GB2107962A

GB2107962A - Plant watering processes and apparatus

Info

Publication number: GB2107962A
Application number: GB08132571A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Stephen John Scrivens
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1981-10-29
Filing date: 1981-10-29
Publication date: 1983-05-11
Also published as: GB2107962B

Abstract

In order to provide a self-watering system without having to remove a plant 1, 2 or 3 from its production container 9 the root ball of the plant is penetrated with a penetrating head 10 or 16 in the form of a wick 11 provided with a rigid support 12 so that one end of the penetrating head 10 or 16 is buried deep within the root ball and the other end of the penetrating head 10 or 16 projects from the root ball. The projecting end of the penetrating head 10 or 16 is then placed within a water reservoir 5 so as to cause water to be delivered at a fairly high level within the root ball by way of the wick 11. Depending on the requirements of the plant and the size of the root ball the penetrating head 10 or 16 may be introduced into the root ball from below (plant 1) or above (plant 3) or two penetrating heads 10 and 16 may be introduced into the root ball one from below and the other from above (plant 2). <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Plant watering processes and apparatus This invention relates to processes and apparatus for watering plants, particularly interior plants.

Self-watering systems for houseplants are known in which the plant is planted in a rooting medium within a self-watering container having a water reservoir in its base and optionally also in its sides. Water is automatically supplied from the reservoir to the rooting medium by capillary action either by way of a wick contacting the rooting medium and extending into the reservoir or by way of a portion of the rooting medium which extends into the reservoir.

However, such systems rely on water rising within the rooting medium itself to supply moisture to all parts of the root ball, and the result of this is that the moisture content of the root ball ranges from saturation at the base to air dry at the top of the rooting medium which may be only 20 centimetres above the base. This means that some of the roots will suffer from conditions that are too wet, whilst others of the roots will suffer from conditions that are too dry.

Moreover most of these existing systems require the plant to be removed from its production container and planted in compost within a special self-watering container, and this can result in a check in the growth of the plant, as well as being time-consuming and making replacement difficult.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a plant watering process and apparatus which may be put into operation without removing the plants from their production containers and which enables the water to be delivered at a fairly high level within the root ball.

According to the invention, there is provided a plant watering process which comprises penetrating the root ball of the plant with a penetrating head in the form of a wick provided with a rigid support so that one end of the penetrating head is buried deep within the root ball and the other end of the penetrating head projects from the root ball, and placing the projecting end of the penetrating head within a water reservoir so as to cause water to be supplied to the root ball by way of the wick.

With this process it is not necessary to remove the plant from its production container prior to introducing the wick into the root ball, so that ail that need be done when the plant is installed in its display position is to place the plant in fluid communication with the water reservoir by means of the penetrating head. Furthermore, once installed, the water is supplied deep within the root ball from where it may spread out by capillary action and be drawn gently downwards to some extent under the influence of gravity.

Whilst the plant will normally be left in its production container, there are certain circumstances, for example when the plant requires dry conditions or a well aerated root system, in which it will be advantageous to remove the production container altogether where the root ball is strong enough or to replace the production container by a coarse plastics mesh pot, for example.

In most cases the penetrating head is introduced into the root ball from below and the plant is then placed so that the lower end of the penetrating head projecting from the root ball extends downwardly into the reservoir. However, in some cases, when the rooting medium surrounding the root ball is particularly hard or extends to a great depth, it may be preferable to introduce the penetrating head into the root ball from above. It may even be necessary in certain circumstances, for example when the amount of foliage on the plant becomes excessive as a result of growth, to provide two penetrating heads one of which is introduced into the root ball from below and the other of which is introduced into the root ball from above.

The invention also provides plant watering apparatus comprising a penetrating head in the form of a wick provided with a rigid support, whereby one end of the penetrating head may be buried deep within the root ball of the plant and the other end of the penetrating head may extend into a water reservoir so as to cause water to be supplied to the root ball by way of the wick.

The rigid support is preferably a tube surrounding the wick. The support may be made of plastics material, and is advantageously made of a dark plastics material in order to discourage the growth of algae on the support. Furthermore the penetrating head may be shaped, for example by being tapered at one end, so as to aid penetration of the root ball.

A collar may be provided at a particular distance along the penetrating head, more particularly where the penetrating head is to be introduced into the root ball from below, with the object of ensuring that the penetrating head is pushed into the rooting medium to the correct depth, and also optionally to support the whole plant by bearing against the bottom of the plant container or root ball. The collar may be adjustable along the penetrating head so as to enable the penetration depth of the penetrating head to be adjusted for use with containers or root balls of different sizes and/or so as to enable the level of smaller sized containers or root balls to be raised to the appropriate level in relation to larger sized containers or root balls.

The wick is preferably made of a synthetic plastics material, although other materials, such as glass fibre, may also be used. Furthermore the wick most preferably has a capillary fibre structure. Nevertheless it is also possible for the wick to have a woven structure or to be constituted by fine fibres chopped and stuck to the rigid support or by granular materials, such as certain crushed fired clays.

In order that the invention may be more fully understood, reference will now be made, by way of example, to the accompanying drawings, in which the four figures are sectional views of various plant watering apparatus in accordance with the invention.

Figure 1 shows three plants 1, 2 and 3 disposed side-by-side within a trough 4 having a water reservoir 5 in its base. A perforated sheet 6 separates the reservoir 5 from the part 7 of the trough 4 for containing the plants. Each plant 1, 2 or 3 is growing in rooting medium 8 within its production container 9.

The plant 1 has been placed in fluid communication with the reservoir 5 by means of a penetrating head 10 which has been driven into the base of the production container 9 and then placed so that its lower end extends through the perforated sheet 6 into the reservoir 5. The head 10 comprises a synthetic plastics wick 11 having a capillary fibre structure, and a dark plastics tube 12 surrounding the wick 11.

A circular collar 13 fixed to the tube 12 serves to ensure that the head 10 extends to the correct depth within the rooting medium and also acts as a support for the base of the production container 9. The end of the tube 12 which is buried within the root ball is partially closed off by an inverted U-shaped portion 14 so as to leave two apertures 1 5, one on each side of the portion 14, through which the end of the wick 11 projects so as to be in intimate contact with the rooting medium 8.

The plant 3 has been placed in fluid communication with the reservoir 5 by means of an inverted-J-shaped penetrating head 1 6 which has been pushed into the top of the rooting medium 8 within the production container 9. The lower end of the penetrating head 1 6 has then been introduced into the reservoir 5 through the perforated sheet in a similar manner to the penetrating head 10. Except that the penetrating head 1 6 is J-shaped and is not provided with a circular collar, its structure is the same as that of the head 10.

The middle plant 2 has been provided both with a base feed and with a top feed by having a penetrating head 10 driven into the base of the container 9 and a penetrating head 1 6 introduced into the top of the rooting medium 8. The gaps between the production containers 9 have been filled with an appropriate material 17, such as granular polystyrene or bark.

Instead of the reservoir 5 being a chamber filled with water, it may be a water-filled volume of porous or granular material, such as semi-rigid porous plastics foam sand, gravel or leca. In this case it would be necessary to drive the lower end of the penetrating head 10 or 1 6 down into the material, and it may be necessary to provide a porous cap on the lower end of the tube 12 to prevent the material from forcing the wick 11 up within the tube 12. Such a cap may also be useful for filtering the water before it enters the wick 11.

If the water level in the reservoir is to fluctuate by only a few centimetres, then a fixed length penetrating head 10 or 1 6 can be used. If a range of water depths are to be experienced, it will be necessary to use a longer penetrating head 10 or 1 6 which may be cut to length if desired. Since the dimensions and nature of the wick 11 will affect the rate at which water is supplied by the wick, penetrating heads having different characteristics can be produced for various applications.

Figure 2 shows a plant watering arrangement in which the water level in the reservoir 5 is allowed to fluctuate between a maximum water level 18 and a minimum water level 19. The reservoir 5 requires topping up by pouring water into a filler tube 20 on a two, three or four weekly cycle depending on the prevailing environmental conditions.

A more complex plant watering arrangement incorporating a system for maintaining a substantially constant water level in the reservoir 5 is shown in Figure 3. In this arrangement a float valve mechanism is provided comprising a float 21 which floats on the surface of the water and a water supply pipe 22 for topping up the level of water in the reservoir 5 when the float 21 falls sufficiently to open a valve 23.

Figure 4 shows a plant watering arrangement for use in an office. A 60 or 100 litre capacity water carrier 25 is provided with a hose 26 and, attached to the hose 26, a lance 27 fitted with a flow control valve bayonet (not shown) at its free end. In order to charge the water carrier 25 the hose 26 is attached to a threaded tap and the tap is turned on to fill the carrier 25 and to at the same time compress the air in the carrier 25 to provide the necessary delivery pressure. In order to refill the reservoirs 5, the lance 27 is pushed into a socket 28 in the plant display stand 29 and this automatically initiates flow of water from the lance 27 along a water supply line 30 and into the reservoirs 5 by way of the filler tubes 20. Float valves 31 are provided at the tops of the filler tubes 20 so as to prevent further supply of water to the reservoir 5 when the maximum water levels in the reservoirs 5 have been reached, and so as to provide a visual indication of any possible malfunction. In the event that a malfunction is not observed each trough 4 will be fully charged with water without overflowing. When the system has been fully charged after a few minutes, the lance 27 is removed from the socket 28 to automatically stop the flow of water from the lance 27, and the system will then operate for four to six weeks without attention.

Claims

1. A plant watering process which comprises penetrating the root ball of the plant with a penetrating head in the form of a wick provided with a rigid support so that one end of the penetrating head is buried deep within the root ball and the other end of the penetrating head projects from the root ball, and placing the projecting end of the penetrating head within a water reservoir so as to cause water to be supplied to the root ball by way of the wick.

2. A process according to claim 1, wherein the penetrating head is introduced into the root ball from below.

3. A process according to claim 1, wherein the penetrating head is introduced into the root ball from above.

4. A process according to claim 1, wherein two penetrating heads are provided one of which is introduced into the root ball from below and the other of which is introduced into the root ball from above.

5. Plant watering apparatus comprising a penetrating head in the form of a wick provided with a rigid support, whereby one end of the penetrating head may be buried deep within the root ball of the plant and the other end of the penetrating head may extend into a water reservoir so as to cause water to be supplied to the root ball by way of the wick.

6. Apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the rigid support is a tube surrounding the wick.

7. Apparatus according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the rigid support is made of plastics material.

8. Apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the rigid support is made of a dark plastics material in order to discourage the growth of algae on the support.

9. Apparatus according to any one of claims 5 to 8, wherein the penetrating head is shaped so as to aid penetration of the root ball.

10. Apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the penetrating head is tapered at one end.

11. Apparatus according to any one of claims 5 to 10, wherein a collar is provided at a particular distance along the penetrating head.

12. Apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the collar is adjustable along the penetrating head.

13. Apparatus according to any one of claims 5 to 12, wherein the wick is made of a synthetic plastics material.

14. Apparatus according to any one of claims 5 to 13, wherein the wick has a capillary fibre structure.

1 5. Apparatus according to any one of claims 5 to 13, wherein the wick has a woven structure.

16. Apparatus according to any one of claims 5 to 13, wherein the wick is constituted by fine fibres chopped and stuck to the rigid support.

1 7. Apparatus according to any one of claims 5 to 13, wherein the wick comprises granular material.

18. A plant watering process substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

19. Plant water apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.