press member according to Fig. 4, in which the corresponding edges 5 and protrusions 6 are visible.

It is important for the press mold that the edges 5 of the mold forming the individual substrate body are blunt and not intersecting, since only the blunt edge can provide a suitable compression for the product. The figures show the edges following a circular arc, whereby their radius of curvature can be 1-10 mm, preferably 1.5-3 mm. However, a curved shape has not proved necessary, as useful products have also been provided with substantially planar edges at the tip. j i t 6 59240

This compression method must be considered to be based on the fact that the higher compression applied to the edge areas softens the resinous adhesives inherent in peat, which bind the fibrous structure of the peat precisely in the highly compressed areas. As a component of the binding, the orientation of the fibrous structure of the peat in the direction of strong compression is also influenced, whereby oriented fibers promoting the binding are obtained in the edge area of a single body. Example 1;

Peat pieces were lifted from the peat bog with a machine developed for this purpose. The pieces were first dried on the surface of the bog, after which they were collected in a shelter constructed of plastic. After the peat pieces had dried the following summer, they were processed into 5 mm thick veneers using a band saw. These veneers were placed on a moving belt and a complete nutrient in powder form and dolomite lime were evenly applied to their top surface. 6 fertilized veneers were then stacked on top of each other and placed in a press where the peat was pressed in a mold with rounded blades against a flat washer. At the end of the pressing step, the pressed pieces loose from each other into individual cohesive 3 cm x 3 cm pieces with a thickness of about 6 mm. The pieces stayed very well together.

After watering, the peat pieces absorbed the water they needed in about 30 seconds, causing them to swell to a thickness of about 35 mm. After watering, the pieces were so strong that they could be moved from place to place by hand.

Chrysanthemum cuttings were then inserted into the opening in the center of the extrudate, which took root perfectly and began to grow.

Example 2:

Between the peat veneers manufactured in the above-mentioned manner, Finnish patent application no. 770749 finely divided peat of a specified sub-size. The thickness of the peat veneers was 6 mm and the thickness of the intervening peat layer was 30 mm in the example case.

The peat thus obtained was compressed by the above-mentioned mold with round blades into a plate having a thickness of compression | after was 6 mm.

1,59240

The plate and the individual extruded pieces on it remained very well together. When watered, the whole plate swelled rapidly into a finished medium about 3 cm thick.

Example 3:

The peat pieces raised from the bog were dried to air dry. In the example case, 26% moisture. Peat pieces were pressed approx.

8 parts of its original thickness and comminuted in a compressed state in a cutting machine equipped with cutting machining. The peat particle of a certain particle size thus obtained was sieved through a sieve with a square hole size of 13 x 13 mm. In addition, a completely dusty part with a particle size of less than 1.5 mm was removed from the peat.

The peat was then fertilized and limed. The peat crumb thus obtained was dispensed on a thin plastic substrate having a size of 566 x 366 mm and pressed with the above-mentioned blade device. This gave plates similar to a checkered chocolate bar with 126 separate pieces measuring 3 cm x 3 cm. The distance between the pieces was about 6 mm. The edges of the pieces were tightly glued to the force of compression and the resinous materials of the peat. When watered, the pieces quickly swelled to a height of 3 cm and retained their state well even when watered.

The pieces remained separated from each other on a plastic base. The pieces thus obtained, with a hole in the middle, were sown with lettuce seeds, which began to grow well. Furthermore, lettuce seedlings could easily be transferred to their final growing site.

In the example cases, it has been investigated how the fertilization and liming of peat pieces and the production of cohesive growing media using peat boards and peat groats prepared in a certain way, as well as the new pressing technique described above, have been solved.

Claims (7)

8 59240 A method for compressing peat into plant substrate pieces, wherein the peat raised from the bog is dried from dried peat to a moisture content of less than 35%, preferably 12 to 28%, a press blank corresponding to the thickness of the substrate body is produced and the blank is compressed to at least 1/3 , when wetted into a swellable medium product, characterized in that the peat blank is compressed in such a way that the edge areas of the individual medium body and possibly also the center area are compressed more than the rest of the medium body. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that the peat blank is pressed on the transfer substrate. Press device for carrying out the method according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises a substantially uniform pressing response and a press mold to be pressed against it, having one or more molds corresponding to the size of the growing medium delimited by blunt-edged edge areas. Press device according to claim 3, characterized in that the center of each mold has a blunt, substantially hemispherical protrusion for pressing the seed pit in the middle of the substrate body. Press device according to Claim 3 or 4, characterized in that the radius of curvature of the edges of the press mold or molds is about 1 to 10 mm, preferably 1.5 to 3 mm. Press device according to Claims 3 to 5, characterized in that the protrusion of the edges of the press mold is 4 to 6 mm, the thickness of the peat blank being about 30 to 85 mm. Press device according to Claim 4, characterized in that the protrusion of the compression protrusion of the seed pit is approx. 1 mm smaller than the protrusion of the edges.