FR2494556A1 - Cultivation system with small water loss - uses wicks to transport water and nutrients between watertight channels and plant roots - Google Patents

Abstract

The cultivation system involves small water loss and needs no fertile soil, using a granular medium in which roots can proliferate. Watertight pockets and/or channels for water are formed in the ground and loaded if necessary with nutritive material. These have apertures (16) in their top surface for suction wicks (17) immersed at one end in the water, and laid in the ground with their other ends near the plant roots. The wicks can be installed so as to slope upwards from their immersed ends to the plant roots, and the pockets or channels can be interconnected.

Description

 The present invention relates to a new device allowing a culture with low water loss, usable on large areas, and not requiring fertile soil.

Indeed, according to French patent 7 / II0380, it was already known to plant tub house green plants, installed in sand, by feeding them with wicks which drain the charged water from a material nutritious, e.g. Amberlite, which is a synthetic resin soaked in complete nutrient solution, from a reservoir. The nutrient supply must be renewed 1 every 6 months. The present invention proposes to modify this method in order to cultivate trees or plants in the open air. It is characterized by a device constituted by a granular medium: allowing the proliferation of roots, in which pockets or watertight retaining channels are provided. water, possibly loaded with nutrients, pierced on their upper face with holes allowing wicks to pass which drain the water thus retained towards the roots of the plants to be cultivated.

 For this, the sand used is preferably of well defined granulometry, that is to say between 0.3 and 0.5 mm, and consisting of very round grains, in order to facilitate the circulation of air.

 Bins or pots are no longer necessary. It suffices to provide watertight pockets or channels in the granular medium in the form of channels or gutters of variable length, for example, or alveoli of any shape; round or square for example, possibly communicating with each other. In fact, these channels or cells are preferably connected by pipes, for example, in order to allow water to be brought from pocket to pocket. These pockets or channels are pierced with holes on their upper face or are covered with perforated plates in order to let wicks pass which will drain the water, possibly loaded with fertilizers and / or care or treatment products, towards the plants. to cultivate.

 Such a system allows cultivation in arid regions such as in deserts, because it greatly reduces the evaporation of water. In addition, this device prevents practically any unnecessary consumption of nutritive material, the latter no longer being stored in the parts of the soil which do not have roots of the plants to be nourished. Finally, the parts of the soil located between the plants to be cultivated are not irrigated, this prevents to a large extent the proliferation of parasitic plants. The roots of the plants to be cultivated will spread around the wicks, then around the water pockets and thus allow the appearance of a micro-climate.

 The watertight pockets or channels channeling the water possibly loaded with nutritive materials, can be made of rigid or blown material, or any preferably inexpensive material, which is rot-proof and heat resistant, such as concrete, terracotta. , plastics, for example polyamide or polyester, fiber cement. They can be located on the same horizontal level or else be arranged slightly sloping to create a certain circulation of the water they contain.

 It is also conceivable to shape the terrain by creating a relief in the form of a furrow or pocket and to cover the latter with a film of waterproof film which allows them to retain water, then cover them with a plate pierced with holes to let the wicks pass. The latter will for example be rot-proof and will drain water towards the roots by capillarity.

 This type of crop can be planted in sandy soil, such as certain arid lands located in deserts, for example, or in other places where precipitation cannot reach the ground due to obstacles, such as pieces of land located under roofs extending far beyond the walls of certain buildings, for example, and where it is desirable to grow plants for decorative purposes.

 The water reservoir (s) supplying the various channels or pockets of water can be created artificially. But it is also possible and desirable - according to the present invention, to take advantage of preexisting pockets of underground water, which are too deep for newly implanted trees or plants to be able to extend their roots up to them, but which are however located at a reasonable depth which allows them to feed by any suitable system the network of channels or watertight pockets buried at shallower depth.

The present invention will be better understood with reference to the description of an embodiment and the accompanying drawing in which
Figure 1 shows a sectional view of a water retention channel according to the invention;
FIG. 2 represents a top view of tanks produced and supplied according to the invention;
FIG. 3 represents a set of plants fed from a single gutter.

 Figure 1 shows an example of a system according to the invention in progress. A watertight channel 1 in eternity for example, has been formed in a granular medium 2. Its profile is U-shaped, but it could be of any other suitable shape. I1 is covered by a plate 3 pierced with holes 4, allowing wicks 5 rot-proof, capable of draining by capillary action towards the roots of the plants to be cultivated, the water 6 retained at the bottom of the gutter 1. This water is charged with amberlite . It is necessary to renew the dose of amberlite approximately every six months.

 FIG. 2 shows two tanks 7 made of watertight plastic, covered with a plate 8 pierced with holes 9, and filled with round-grained sand, with a particle size between 0.3 and 0.5 mm. These tanks are supplied by a plastic pipe 10, through which water loaded with fertilizer circulates. The roots 11 of the plant 12 were fed by the wicks coming out through the holes made in the plate 8. The plant 12 has now developed new roots which surround the tank 7. The whole tank-racinestuyau is covered with soil (profile 13).

 FIG. 3 shows a sealed channel 14 closed from place to place by plates 15 pierced with holes 16 allowing wicks 1.7 to pass. This channel thus feeds numerous culture points 16, located around each plate 15.

Claims (6)

 1. A culture method with low water loss, and requiring no fertile soil, contained by a granular medium allowing the proliferation of roots, characterized in that lion spares pockets and / or watertight canals in the soil of water, possibly loaded with nutritive material, having openings on their upper face, and in that drainage wicks are placed in the ground so that one of their ends passes through said openings and plunges into said openings pockets and / or water retention channels, and that the other end is near the roots of the plants to be irrigated.  2. Device for implementing the method of claim 1, characterized in that it comprises at least one pocket and / or channel arranged at an appropriate depth in the soil, below the plants to be cultivated and irrigated, and at least one wick, one end of which dips into said pocket and / or channel, and the other end of which is located near the roots of the plant, the wick rising vertically or at an angle from its first to its second end.  3. Device according to claim 2, characterized in that the pockets and / or channels are interconnected  4. Device according to claim i, characterized in that the pockets or channels are formed of sealed receptacles covered with plates pierced with holes.  5. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the pockets or channels are cells or grooves of any shape not connected to each other.  6. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the granular medium is sand, the particle size of which is between 0.3 and 0.5 mm.