GB1585169A - Horticulture - Google Patents

Description

(54) IMPROVEMENTS RELATING TO HORTICULTURE (71) We, CHARLES POVEY, Of 45 Cyprus Road, Heysham, Lancashire, LA3 2QA, and CHRISTOPHER THOMAS GLOSSOP, of Oxcliffe Nursery and Garden Centre.

Oxcliffe Road, Morecambe, Lancashire, both British subjects, do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: The present invention relates to horticulture and particularly to supports for plants and plant stems.

In growing long stemmed plants such as gladioli, chrysanthemums and carnations it is necessary to provide some form of support for the stems to reduce the risk of damage to the stems and allow the plants to grow to their full height. Hitherto it has been the practice either to tie the plant stems to canes inserted in the plant bed or group the plants together and overlay with nylon wire or string mesh with a mesh spacing e.g. 4 inches, to allow the plants to grow therethrough. The former practice, however, is both time consuming and requires a considerable number of canes, generally a minimum of one to each plant. The latter practice considerably restricts access to the plants, thus making cropping difficult.

According to the present invention there is provided a support for plants comprising a peripheral member defining a closed loop with two limbs connected thereto so as to define a number of plant retaining regions within said peripheral member, the limbs being resiliently flexible so that they can be displaced towards one another to enable a support member to be inserted between overlapping portions of the limbs intermediate the ends of the limbs whereby the natural resilience of the support serves to clamp the support member between said overlapping portions.

In a preferred embodiment said portions overlap without displacement and the limbs are displaceable towards one another to increase said overlap.

The support also has a third limb arranged parallel with one of the firstmentioned limbs and the other of the firstmentioned limbs interleaves with the parallel limbs to provide said overlap.

The present invention is further described hereinafter, by way of example, with reference to the drawings accompanying the provisional specification, in which: Fig. 1 is a view of one embodiment of a support according to the present invention in use; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the support of Fig. 1; Fig. 2a is a perspective view of a portion of the support of Fig. 2; Fig. 1 illustrates a plant support 10 mounted on a cane 12 and supporting three long-stemmed plants 14. The support 10 is preferably made of wire e.g. galvanised or plastics coated steel, and as best seen from Fig. 2 has a peripheral wire member 16 curved to form a circle which is divided into segments by spokes or limbs 18, 20, so-shaped as to combine in a generally Y-shaped configuration.The form of these limbs 18, 20 is better illustrated in Fig. 2a in which the limb 18 can be seen to be formed from two substantially parallel wire lengths 22, 24 which have V-shaped portions 26, 28. The latter overlaps an oppositely directed V-shaped portion 20' of the member 20 (formed by a single wire length) which passes between the V-shaped portions 26, 28 to form therewith an opening in which the cane 12 can be clamped or pinched by the natural resilience of the support 10.

The limbs 18, 20 cross twice to provide an overlap opening with a substantially closed inner boundary. The overlap of the V-shaped portions is arranged to be less than the diameter of the rod or cane to which the device is to be clamped. Clamping can easily be effected by a user of the device by suitably deforming the circle formed by the wire member 16. To enlarge the opening to enable the cane to be passed therethrough the wire limbs 18, 20 are simply pinched together at the stem of the "Y" by applying force in the direction of the arrows g.

The above-described support is preferably made ot wire it may also be made of plastics material or a combination of both metal and plastics material. Where the limb 18, 20 are of plastics material the individual lengths are conveniently preformed plastics strips which interleave as do the lengths 20, 22 and 24 of the support 10.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: 1. A support for plants comprising a peripheral member defining a closed loop with two limbs connected thereto so as to define a number of plant retaining regions within said peripheral member, the limbs being resiliently flexible so that they can be displaced towards one another to enable a support member to be inserted between overlapping portions of the limbs intermediate the ends of the limbs whereby the natural resilience of the support serves to clamp the support member between said overlapping portions.

2. A support as claimed in claim 1, in which said portions overlap without displacement and the limbs are displaceable towards one another to increase said overlap.

3. A support as claimed in claim 1, in which said portions do not overlap without displacement and the limbs are displaceable towards one another to provide said overlap.

4. A support as claimed in any of claims 1 to 3, in which the peripheral member supports the limbs and serves to interconnect the limbs at or adjacent the ends thereof.

5. A support as claimed in claim 4, in which said peripheral member is substantially circular.

6. A support as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5, in which said limbs combine in a substantially "Y" shaped configuration with said overlap occurring at the fork of the "Y".

7. A support as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6, in which said limbs are in the form of oppositely directed V-shaped portions co-operable to provide said overlap.

8. A support as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7, further comprising a third limb arranged parallel with one of the first mentioned limbs and wherein the other of the first-mentioned limbs interleaves with the parallel limbs to provide said overlap.

9. A support for plants substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figs. 1, 2 and 2a of the drawings accompanying the Provisional Specification.

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims (9)

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. The above-described support is preferably made ot wire it may also be made of plastics material or a combination of both metal and plastics material. Where the limb 18, 20 are of plastics material the individual lengths are conveniently preformed plastics strips which interleave as do the lengths 20, 22 and 24 of the support 10. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. A support for plants comprising a peripheral member defining a closed loop with two limbs connected thereto so as to define a number of plant retaining regions within said peripheral member, the limbs being resiliently flexible so that they can be displaced towards one another to enable a support member to be inserted between overlapping portions of the limbs intermediate the ends of the limbs whereby the natural resilience of the support serves to clamp the support member between said overlapping portions.

2. A support as claimed in claim 1, in which said portions overlap without displacement and the limbs are displaceable towards one another to increase said overlap.

3. A support as claimed in claim 1, in which said portions do not overlap without displacement and the limbs are displaceable towards one another to provide said overlap.

4. A support as claimed in any of claims 1 to 3, in which the peripheral member supports the limbs and serves to interconnect the limbs at or adjacent the ends thereof.

5. A support as claimed in claim 4, in which said peripheral member is substantially circular.

6. A support as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5, in which said limbs combine in a substantially "Y" shaped configuration with said overlap occurring at the fork of the "Y".

7. A support as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6, in which said limbs are in the form of oppositely directed V-shaped portions co-operable to provide said overlap.

8. A support as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7, further comprising a third limb arranged parallel with one of the first mentioned limbs and wherein the other of the first-mentioned limbs interleaves with the parallel limbs to provide said overlap.

9. A support for plants substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figs. 1, 2 and 2a of the drawings accompanying the Provisional Specification.