FR2712140A1 - Recyclable growbag - Google Patents

Abstract

A growbag consists of an envelope (1) with selective porosity and a substrate (2) in the form of natural or synthetic, porous granules or fibres.

Description

DESCRIPTION
ABOVE GROUND CROP SUPPORT
The present invention relates to a "module complex
more commonly called "horticultural bread"; Consisting of a porous envelope and a substrate made of cellular materials, either for the above-ground cultivation of plants in slabs or in pots and then sold as is, or to produce intensively also in above ground in a greenhouse, outdoors or under cover, vegetables, fruit plants, cut flowers and mushroom cellars by adding nutritious liquid.

 More precisely, this "module complex" can be used in all architectural and non-architectural applications, indoors or outdoors, in the form of slabs for above-ground crops or in floral displays (flowers and grass.), Various green plants placed on draining soil. Thus, it is possible to cover the parking roofs, multipurpose rooms, constructions for residential use, industrial offices and others, interior surfaces, surroundings.

Its use is suitable for industrial cultivation in pots or containers (with or without nutrient reserves), as well as in soilless crops in greenhouses with natural drainage (sandy support in ditch, whether or not bounded by a plastic sheet or not for example) or artificial on gutter for the recovery of nutritive liquid or any draining surface
Most of the current devices for soilless cultivation in greenhouses (or not) using as such the substrates in mixture or not, in pit or on draining bed or the complex-modules (substrate in envelope) present together or for the substrates and / or for envelopes the following major disadvantages
- need for significant earthworks for the pits
especially,
- excessive installation time for substrates delivered in
bulk,
- on-site mixing of handling, weighing and stock substrates
etc ....), - too weak or excessive retention of organic substrates based on cellulose (bark, peat, - anaerobic degradation of the substrate based on organic waste, with diffusion of sugars, undesirable proteins (growth inhibitors), various diseases and parasites whose origin is poorly known (industrial, forestry, agricultural) and which can be polluted and non-homogeneous, - obstruction of the recovery ducts by the root mass (torn envelope) - excessive, even harmful, sealing certain envelopes, - diffusion of the plasticizer of certain materials constituting the envelope, - need to pierce certain envelopes for the low evacuation of the nutritive liquid, - rotting of the roots by a lack of oxygenation due to an impermeability of the envelope, - need to pierce certain envelopes before placing the clods, - development of anaerobes, algae, various parasites, - diffi culture of disinfection of the substrate, - porosity of the substrate not adapted to the different cultivated species (plugging, etc.) - non-neutrality of the substrate, diffusion of resins (example fibers of rocks agglomerated with melamine resins), - difficulty of recycling of the substrate and / or the envelope (example: rock wool in a waterproof plastic envelope) or disposal, - additional cost (example: pollution taxes) of landfill, the substrates not being ecologically recyclable or degradable, - degradation of sites and pollution of the water table (example: rock wool substrate and local accumulation of retained nitrates)
The patent FR 2416643 AFOCEL is known which claims pockets for sowing or cutting, containing a substrate. Said pocket being made to be crossed by the roots. Likewise, USP 3739522 which claims a waterproof bag (water and air) containing a culture substrate; And also the patent
French 1540887 who claims a system of canalization feeding pockets of culture, but the pockets are sealed almost hermetically, and are therefore opposed to gas exchange and breathing of the roots.

The new complex / module according to the invention overcomes these drawbacks. To this end, the present invention relates to a complex / module (or more commonly "horticultural bread") composed of
- a flexible envelope, with selective and stepped porosity,
resistant to traction, tearing and puncturing,
as well as UV
- a neutral substrate, porosity and liquid retention
nutritious perfectly suited to the plant species to be cultivated,
insoluble and unbreakable.

The ENVELOPE comes in the form of a pocket or bag with selective filtration, woven, non-woven or perforated, non-biodegradable, made of glass fibers, rock or thermoplastics (polyethylene, polypropylene, polyester polyaramides, polyamides,
PVC etc ...), closed by a suitable means at the ends.

 In the upper part, according to a characteristic of the invention, there is a part mainly consisting of a perforated grid (or a textile) continuous of a width suitable for plants, the mesh size of which constitutes an optimum between the retention granules of the substrate and the diameter of the largest roots or stems of the cultivated plant species. This grid therefore extends from one end to the other of the bread lengthwise.

We also distinguish the two sides of the envelope and the
lower part, mainly consisting of a material
microporous
According to another characteristic of the invention, the grid
continuous in the upper part of the envelope is a facility
for positioning plants or seeds.

According to a characteristic of the invention, it is possible
to have a split grid, the intervals being made up of
microporous parts, in the same spirit as the sides and the
lower part.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the use of
non-woven sheets or fabrics, of microporous material allows
nutrient liquid flow regulation and gas exchange
essential to the root system with the atmosphere, and the
possibility, under greenhouses, to use efficiently and quickly
harmless to shoots and roots, gas
disinfectants for the elimination of parasites (mold,
fungi, insects or larvae).

According to a variant of the invention, the porosity of the material
intended for the manufacture of envelopes, can be obtained by
machining from continuous and sufficiently strong sheets
(multiple holes, of different sections for the upper grid, sides and the lower part).

According to another characteristic of the invention, the materials
used for the envelope are fully recyclable or
disposable by incineration
According to another characteristic of the invention, the upper grid can be formed either by glass fibers (sodium or borosilicate for example) sized using a latex (styrene, acrylic, etc.) or only with a grid (fiberglass or synthetic fibers) on which we will have deposited on a part only in the longitudinal direction, non-woven "mat" in glass fibers or synthetic fibers or woven with fine mesh making it micro porous also in the aforementioned materials.

 According to a variant, for precise uses, the upper grid may be a part added by gluing or welding or sewing in association with the microporous part of the envelope, and, the width of which may vary according to the dimensions of the clods.

 According to another characteristic of the invention, the mesh size of the upper part can vary according to the average diameter of the stems or roots of the type of plants to be cultivated.

 According to another characteristic of the invention, the complexes / modules can be terminated by an appropriate shape in the ends so that, without inconvenience, it can place a clod on horseback on two modules and the roots can develop without difficulty in the one and the other bread at the same time.

 According to another characteristic of the invention, the envelope may be provided with lateral flaps serving to protect the light from the bread and the clod, to avoid the formation of algae.

THE SUBSTRATE
The nature of the substrate was chosen according to its internal porosity, its criteria for water retention, its chemical and biological neutrality, its ease of supply, its recycling, and its non-polluting character, as well than its mechanical and physico-chemical characteristics.

 The authors according to the invention have associated a material, granular or fibrous, porous commonly used in horticulture, with a specific envelope.

The authors, according to the invention, have mainly chosen materials, granular or fibrous, porous, of natural origin as they are or expanded by heat
- pelagonic tuff - pozzolana
- expanded vermiculite
expanded clay
- expanded perlite
- expanded shales
- porous vitrified ash
- porous slag
- natural or artificial zeliths
- peat but also
- expanded foams in thermoset resin or
thermoplastics
- loose thermoplastic fibers or welded together.

(Felt)
- fibrous mat of glass fibers, rock, fibers
organic.

According to a variant of the invention, these materials can be
employees alone or mixed.

 According to a variant of the invention, the particle size of the pores is chosen according to the plants to be reared (small diameters: 2 to 6 mm, for species with a root system having a lot of rootlets, larger diameters: 6 to 14 mm for hair root systems).

 According to a variant of the invention, a low level of crushed fines (which without actually changing the overall open porosity which remains close to 40 to 95%) improves the liquid retention by increasing the overall specific surface in addition to that of the clean porosity of each aggregate of the substrate.

 According to one of the advantageous positions, these crushed fines can be preferably placed at the time of bagging on the side of the porous tissue. They can therefore play a regulatory role.

 According to another characteristic of the invention, the internal porosity of the substrates before bagging can be treated with specific non-toxic phytosanitary products, or even non-pathogenic bacterial strains but returning in symbiosis with the root system, useful molds. The additions can be regenerated during the recycling of horticultural breads (generally every two or two years). These additions can be active by slow diffusion or, on the contrary, by development in plant symbiosis.

 According to another characteristic of the invention, the breads can be declined in any size and take the volumes suitable for growing in pots or slabs, containers or receptacles with or without reserve system, of nutritive liquid.

 According to another characteristic of the invention, it is possible to introduce seeds directly into the pocket.

 According to another characteristic of the invention, during the production of the breads, seeds can be mixed individually with determined volumes of aggregates (1 to 5 seeds per liter of aggregates).

 According to a variant of the invention, the aggregates, by moderate retention and drying, can be loaded with nutritive salts (lyophilization for example) as well as with trace elements, with various hormones, see inoculated with non-pathogenic bacteria, with useful molds and once dry, fill the space around one or a few seeds placed in the heart of the bread, or the slab for raising and growing the future plant. There would no longer be a need for nutrient intake, but only water.

EXAMPLE: A pocket made of a nonwoven from
LYSTIL and made up of thermoformed polyethylene fibers of 250 g / m2, defining a semi-permeable medium whose pores will all be less than 100 microns, intended for growing strawberries. This non-woven fabric will have the shape of a duffel, in length of 2 m and 15 cm in diameter, when we have associated with it, by sewing and in its upper part, a glass fiber fabric whose average meshes are around 3 mm. The assembly is filled with expanded vermiculite, of the registered trademark Vermex, closed at each end and placed on a culture gutter of 4 m, so that the glass tissue is located above. The market gardener will place this set in a greenhouse and place the small strawberry plants on the upper part. The strawberry roots will find the upper part of the pocket, formed by the mesh of the deformable glass fabric, cross it and thus be distributed in the vermiculite. The whole will be regularly sprinkled with nutritive liquid.

FIG. 1 shows the device according to the invention comprising
The envelope (1) with double porosity constituted by the grid (3) and the flexible microporous material (4) and containing the porous substrate.

 In FIG. 1, horticultural bread has also been shown in one of its applications for the enlargement of plants (6) from their clods (5).

 Still in FIG. 1, the lateral exploded view on the envelope (1) and part of the breeding ball shows the root system nested in the substrate (2) and passing from the breeding ball (5) through the grid (3).

 In Figures (2) and 3 there is shown the flexible double porosity system representing the envelope (1) in two possible versions of industrial embodiments.

 More precisely, in FIGS. 2a, 2b, 2c and 3a, 3b and 3c, the assembly is shown by gluing (or welding) according to the dashes (8) of the flexible material (4) and of the grid (3).

 In Figure 2a. there are three zones 1, II and III corresponding to the assembly of the widths of the microporous flexible material (4) and the grid (3) by welding or hot gluing ("Hot Melt" glue).

In FIG. 2b, the flexible material (4) is glued alternately above and below the grid (3) (or even small arrows) and the perspective 2c
On the other hand, FIG. 3a shows a single width comprising the grid (3) and the microporous material (4) manufactured as it is from origin. The grid (3) being visible due to a deposit reserve of the nonwoven constituting the microporous material (4). Gluing and welding (8) are done by bringing the edges of the width together in the zones (8). (see figures 2b and 2c)
In FIGS. 4a to 4e (4th as a reminder), we will notice various ways of assembling the bottoms of the envelope (1), either by gluing (we weld by bringing the edges (9) together, or symmetrical like 4a and 4b either asymmetrical as in 4c and 4 d with an angle (10), arrangement which one finds in figure 6 and 7 where one can see clods of breeding (5)
Overlap the end of two horticultural breads. On the exploded view of FIG. 7 at the junction of the two loaves at an angle (10), we see the root system (7) divided into two parts in the substrate (2) of the two loaves.

In Figure 5, there is shown a positioning on a gutter (11) placed on a flat ground (12) (sand for example)
In this same figure, a cannula (13) passing through the grid (3), brings the nutritive liquid into the substrate (2).

 In FIG. 8, fold-down flaps (14) are shown welded to the flexible material of the envelope (l) along the dotted lines (15). These flaps in flexible thermoplastic black on the inside and white on the outside have a protective function as described below.

 In Figure (9) there is shown a section showing a plant (6) raised in its clod (5) covered in the raz of its aerial part, on either side of its main stem by the flaps (14), the gutter being itself covered by the flaps (14).

Note the detail of the flow of the nutritive liquid (16) in the gutter (II) from the substrate (2) where the root system (7) is housed
In FIGS. 10a to 10d, an arrangement allowing the breeding and the enlargement in pot 18a (with a grid 18b) where one can place a clod (19) obtained from a very short bread (fold 17)
In Figure 10c, the pot 18a is mounted on a gutter (20) where we collect in (21) the nutrient liquid supplied by a canula (13). The envelope retaining the root system outside the atmosphere. We see the liquid (16) bead.

 In FIG. 10d, according to a particular arrangement, seeds (22) have been placed in an improved substrate (2).

 In Figure l la to ld, there are special provisions both in form and use. In FIG. 1a, plants (6) raised and enlarged in slabs where we can recognize the microporous part (4) and the grid (3) as well as the closing folds (9).

 In figure 11 b, top view of the slab.

In Figure 1 the octagonal shape as an example with its closing fold (9)
In figure 1 ld possible aerial use of slabs or container cultures of all shapes.

For example, a horticultural bread can be 120 cm long, 14 cm wide and 5 cm high and weigh from 10 to 12 kg.
The clods can have a square shape of 10 cm side for example and the tiles from 30 to 60 cm side and from 3 to 6 cm high.

Claims (13)

 1) Device or complex / module more commonly called "horticultural bread" for the intensive production in greenhouses, shelters or outdoors, of vegetables, edible fruit plants, cut flowers or mushrooms, and characterized by the association an envelope (1) with selective porosity and substrate (2) in the form of aggregates or fibers, porous, natural or synthetic.  2) Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the thin envelope has stepped porosity zones, formed by the association of a fabric or mesh (3), in the upper part, and a microporous nonwoven constituting the sides and the bottom of the envelope (4). The upper part is intended for the passage of the roots (7) of the plants (6) arranged in clods (5) placed above or for the passage of the stems from the seeds (22) placed inside the bread. The sides and bottom are made of a non-woven fabric, the pores of which range from microns to hundreds of microns. This envelope is permeable to air and water, UV resistant, is not biodegradable but recyclable.  3) Device according to claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the widths (Figure 2 and 3) forming the envelope are obtained from the manufacture of the nonwoven, or, by cutting, then by welding, gluing or stitching.  4) Device according to claims 1, 2 and 3, the envelopes are. according to a variant, composed only of a grid laminated over part of its width only with a "mat" made of non-woven fibers (fig. 3). The grid strip left blank of coating, laminated or not, constitutes the upper grid of the horticultural bread.  5) Device according to claim 4, characterized in that the materials used for the manufacture of the widths forming the envelope are non-woven glass fibers, and or thermoplastic fibers of polypropylene, polyethylene, polyamide, polyester, etc. ...) made up of sheets, according to known methods, said fibers being able to be oriented in the form of continuous filaments or grids.  6) Device according to claims lou 2, characterized in that by a variant, the porosity of the material intended for the manufacture of the envelopes is obtained by machining holes of different sections, in a continuous sheet and sufficiently resistant.  7) Device according to one of claims 2 to 6, characterized in that the upper grid (3) is continuous from one end to the other of the envelope.  8) Device according to claim 1 characterized in that the substrate (2) is a porous material of different particle size sizes.  9) Device according to claim 8 characterized in that the substrate (2) is a natural porous material, chemically and biologically inert, and recyclable.  10) Device according to one of claims 1, 8 and 9 characterized in that the liquid retention is modified, during manufacture, by the addition into the substrate of crushed fines preferably arranged on the microporous side of the envelope.  11) Device according to one of claims 1, 9 and 10, characterized in that the aggregates undergo a deposition of nutritive salts, trace elements. The products are solubilized with water, for example for the breeding of young shoots.  12) Device according to all the preceding claims 1 to 11, characterized in that the "horticultural breads" (1) are of all thicknesses, widths and lengths, and that they can be joined.  13) Device according to claims 1 and 2, characterized in that it has protective flaps (14, fig 9) of white color on the outer face.