GB2306288A

GB2306288A - Plant support

Info

Publication number: GB2306288A
Application number: GB9621689A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Peter John Northeast; Dean Peter Ketley
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1995-10-17
Filing date: 1996-10-17
Publication date: 1997-05-07
Anticipated expiration: 2016-10-17
Also published as: WO1997014294A1; GB2306288B; AU7313596A; GB9621689D0

Abstract

A plant support comprises an elongate, vertical support (20) adapted to be sunk into the soil or secured to a supporting structure, at least one plant-engaging member (25) extending substantially horizontally therefrom, the plant-engaging member (25) on its end-face remote from the support member having a vertically-extending plant-contact surface adapted to contact the plant stem in such a manner as to obviate damage thereto, and attachments for securing the stem to the plant-contact surface of the plant-engaging member.

Description

PLANT SUPPORTS This invention relates to plant supports, of the kind used by gardeners and other horticulturalists.

Plant supports typically consist of a stake driven into the ground next to the plant, to which the plant stem (a term used here generically to include the trunk and branches of bushes, sapling trees and the like) is held by means of attachments such as string, wire ties or straps of plastics or of other flexible materials.

They have been used by horticulturalists since time out of mind, and yet they have problems.

Support for the plant is best achieved by driving the stake more or less vertically into the ground as close as possible to the plant stem, since one can then use a plurality of attachments spaced along the stake to hold the plant securely over a considerable length of stem. If instead the stake is driven into the ground at a point too far from where the stem emerges from the soil, either the stake will have to be angled to intercept the vertical plant stem, or the plant stem will have to be bent to intercept the stake. In either case, the stem can be attached to the stake at only one point - this concentrates the mechanical stresses on the plant stem at a single point, with resultant risk of damage.And if (as normally happens) the stake is more or less vertical, so that the plant has to be bent to meet it, this will probably cause the further growth of the plant stem to be deflected, thereby spoiling the plant's appearance.

On the other hand, however, if the stake is driven into the ground close to the stem it will necessarily have to pass through the plant's root ball, almost inevitably thus damaging the root structure of the plant, restricting the space available for its subsequent growth, and indeed involving the possibility of further damage should it later be thought necessary or desirable to remove the stake at a subsequent stage in the plant's development.

Something like 70 years ago an early attempt to reconcile these problems was disclosed in Megarry's British Patent No. 281,831, which describes a fairly narrow metallic strip with teeth at one end to impale and thus locate it upon a wooden plant-supporting cane around which the toothed strip is wound, and ties adjacent its other end for attaching a plant's stem to the side-face of that strip. The use of several of these crude devices no doubt would have enabled the plant's stem to be supported at intervals by the cane while spaced a certain distance away from it, but can have done little or nothing to minimize stress concentration and/or abrasion damage where the stem was thus attached.The Megarry device moreover has no facility to enable the plant support to be extended as the plant grows and/or to be used in conjunction with other frequently-employed supporting structures such as fences and walls.

It is the aim of the present invention to provide a plant support which neatly reconciles the aforementioned problems, and which in its preferred forms will permit the length of the support and/or the height of attachment to be readily adjusted, and moreover will enable the same plant support to be employed in other related contexts, e.g. in conjunction with other supporting structures besides stakes.

According to the invention there are provided plant supports which comprise an elongate, vertical support member adapted to be sunk into the soil at one end and/or secured to a supporting structure, at least one plant-engaging member integral or engagable with the support member intermediate the ends thereof and which extends substantially at right-angles thereto in the horizontal plane, the plant-engaging member having a plant-contact surface on its end face remote from the support member, which plant-contact surface is elongate in the vertical direction so as to contact and support the stem of a plant over a length sufficient to obviate undue stress concentrations and generally in such a manner as to minimize damage thereto, and attachment means for enabling the stem to be secured to the vertically-elongate plant-contact surface and thereby to the elongate support member.

It will of course be understood that the terms 'vertical' and 'horizontal' are used here simply to distinguish one direction from the other, and refer to the attitude of the plant support when standing upright as in normal use, but do not imply that it cannot be used in other attitudes should that ever be appropriate.

The elongate, vertical plant-contact surface should of course be free from any sharp edges (which tend to lead to stress concentrations and thus to damage to the plant stem) and advantageously it is splayed arcuately away from the stem at the upper and lower ends of the elongate vertical plant-contact surface.

The plant-contact surfaces may however advantageously be shaped to conform with and to some extent embrace the surface of the plant stem, so as to assist in holding the stem firmly - and thus for example, the plant-contact surface may be made concave in the horizontal plane.

The plant-engaging member may be manufactured from plastics material, as for instance by an injection moulding technique or the like.

It may be desirable to provide the plant-contact surface with a resilient cushioning layer so as further to reduce the risk of any damage to the plant stem when in use. When the plant-engaging member is moulded from plastics material, the resilient cushioning layer may be moulded onto the plant-engaging member during manufacture, or otherwise it may be applied subsequently, for example by the use of adhesives.

The support member is preferably so constructed that the plant-engaging member is detachably securable thereto at any one of a plurality of alternative locations along the length thereof.

The support member also is conveniently manufactured from a plastics material and may comprise, for example, a plurality of locating apertures along the length thereof, the or each plant-engaging member being provided with one or more formations engageable with one or more of the locating apertures to secure the plant-engaging member to the support member.

The elongate, vertical support member is suitably formed with a point at its bottom end to facilitate pushing or driving it into the soil. It is however advantageously unpointed at its top end, leaving instead a flat end-surface (which be provided with or on a cap) that can be hammered to drive the pointed end into the soil.

Each of the plant-engaging members should extend horizontally from the elongate, vertical support member sufficiently to ensure that the latter may be driven vertically into the soil at a distance from the stem of the plant enough to avoid the plant root-ball (or at least to minimise the risk of any significant damage to it) while ensuring that the plant is fully supported.

The plant support member may be formed so that the plant-engaging members may extend therefrom in more than one direction. For example, the apertures or slots therein may pass through the support members so that the plant-engaging members may be mounted on two opposed sides of the support member and be able to support two plants simultaneously. Alternatively, the support members may be formed with three or more faces, each provided with mounting slots or other means for attaching the plant-engaging member in three or more directions and thus be able to support three or more plants by means of a single support member.

While it is preferred, for the sake of simplicity and ease of re-positioning, that the connection between the plant-engaging member(s) and the elongate, vertical support member is by way of a slot and hook connection, it will of course be appreciated that other forms of connections possible, even for example by the use of nut and bolt connections.

Two or more of the support members may be joined together sequentially in their direction of elongation so as to permit longer plants to be supported without the need to provide a range of different-length plant supports. The interconnection between successive support members may be by way of one or more hook formation(s) provided at one end thereof engageable in an aperture (or several apertures) of the next support member. Alternatively, a latching arrangement may be provided to hold the members together. An intermediate joining member may be employed between the two support members.

In order that the invention may be well understood some preferred embodiments thereof will now be described in more detail, but only by way of illustration, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 illustrates a conventional way of supporting a plant; Figure 2 is a perspective view of one preferred embodiment of plant support according to the invention, and used to support a plant in open ground; Figure 3 is a view similar to that of Figure 2 and of the same embodiment, but here used to support a plant growing in a plant pot; Figure 4 is an enlarged view of part of the plant support shown in Figures 2 and 3; Figure 5 is a side-elevation of a plant-engaging member according to an alternative exemplary embodiment; Figure 6 is a side-elevation of an interconnecting member, for joining two successive support members together end-to-end;; Figure 7 is a side view of a plant support of the same general type as shown in Figures 2 and 3, used here however to support two adjacent plants, one on either side of it; Figures 8 to 12 illustrate alternative crosssection of profiles (respectively triangular, circular, diamond-shaped, square and octahedral) for the elongate, vertical support member of the plant support; Figure 13 illustrates the elongate vertical support member of the plant-support of this invention ready for mounting instead by screwing it against a brick wall; and Figure 14 shows the complete plant-support of Figure 13, now screwed onto the wall and utilized in conjunction with garden twine or thin wire to create a widespread plant-support structure along such a wall.

A conventional arrangement for supporting plants is illustrated in Figure 1. A stake 1 is driven into the ground generally vertically, and the plant stem 2 is tied to it with a piece of twine or the like, eventually causing the plant to grow with a bent stem and risking damage to the stem at the stressconcentration point where the twine is secured, whenever there is relative movement between the plant and the stake, for example under the influence of wind.

The plant support in accordance with the invention consists, as may be seen from Figures 2 and 3, of an elongate, vertical support member 20 which has a point 21 at its bottom end to enable it to be driven into the soil 22. The support member 20 is located at a distance from the plant 23 to be supported which is sufficient to avoid the risk of interference with the root ball 23a of the plant.

The support member has a plurality of apertures 24 therethrough along its length, and plate-like plantengaging members 25 comprise hooks 25a (Figure 4) which engage the apertures to locate and hold the plantengaging members at any desired one of a plurality of different vertical positions. Thus, the plant-engaging members 25 may be spaced at intervals along the length of the main stem 23b of the plant to provide even support.

The plant-engaging members 25 extend horizontally from the support member 20 to reach across the gap between the support member 20 and the plant stem 23b.

Each plant-engaging member is provided with a hole 25b therethrough to enable a tie to be passed around the stem 23b and secured to the member 25. The tie may be a simple length of twine or the like, a plastic-covered wire tie, a plastic self-engaging loop, a strap and buckle, or any other means of forming a closed loop to engage the stem without causing damage to it.

The plant-contact surface 25c of the plant engaging member is on the end-face of the member remote from the hook 25a, but extends vertically (as seen in Figure 4 and perhaps even better in Figure 5) so as to maximize the contact area between the plant stem and the end-face of the plant-engaging member. This tends to minimize stress-concentrations, and in order to do so even more effectively it will be seen that in Figure 5 the upper and lower ends of the elongate, vertical plant-contact surface 25c are splayed arcuately away from the plant-stem. Although not shown in these drawings, the plant-contact surface 25c may however be concave in the horizontal plane, so as better to semiembrace and thus support the plant stem.

Referring to Figure 4, the hook 25a consists of a tongue integrally moulded with the plant-engaging member and extending a short distance normally to the end surface and then parallel thereto, the tongue being of width such that it can just pass through an aperture in the support member and hook over the edge thereof to hold the plant-engaging member firmly in place until it is desired to change its position.

It can be seen that the elongate, vertical support member 20 has the currently-preferred cross-sectional profile of an I-beam, with two spaced flanges and a central web extending between them, the apertures 24 being formed in the web.

Figure 5 shows an alternative embodiment in which the plant-engaging member is moulded as a frame 50 of a depth corresponding to the width of the web in the support member, and with a central web 51 in which is formed a hole 52 for passage of a tie for attachment to the plant stem. The upper and lower edges of the frame 50 where they would come into contact with the plant stem are rounded, that is to say splayed away from the plant stem, so as to avoid the risk of damage to the stem.

Figure 6 shows an interconnecting member 60 for joining together two support members end-to-end. It has a depth corresponding to the width of the webs of the support members and is provided at each end thereof with an outwardly-facing hook 61 for engagement with an aperture in the end of the respective support member in the same manner as the plant-engaging member is hooked into the support member. The interconnecting member 60 has a step 62 centrally thereof, and the hooks 61 are located on opposite faces of the member 60 so that the hooks can engage on opposite sides of the support member, thus giving greater rigidity in the connection.

It will be seen that the plant-engaging members can be linked to the support member on both sides thereof. Figure 7 shows how two adjacent plants can be supported by the same plant support, the plant-engaging members 25 being staggered along the length of the support member 20.

Various different configurations of support member may be used to permit several plants to be supported at the same time by a single plant support in accordance with the invention. Figures 8 to 12 show examples of these, all of which can, if desired, be formed as plastics mouldings, simple press-in end caps being provided to close the open ends of the mouldings.

Alternatively, the support members can be formed from metal, such as aluminium, in the form of extrusions in which apertures are subsequently cut by a suitable machining process.

Figure 13 shows a preferred I-beam profile support member (as previously illustrated in Figures 2-3) here generally indicated 70 ready to be fixed onto a brickwork wall 71 by means of a screw 72 which is to be driven through a fixing hole 73 in the support member and into a fibrous or plastics expansion plug 74 set within a bore (not shown) formed in the brickwork wall 71.

Figure 14 shows the complete plant-support now mounted on the wall 71, and with garden twine or wire 75 strung from an end-fixing point 76 through the aperture in each of two plant-engaging members 77a, 77b and running to one or more further such plantsupporting (not shown) mounted further along the wall, thereby creating a widely-extending plant-support structure.

Claims

1. Plant supports which comprise an elongate, vertical support member adapted to be sunk into the soil at one end and/or secured to a supporting structure, at least one plant-engaging member integral or engagable with the support member intermediate the ends thereof and which extends substantially at rightangles thereto in the horizontal plane, the plantengaging member having a plant-contact surface on its end-face remote from the support member, which plantcontact surface is elongate in the vertical direction so as to contact and support the stem of a plant over a length sufficient to obviate undue stress concentrations and generally in such a manner as to minimize damage thereto, and attachment means for enabling the stem to be secured to the virtuallyelongate plant-contact surface and thereby to the elongate vertical support member.

2. A plant support as claimed in claim 1, wherein the elongate, vertical support member is non-integral with the plant-engaging member, but both are so constructed as to be detachably securable together at a plurality of alternative locations intermediate the ends of the support member.

3. A plant support as claimed in claim 2, wherein the elongate, vertical support member comprises a plurality of locating apertures along the length thereof, the plant-engaging member(s) being provided with one or more formations engageable with one or more of the locating apertures to secure the plant-engaging member to the support member.

4. A plant-support as claimed in any of the preceding claims, in which the elongate, vertical support member has the cross-sectional profile of an I-beam.

5. A plant support as claimed in any of the preceding claims, in which the elongate, normally-vertical plantsupport surface at its upper and lower ends is splayed arcuately away from the plant stem.

6. A plant support as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the plant-engaging member is provided with a plant-contact surface concave in the horizontal plane able to semi-embrace the plant stem.

7. A plant support as claimed in any preceding claims, wherein the plant-contact surface of the plantengaging member(s) is provided with a resilient cushioning layer.

8. A plant support as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the support member is formed with a point at one end to facilitate pushing or driving the stake into the soil.

9. A plant support as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the support member is formed so that the plant-engaging members may extend therefrom in more than one direction.

10. A plant support as claimed in any of the preceding claims, comprising two or more support members adapted to be joined together successively endto-end.

11. A plant support as claimed in claim 10, wherein the support members are adapted to be joined together by means of an interconnecting member releasably engageable with each of the successive support members.

12. A plant support as claimed in any of the preceding claims, in which the elongate, vertical support member is provided with means whereby it may be fixedly mounted upon a supporting structure.

13. A plant support as claimed in claim 12, in which the mounting means comprise at least two holes spaced apart along the length of the support member, through which it may be secured the supporting structure.

14. A plant support, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to any of Figures 2 to 14 of the accompanying drawings, and/or as shown therein.