IE45177B1 - Plant tray - Google Patents

Abstract

1534202 Plant pot assemblies JIFFY PRODUCTS INTERNATIONAL Ltd 4 Aug 1977 [1 Oct 1976] 32796/77 Heading A1E A plant tray comprises a plastics film 1 vacuum-drawn around the bottom and sides of peat pots 2. The film may be perforated at 3 for drainage and to permit take-up of water from below.

Description

The present invention relates to a plant tray having hollow cell-like cavities for peat pots in which plants are to be cultivated.

Many types of plant trays in which earth is filled directly into the cavities of the tray are known, as are plant trays adapted for holding peat pots which are filled with growth medium. Use of the latter type of tray has entailed a great expenditure of time and effort in placing large numbers of peat pots into the trays, and peat pots that are stacked together have the disadvantage that they may easily be torn when they are wedged together in a stack, even th'ough the T. wall thickness of the pots is greater than it would have to be for the sake of the plant growth alone. In several types of trays, the pots are placed side by side with no partitions between them, and roots from one pot can then grow into adjacent pots, such that when the plants are to be planted out, the pots have to be torn apart, entailing a risk of damaging both the pots and the roots of the plants.

The types of trays known previously, moreover, are so expensive that they have to be reused, which involves extra work in keeping and storing the trays.

The primary aim of the present invention, therefore, is to provide an improved type of plant tray 4Si 7γ which avoids the disadvantages of previously-known trays.

According to the present invention there is provided a plant tray, including pots of organic fibrous material held by support means therefor which support means is made of a thin foil material which has beer, vacuum-drawn around the bottom and sides cf the posts in suer a way that the opening of each pot remains uncovered by the thin foil material. The expression 'tray* as used here is alsG meant to include strips with pots as well as connected bands of pots.

The foil is vacuum-formed around the pots at the production site, ?o that the pots are protected even before they are subjected r. . any handling. Protected a:, they are fcy thin fei ‘ , the pots can be made with thinner walls than previously, thus promoting a saving of material and a ’.ormed-foil plant tray can contain ary number of peat pots one wishes, i.e., a number which is practical to handle, for example, in a nursery. The trays are preferably made of s. plastics material. The plastics material is preferably the type that quickly decomposes whso buried or that can be burned without giving off noxious substances, thereby reducing environmental pollution to a minimum.

The vacuum-drawing of the foil on to the pots is performed by conventional vacuum-drawing techniques.

Such techniques will be well known to a person skilled in the art and will not therefore be described in this Specification.

The plant trays and pots can thus be produced in a very reasonable manner by machines at the production site, and a large number of trays can be stacked with no risk of their becoming wedged together, because the outside of each individual pot will be covered by the plastic foil of the tray, which not only protects the pots, but also facilitates separating the trays one by one from a stack of trays.

The trays can be rapidly set out in the location where the plants are to be grown, and the plastic foil on the outside of each pot prevents the roots in one pot from growing into adjacent pots. However, the roots can still grow through the walls of the pot, and the plant thus has a solid root clump, which is particularly important when a porous growth medium, e.g. sandy soil, is used.

The plant tray of the invention is particularly well suited for growing plants that require a long period of cultivation, e.g., trees and ornamental shrubs.

Owing to the fact that the pots are surrounded by thin foil material, which can well be plastic of an 43177 appropriate kind, one actually obtains a cooperative effect between the: pots and the foil material, the pots stiffening the foil material so that it can be made very thin.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only with reference to the accompanyi:·^ drawings, in which:Figure 1 Is a perspective drawing of an embodiment of a plant tray according to the invention and s-igure 2 is a cross section along the line II-II of Fig. 1.

Refer ri do to figure·; 1 and 2, by way of example, a plant tray 1 having sixtsor pets 2 is shown. If desired, '‘sowevor. the trnys can quite easily have a larger number of pots. The tray 1 is made of a thin plastic foil wfttc·-' is vacuum-drawn directly onto the pots such that the pees are tightly enclosed in foil over a substantial portio;; of their height and are held fixed in the tray, thus permitting the tray to be handled without any special precautions being necessary. The plastic foil In Figure 2, for the sake of clarity, the relative wall thicknesses are strongly exaggerated.

It is evident from Fig. 2 that when one is stacking several trays with pots together, there will also be a thin layer of,plastic between each layer of pots, which facilitates separation of the trays.

To provide drainage for excess water, as well as to enable the plant to draw up water from below with certain types of watering systems, the plastic foil 1 4S1 77 can be perforated at a location in the vicinity of the bottom of each pot 2 as indicated by reference numeral 3 on fig. 2.

For certain applications, it may be advantageous that the upper edge of each pot extends somewhat above the plastic foil of the plant tray 1, so that, among other things, the pat with its root clump can more easily be gripped when the plant is to be planted. This is shown on Fig. 1. However, the edges of the pot will be better protected if the plastic foil extends right up to the edge of the pot, as shown on Fig. 2. in aduitipn to the aovaatagas mentioned above, tiie plant tray of the present invention makes it possible to transport large numbers cf pots in a simple and practical manner. wii' -- risk of damage and requiring a minimum of loadir.%-.·.loading time as well as providing one with more leeway in the choice of material thicknesses.

Claims (5)

1. A plant tray, including pots of organic fibrous material held by support means therefor which support means is made of a thin foil material which has been vacuum-drawn around the bottom and sides of the pots in such a way that the opening of each pot remains uncovered by the thin foil material.

2. A plant tray according to Claim Ί, in which the foil material is perforated at a location adjacent the bottom of each pot.

3. A plant tray according to Claim 1 or Claim 2 in which the foil raaterial is a plastics material.

4. A plant tray according to Claim 3, in which the plastics material is one which will degrade when buried or which will burn without giving off noxious substances.

5. A plant tray substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.