GB2221826A

GB2221826A - Growing plants and pot therefor

Info

Publication number: GB2221826A
Application number: GB8916146A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Knud Hogdal Thomsen
Original assignee: TIMMERMANN FIXUP AS
Current assignee: TIMMERMANN FIXUP AS
Priority date: 1988-07-15
Filing date: 1989-07-14
Publication date: 1990-02-21
Anticipated expiration: 2009-07-14
Also published as: DK395488D0; DK395488A; IT1230352B; NL194358B; IT8921188A0; GB2221826B; NL8901830A; DE3923796B4; GB8916146D0; NL194358C; DK165352C; DK165352B; DE3923796A1

Description

2221826 1 A METHOD AND A PRODUCTION POT FOR PROVIDING PLANTS, READY FOR

SALE, GROWING UP FROM A PLANT TUBE UPSTANDING FROM THE POT The present invention relates to a method of handling and preparing plant pots delivered from the gardening enterprise as sales pots, in each of which is mounted an upwardly protruding, substrate filled plant tube, from which the plant grows upwardly, optionally hanging down along the outside of the plant tube, while the roots of the plant have access to the substrate in the plant pot through one or more lower holes in the plant tube. Certain types of plants are grown and sold just in this manner, i.e. upgrowing from relatively narrow upstanding tube elements that are stuck down into the plant pots, such that the plants may assume a decorative hanging growth from the top of the upstanding plant tube.

It is conventional hereby that the plant tubes are entirely or partially filled with a substrate, in which the plants are sowed or planted as slips, and that the tube is mounted by sticking-down in the substrate filled plant pot, in which it is supported by the substrate in the pot. The resulting unit represents a production unit, the associated plant of which is grown in a truck garden into a condition ready for sale, whereafter the production unit is utilized directly as a sales unit.

There are two problems connected herewith, viz.. partly that the sales unit will almost inevitably be smudged by rests of liquid manure from the prehistory of the sales unit as a production unit, and partly that for the truck garden personnel it may be difficult to mount the plant tubes in the pots in reasonably well centered positions therein, as the units are produced or prepared in large numbers and require a rapid handling with respect to the mounting of the plant tubes. It would of course be possible to make use of centering templates or other guiding means for achieving a well centered mounting 'Of the plant tubes in ordinary pots, but such auxiliaries would inevitably involve additional costs without 2 solving problems other than the problem of a well centered mounting of the plant tubes.

In connection with the invention, however, it has been realized that the centering problem may be solved in an economically acceptable manner, viz. by a concurrent solving of the other of the said two problems, the smudged sales unit. - According to the invention it is prescribed that for the growing of the plant in the truck garden a special production pot be used, which is made from a cheap plastic material and is shaped with a bottom portion comprising an upstanding shell portion having a centrally disposed depression operable to receive the lower, pointed end of the plant tube so as to facilitate a centered positioning thereof; hereby a correct and rapid mounting of the plant tubes will be greatly facilitated, but it is also achieved that the said smudging problem can be overcome in that the very cheap production pot, when ready for sale, is placed in a new conventional sales pot, whereby the sales unit will appear as a clean pot without the production pot having to be cleaned at all.

Thus, the use of the particular, cheap production pot will solve two relevant problems, whereby it is advantageously applicable.

It would of course be possible to make use of but a single pot, i.e. a combined production and sales pot provided with the said bottom arrangement for a centering reception of the plant tube, but even though the relevant plant pots are sold in millions such special sales pots would still amount to a relatively minor product, which cannot possibly be produced in any profitable manner by each and all pot manufacturers. However, the said special production pot may be manufactured in large numbers and in but a few different sizes by one or a few specialized entities such that these few 1 1 1 3 types or sizes of production pots may fit into several, more expensive sales pots originating from different sales pot manufacturers. The special production pots may thus still be produced as very cheap units, made e.g. from reuse plastic by means of simple die casting tools that are not worked for producing any attractive surface of the pot members. The sales pots, in their turn, may remain unchanged, as standard products showing an attractive outer surface.

In the following the invention is explained in more detail with reference to the drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a perspective view, partly in section, of a special production pot for use with a plant tube, Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the production pot and the plant tube in joined condition, and Fig. 3 is a lateral, partly sectional view of a pot and tube assembly with a plant ready for sale.

The said special production pot as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 and designated 24 is of a normal pot shape except that its bottom port-ion is shaped with an upstanding shell portion 26 provided with a conical central depression 28, the lower pointed end of which may be cut away as shown at 30. The pot is die cast from a cheap reuse plastic by means of cheap shaping tools, which by way of example, may provide the pot with an outside appearance that would be quite unacceptable for a sales pot. As ' mentioned, however, the pot 24 is intended for use as a production pot only.

Also shown in Fig. 1 is a so-called plant tube 6 having at its lower open end a downwardly projecting and downwardly pointed plate rib system 20. This tube is adapted to be filled with a substrate for receiving a seed or a sprout and to be placed in a plant pot, in the substrate of which the plant roots may intrude, during the growing, through the lower end of the tube 10.

It will be appreciated that the depression 28 makes 1 4 it easy for the operator to place the plant tube 6 in a correctly centered position in the pot, as shown in Fig. 2. The depression accommodates the lower end portion of the structure 10 such that the bottom edge 12 of the plant tube will still be raised well above the top of the upstanding pot portion 26 in order to provide for clearance for the plant roots to grow out into the substrate of the pot. The plant can be grown in this pot in the truck garden, and it is unimportant that the production pot is hereby smudged by the watering and handling of the pot.

When the plant has grown to be ready for sale the entire unit shown in Fig. 2 is placed in a sales pot 32 as shown in Fig. 3. The sales pot may be an existing standard product that is used also for many other types of plants without the use of a plant tube 6, whereby, due to very large production figures, also these pots may be produced reasonably cheap, with an appearance which is acceptable for sales purposes, e.g. with a smooth and dull surface. The combined unit may thus be delivered in a sales pot 32, which is not smudged during the growing of the plant, i.e. the unit can be delivered without any attempt at cleaning it.

The production pot 24 is preferably shaped with an upper, outstanding collar 25, and it may be shaped such that it will fit reasonably or sufficiently accurately in several different makes of sales pots 32. Normally these pots have an upper collar or shoulder 34, on which the production pot collar 25 may hang, whereby it is unimportant whether or not the production pot will reach down to the bottom of the sales pot. Also, the inner collar 25 may center the production pot 24 in the sales pot 32 reasonably accurately, also when the pot 24 is rested primarily by standing on the bottom of the pot 32; it should not, however, extend beyond the top of the outer pot 32. In practice, therefore, but a few differ- 1 1 9 1 ent sizes of the production pots 2 may be used with a wide variety of commercial sales pots 32.

The invention is not limited to the embodiments shown in the drawing, already because the lower end of the plant tubes 6 may be shaped otherwise, e.g. for cooperation with an upwardly pointed structure 26 at the bottom of the production pot. Also, the plant tube 6 may be made as an integral part of the production pot; the plant tube should have a nice looking appearance, but even if it is made from reuse plastic it may be provided with an attractive surface, e.g. by cork dust or small cork pieces secured by glueing.

Also, it will be within the scope of the invention to produce the special production pot in a quality rendering it usable directly as a sales pot, although it may then have to be cleaned before delivery.

v 6

Claims

C L A I M S:

1. A method of handling and preparing plant pots, which from the truck garden are delivered as sales pots of the type in the substrate of which there is mounted an upstanding plant tube, from which a plant is upgrowing and eventually outwardly downhanging, while the roots of the plant have access to the substrate of the pot through one or more holes adjacent the lower end of the plant tube, characterized in employing for the growing of the plant in the truck garden a special production pot, which is preferably made as a cheap low-quality product, and which is connected with the plant tube or provided with guiding means for a centered reception of the plant tube, the plant being grown productionwise in the combined plant tube and production pot, while this unit, when the plant is to be delivered for sale, is placed in a clean, conventional sales pot.

2. A plant pot for use in connection with an upstanding, relatively narrow plant tube, in which a plant is grown, said pot having a bottom portion shaped with an upstanding structure designed so as to be operable to receive and support in a centered manner the lower end of the plant tube.

3. A plant pot according to claim 2 and made as a specialized production pot from a cheap material such'as reuse plastic, the pot with its upstanding plant tube being adapted to be mounted in a carrier pot of a conventional plant pot design when the plant has been grown to a ready for sale condition.

4. A plant pot according to claim 2, in which the said upstanding structure comprises a centrally upstanding shell portion having a centrally disposed, conical depression for receiving a downwardly pointed end of said plant tube.

1 I - 7

5. A plant pot for growing plants, the plant pot being adapted to hold a guide tube in which a seedling plant is retained so as to locate the seedling plant at a location at least substantially regularly spaced, and preferably centrally spaced, from an outer wall of the plant pot.

6. A plant pot arranged. constructed and adapted to operate substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 1 to 3 of the accompanying drawings.

Published l 990 at The PatentOffl- StateHOuse-66 71 High Holborn. London WC1R4TP Further copies maybe obtained from The Patent, Office.

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