FR2747882A1 - Culture support for garden plants - Google Patents

Abstract

The support (1) for the plants (4) is formed by a block of a material with a high capillary action, for instance porous coral, with capillary spaces which are mutually connected. The capillary spaces form the storage medium for water for feeding the plants. The block is shaped so that the recess for each plant (2) is formed in a mass of material which is sufficient to assure the feeding of water to the plants by capillary action. The planar recesses are shaped to assure a sufficient mass of block material around the plants for a reliable supply of water.

Description

 The invention relates to an arrangement for cultivating garden or indoor plants, of the type comprising a plant support body provided with a hollow containing the soil in which a plant can be implanted and means for supplying water to it. the plant.

 In arrangements of this type, which are known, the automatic water supply means comprising water diffusing devices connected to a water source and triggered at predetermined time intervals. These water supply systems are sophisticated and expensive and require proximity to a water source such as a storage tank or a water distribution network.

 It is also known to provide in or on the supports of the plants reservoirs of water which is then supplied to the plant in any suitable form, such as for example by spraying. These water supply systems do not have the desired efficiency.

 In addition to the drawbacks which have just been stated, all the water supply systems known up to now have an added character which is detrimental from an aesthetic point of view.

 The object of the present invention is to propose an arrangement which does not have the drawbacks which have just been stated.

 To achieve this goal, the support body of the plants consists of a block of a material with high capillarity, such as porous coral, comprising internal capillary spaces which communicate with each other, that these spaces constitute the means of storage of the plant feed water and in that the support block is configured so that the plant receiving recess is in a mass of material sufficient to ensure the supply of water to the plant, by capillary action.

 According to an advantageous characteristic of the invention, the mass of the block and the location of the recess are chosen according to the desired autonomy of water supply.

 According to yet another characteristic of the invention, the support body comprises a plurality of plant receiving recesses.

The invention will be better understood and other objects, details, advantages and characteristics thereof will appear more clearly during the explanatory description which will follow of several particular presently preferred embodiments of the invention, given solely by way of illustration. illustrative and not limiting, with reference to the accompanying schematic drawings, in which
FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing an arrangement for cultivating plants according to the invention, comprising a single hollow for planting, and
- Figure 2 is a view similar to that of Figure 1 and shows a support block comprising a plurality of plant implantation hollows.

 As shown in the figures, the plant cultivation arrangement according to the invention comprises a porous coral block 1 which performs the two functions of supporting the plants and supplying water thereto.

 In FIG. 1, the support block 1 comprises a single hollow or hole 2 which contains the soil 3 in which the plant 4 is implanted.

 The porous coral which constitutes the support body 1 is made of a material comprising a network of internal capillary spaces, which communicate with each other. Thanks to this network of internal spaces open towards hole 2, the block can retain a relatively large quantity of water, for example poured into hole 2. By appropriately configuring the body and placing the planting hole so that it is surrounded by a relatively large mass of support material, where the plants received in the hole 2 can receive, by capillary action, for a period of time depending on the structure of the body 1, the water of which they need.

 Figure 2 shows a block of spawned coral, which is adapted to include a plurality of planting holes 2 for plants. Of course the shape of the block and the location of the holes must be chosen so that each hole 2 has around it a sufficient water storage area to ensure its supply of water for the desired period of time.

 Another advantage of using a porous coral block lies in the fact that it constitutes a bacterial and in some way living system which interacts with its environment. The coral could be covered with vegetation like a volcano in the middle of the ocean, such as moss ferns, cacti etc. On the other hand, the grains of the plants already implanted in the block could become lodged in small imperfections on the surface of the block and give rise to new plants.

 Another advantage of the use, as a plant support, of a coral block lies in the fact that fertilizers placed on the bottom of the hole 2 for example at 6 or even on the upper face of the soil introduced into this hole is entrained by water in the pores of the block and stored in them. Thus, the fertilizer remains at the disposal of the plant and will be returned to it as and when the plant needs it.

 Of course by appropriately machining the support block, it can be given any desired geometric shape.

 Consequently, the arrangement for cultivating plants according to the invention constitutes a user-friendly, simple assembly, including a means of supplying water which, far from being aesthetically annoying, contributes or otherwise to the aesthetic value of this arrangement.

Claims (3)

 1. Arrangement for cultivating garden or indoor plants, of the type comprising a plant support body provided with a hollow containing the soil in which at least one plant can be established and means for supplying water to the plant,  characterized in that the support body (1) of the plants (4) consists of a block (1) of a material with high capillarity, such as porous coral, comprising internal capillary spaces which communicate with each other, that these spaces constitute the means for storing the plant feed water (4), and in that the support block (1) is configured so that the receiving hollow (2) of plant (4) is located in a mass of material sufficient to ensure the water supply to the plant (4), by capillary action.  2. Arrangement according to claim 1, characterized in that the shape of the support block (1) and the location of the recess (2) therein are chosen so that the latter is surrounded by an amount of material sufficient block to supply water to plants (4) for a predetermined period of time.  3. Arrangement according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the support body (1) comprises a plurality of recesses (2) for receiving plants (4).