GB2093326A - Container for a solid growing medium - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides a container for a solid medium in which a plant can be grown. The container comprises a floor of a self-supporting but frangible material and a peripheral wall upstanding from the floor, the floor having at least one portion 9 separable therefrom whereby growing medium disposed above the or each separable portion can be ejected from the container together with any plant or plants growing therein by applying finger pressure from underneath the container to separate the separable portion from the remainder of the floor. The advantage of the container of the invention is that it affords easy removal of one or more plants grown in the compartments thereof. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Container for a solid growing medium The present invention relates to a container for a solid medium in which a plant can be grown such as soil or compost. In particular, the invention relates to seed or plant trays or the like for containing soil or compost in which plants or seeds may be embedded, and from which individual growing plants or groups of plants may easily be removed without damage to the plants or to their root structures.

While the invention is equally applicable to plant pots and plant troughs, it is particularly useful where the container is a seed or plant tray, especially where the tray is divided into a plurality of compartments. Recently, there has been an increasing tendency to fabricate such trays from foamed plastics material, in particular expanded polystyrene. Thus, one form of such tray is described in British Patent Specification No.

1,206,139 which discloses a compartmented container unit comprising a plurality of containers, the unit being formed from expanded polystyrene or the like, and each container or groups of containers being partially separated from one another by separation cuts which, whilst only partially separating containers or groups of containers, will permit a container or a group of containers to be separated wholly from the remainder of the unit by breaking the portions of the material forming the unit which extend between adjacent containers. Such portions of material extend between adjacent containers at positions near the bases of such containers and releasable tape means extend across the or each separation cut for releasably securing together the container or groups of containers of the unit.

Another such tray is described in British Patent Specification No.-1,252,929, which discloses a seed or plant tray having a floor and a peripheral wall about the floor, and further including one or more partition elements formed integrally with the floor and wall and together with the wall defining a plurality of side-by-side compartments for holding soil with seed or plants embedded therein.

The tray is fabricated from a rigid foam plastics material, typically expanded polystyrene and is so formed that each compartment is readily separated as by cutting or breaking from the remainder of the tray. In particular, the partition elements are of inverted V section and the interior inverted V space of each partition element can extend through the partition element at the apex thereof, and at spaced points, to form a line of weakening along the apex. Thus, the disclosed tray can be broken into individual compartments by breaking away a compartment or group of compartments from the remainder of the tray by an upward movement.

While known seed or plant trays or the like such as those described above provide for the removal of plants in a compartment or group of compartments from the remainder of the tray, it is still difficult to remove plants from each compartment. This is because, firstly, the compartment inner wall surfaces are preferred to be nearly vertical, in order to provide maximum soil capacity, and secondly the plant roots tend to grow into the material of the walls, thus anchoring the plants and soil in the compartment. We have now found that this difficulty may be obviated by providing in each compartment one or more separable portions in the floor of the compartment.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a container for a solid medium in which a plant can be grown, which container comprises a floor of a self-supporting but frangible material and a peripheral wall upstanding from the floor, the floor having at least one portion separable therefrom whereby growing medium disposed above the or each separable portion can be ejected from the container together with any plant or plants growing therein by applying finger pressure from underneath the container to separate the separable portion from the remainder of the floor.

As indicated above the container of the invention may be a plant pot, or may be in the form of a seed or plant tray or trough. Preferably the container is a seed or plant tray or trough which has at least one partitioning element dividing the container into a plurality of compartments, the floor of each compartment having at least one said separable portion. In addition, it is preferred that there should be an area of weakness in the container at or about the or each partitioning element whereby compartments can be separated from one another, such as are disclosed in the abovementioned British Patent Specifications.

Thus, it is especially preferred that in the container of the invention each partitioning element should comprise two opposed walls upstanding from the container floor and joined along at least one edge thereof whereby when separation is effected the separated compartment and the remaining compartment adjacent the separated compartment each include one wall of the element. As described below the walls typically may be separated by a slot open towards the top of the container and the ends of the slot may be disposed within the peripheral wall to provide a line of weakness down and within the peripheral wall.

The separable portions in the floor of the container may be defined by a periphery of weakened material whereby separation of the portions from the floor may be effected by rupturing the weakened material. The weakened material may be provided by partially cutting through the floor from its top or bottom surface or both, or preferably by forming the periphery so that it has a diminished thickness compared with the remainder of the floor. Thus, a groove may be formed in the top or preferably the bottom surface of the floor or both to provide the necessary weakness around the periphery of each separable portion.

In another preferred embodiment one or more separable portions are defined by a plurality of slots separated by a plurality of bridging pieces connecting the or each separable portion to the remainder of the floor. In this embodiment separation of each floor portion is effected by rupturing the bridging pieces.

The separable portions may be any suitable size or shape. For example, the separable portions may be triangular, rectangular or hexagonal, but preferably are circular so that each separable portion is formed as a removable disc. For any particular container the size and number of the separable portion will be chosen so that if possible individual plants can be removed from each container or compartment of the container without disturbing any remaining plants.

Preferably the floor of the container, or the floor in each compartment of the container, has at least one drainage aperture. As will be appreciated, in the case where the separable portions are defined by a plurality of slots, such slots can perform the function of drainage apertures and additional drainage apertures may not be necessary.

Preferably, however, at least in the case where there are no such slots each separable portion should include a drainage aperture therethrough.

Preferably the whole container is made of a self-supporting but frangible material, which usually will be a plastics material, typically a foamed plastics material. In this respect a particularly suitable material is expanded polystyrene which is light, reasonably rigid, and yet which can be broken without difficulty.

Where the container of the invention is fabricated from plastics material it may be formed by any of the well known thermo-forming techniques, but preferably it is formed by an injection moulding technique.

In order that the invention may be better understood certain preferred embodiments will now be described in more detail by way of illustration only with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view from the top of one form of a container according to the present invention; Figure 2 is a cross-section through a container as illustrated in Figure 1, taken on the line Il-Il' but showing three different forms of separable floor portion according to the invention; and Figure 3 is a top plan view of one end of a container as illustrated in Figure 1, again showing different forms of separable floor portion according to the invention.

Referring to Figure 1, a seed-tray 1 preferably formed of expanded polystyrene, comprises a floor 2 having at its periphery end-walls 3 and side walls 4. Extending between the side-walls 4 are four transverse partitioning elements 5a, 5b, Sc and 5d, which are parallel to the end-walls 3 and which divide the container into compartments 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d and 6e. The elements 5a, 5b, Sc and 5d each comprise two opposed walls e.g. 5a' and spa", upstanding from the floor 2 and integrai with the floor 2 and the side-walls 4.The element walls are separated by slots 7a, 7b, 7c and 7d, the opposite ends of which are disposed within the respective side-walls 4, to enable an individual compartment or a group of compartments to be separated from the remainder of the container by breaking away with a downward movement about the strip of floor beneath the slot. In this way the separated compartment and the remaining compartment adjacent the separated compartment are separated in a manner whereby each includes one wall of the partitioning element at which separation is effected.

In the floor of each compartment, there are a plurality of arcuate slots 8 arranged in groups of four so as to define a central disc 9 joined to the remainder of the floor 2 by four bridging pieces 10 having a width such that when sufficient finger pressure is exerted on the disc from below the bridging pieces rupture, thereby allowing the disc to separate from the compartment floor and enabling the disc together with soil and plants carried thereon to be ejected from the open top of the compartment. If desired the slots may be replaced by cuts through the floor material.

Referring to Figure 2, this shows three variations of the separable floor portion, although in practice all of the separable floor portions within one container will usually be the same. Portion 9a is a disc defined by slots 8 as already described with reference to Figure 1. Portion 9b is a disc defined by an annulus 11 of diminished thickness which as shown may comprise superposed grooves 12 and 1 3 respectively in the lower and upper surface of the floor 2. Alternatively, a single annular groove may be formed to a greater depth in either surface, preferably the lower surface, or the or each groove may be replaced by a cut or the like. The third variation, portion 9c, differs from disc 9b in that it is provided with a drainage hole 14 through its centre.

Referring to Figure 3, this shows five variations of the separable floor portion disc. In this figure discs 9a, 9b and 9c are of the same form as the disc described with reference to Figures 1 and 2, and discs 9d and 9e are variations of disc 9a in that the bridging pieces 10 are spaced radially at angles of 1200 and 1800 respectively. Hence the number of slots is reduced to three and two respectively. The number of slots 8 employed will depend on the size of the disc 9 and the desired degree of frangibility required.

Since the slots 8 can serve as drainage holes, there is usually no necessity to provide separate drainage holes. However, if desired, each disc 9a, 9d and 9e may include a drainage hole 14 as for disc 9c.

If desired the container shown in Figure 1 may have a peripheral rim underneath the floor and below the walls 3 and 4. In addition, there may be a thickened section of floor beneath each partitioning element, both of which features provide torsional rigidity and enable a major portion of the container floor to stand above any surface on which the container stands to allow for drainage through any drainage holes. Also, the rim is preferably broken beneath each side of each compartment to allow egress of water from beneath the container.

To facilitate ejection of soil from each compartment the wall surfaces are disposed to slope outwardly upwards from the floor 2 so that the open top of each compartment has an area greater than the floor area beneath.

Preferably each slot 7 includes drainage holes 15 so that any water which enters the slots when plants in the container are watered does not collect there.

In addition the seed-tray may include recesses in the end-walls to provide finger-holds to facilitate lifting of stacked trays.

While the invention has been described above, specifically with reference to a compartmented plant or seed tray, it will be understood that it is equally applicable to other containers such as plant or seed troughs or plant pots. In addition, while the tray shown in Figure 1 includes four separable portions per compartment, the number of such portions may be varied, although usually from 3 to 5 separable portions per compartment will be used.

From the above description it will be appreciated that in a container according to the invention removal of one or more plants is facilitated even where the inner wall surfaces are nearly vertical, and also where plant root growth into the material of the walls has taken place.

Claims (19)

1. A container for a solid medium in which a plant can be grown, which container comprises a floor of a self-supporting but frangible material and a peripheral wall upstanding from the floor, the floor having at least one portion separable therefrom whereby growing medium disposed above the or each separable.portion can be ejected from the container together with any plant or plants growing therein by applying finger pressure from underneath the container to separate the separable portion from the remainder of the floor.

2. A container as claimed in claim 1, which is in the form of a plant pot.

3. A container as claimed in claim 1 , which is in the form of a seed or plant tray or trough.

4. A container as claimed in claim 3, which has at least one partitioning element dividing the container into a plurality of compartments, the floor of each compartment having at least one said separable portion.

5. A container as claimed in claim 4 which is weakened at or about the or each partitioning element whereby compartments can be readily separated from one another.

6. A container as claimed in claim 5, wherein each partitioning element comprises two opposed walls upstanding from the container floor and joined at least along one edge thereof whereby when separation is effected the separated compartment and the remaining compartment adjacent the separated compartment each include one wall of the element.

7. A container as claimed in claim 6, wherein the walls are separated by a slot open towards the top of the container and the ends of the slot are disposed within the peripheral wall to provide a line of weakness down and within the peripheral wall.

8. A container as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein one or more separable portions are defined by a periphery of weakened material whereby separation of the or each portion from the floor is effected by rupturing the weakened material.

9. A container as claimed in claim 8, wherein the periphery of weakened material has a diminished thickness.

10. A container as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein one or more separable portions are defined by a plurality of slots separated by a plurality of bridging pieces connecting the or each separable portion to the remainder of the floor whereby separation of the or each floor portion is effected by rupturing said bridging pieces.

11. A container as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein each separable portion is a disc.

12. A container as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the floor or the floor in each compartment has at least one drainage aperture.

13. A container as claimed in claim 12, in which each separable portion includes a drainage aperture therethrough.

14. A container as claimed in any one of the preceding claims made of a self-supporting but frangible plastics material.

1 5. A container as claimed in claim 13 in which the plastics material is expanded polystyrene.

16. A container as claimed in any one of the preceding claims which is formed by injection moulding or thermoforming.

17. A container for a solid mediurn in which a plant can be grown substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

New claims or amendments to claims filed on 5th March 1 982 Superseded claims 2-1 7 New or amended claims:

2. A container according to claim 1, which is a plant pot.

3. A container according to claim 1 which is in the form of a seed or plant tray or trough.

4. A container according to claim 3, which is a seed or plant tray or trough having at least one partitioning element dividing the container into a plurality of compartments, the floor of each compartment having at least one said separable portion.

5. A container according to claim 4, wherein there is an area of weakness in the container at or about the or each partitioning element whereby compartments can be separated from one another.

6. A container according to claim 5, wherein each partitioning element comprises two opposed walls upstanding from the container floor and joined along at least one edge thereof whereby when separation is effected the separated compartment and the remaining compartment adjacent the separated compartment each include one wall of the element.

7. A container according to claim 6, wherein the walls are separated by a slot open towards the top of the container, the ends of the slot being disposed within the peripheral wall to provide a line of weakness down and within the peripheral wall.

8. A container according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the one or more separable portions are defined by a periphery of weakened material whereby separation of the or each portion from the floor may be effected by rupturing the weakened material.

9. A container according to claim 8, wherein the weakened material is provided by partially cutting through the floor from its top or bottom surface or both.

10. A container according to claim 8, wherein the periphery is formed so that it has a diminished thickness compared with the remainder of the floor.

1 A container according to claim 10, wherein a groove is formed in the top or bottom surface of the floor or both to provide the necessary weakness around the periphery of each separable portion.

12. A container according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein one or more separable portions are defined by a plurality of slots separated by a plurality of bridging pieces connecting the or each separable portion to the remainder of the floor.

13. A container according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the separable portions are circular.

14. A container according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the floor in the or each compartment of the container has at least one drainage aperture.

1 5. A container according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein each separable portion includes a drainage aperture therethrough.

1 6. A container according to any one of the preceding claims which is made of a selfsupporting but frangible material.

1 7. A container according to claim 16, wherein the frangible material is a foamed plastics material.

1 8. A container according to claim 17, wherein the foamed plastics material is expanded polystyrene.

19. A container for a solid medium in which a plant can be grown substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanving drawings.