JPH01206929A - Plant support for nutriculture and method for raising plant using said support - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain the title plant support, capable of exhibiting good water absorbing and holding properties and readily elongating roots along a fiber bundle with excellent root passing properties, by bundling fibers having the maximum diameter in the cross section within a specific range in a parallel state and regulating bulk specific gravity within a specific range. CONSTITUTION:The aimed plant support, obtained by passing, e.g., card slivers obtained by blending polyester staple fibers with short fibers of polyester sheath- core structure at 70-30 ratio through a cylindrical heater tube and bundling the card slivers into a parallel state of 10-100mum maximum diameter of the cross section and having 0.005-0.15g/cm<3> bulk specific gravity and capable of germination even of a plant having a thick root, such as spinach, and promoting the subsequent growth.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a support used for hydroponic cultivation of plants, and a method for growing plants using such a support.

[Conventional technology] Hydroponic cultivation of plants has traditionally been done using the phlegm type, fl! Various methods such as exhaust circulation type and bottom flow circulation type are being implemented. Both of these methods involve soaking the roots of the plant in a nutrient solution;
As for supporting the plant body, it is most common to hold the plant stem with a urethane foam block fitted to a panel or the like placed above the nutrient solution. In order to support the plant in this case, seeds are sown in the urethane foam block, germinated, and the roots that have grown through the urethane foam block are planted in a hydroponic cultivation device, and the plant is placed on the device. It is fixed at

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] As mentioned above, urethane foam blocks have been most commonly used as supports for conventional hydroponic cultivation, but these urethane foam blocks have the following characteristics. It should be solved
! I had an issue. That is, the conventionally used urethane foam blocks had a problem in that the tensile strength and tear strength of the resin film constituting the foam voids were too high, which hindered the growth of plant roots. Furthermore, in order for the sown seeds to germinate, the support must have an appropriate water retention capacity, so it was necessary to reduce the size of the bubbles in order to obtain capillary action. However, this resulted in a situation where root elongation was further inhibited. As a result, this did not pose much of a problem when growing plants with relatively thin roots, but it was not possible to germinate and grow plants with thick roots, such as spinach, on urethane foam. . Hereinafter, in the present invention, the ease of root elongation will be referred to as rootability.

The present invention has been made to solve the technical problems of the prior art, and its purpose is to:
A nutrient solution with excellent root permeability and water retention that allows for easy germination and growth of plants with relatively thin roots such as spinach, spinach, etc., as well as plants with thick roots such as spinach. The object of the present invention is to provide a cultivation support and an optimal method for germinating plants and promoting their subsequent growth.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The support of the present invention that achieves the above object is one in which fibers with a maximum cross-sectional diameter of 10 to 1100 u are bundled in parallel, and the bulk specific gravity is 0. 005~0.15 g/c
The gist lies in that m'.

In addition, since the above support has good water retention and root penetration,
- If plant seeds are sown on this support and subjected to hydroponic cultivation, the plants can be germinated and subsequently grown without any inconvenience.

[Function] The present invention is constructed as described above, but in short, fibers whose maximum cross-sectional diameters fall within a specific range are bundled in parallel and have bulk specific gravity within a specific range, which exhibits good water absorption and water retention properties. This is because it has been found that the fibers exhibit good performance and have good rooting properties, making it easy for roots to grow along the fiber bundles. In other words, the aim is to maximize the capillary phenomenon in which water rises against gravity and the space provided for roots to grow by utilizing the fine voids created by the fiber bundles.

The fiber used in the present invention is natural 1! fiber, chemical fiber 1
Synthetic fibers, ceramic fibers, metal fibers, etc., or even resin-processed fibers of these fibers may be used, but are not limited in any way, and the maximum diameter of the cross section is 10 to 10
It is necessary that the thickness is 0 μm. That is, when the maximum diameter of the fibers is less than 10 μm, the density when bundled becomes too large, resulting in poor water retention and root threadability. On the other hand, if the maximum diameter of the fibers exceeds 100 μm, the bundle becomes a rough and hard block shape when bundled, resulting in poor water retention and rooting properties (IA fibers are thicker and have greater bending elasticity, which increases root elongation. (This makes it difficult for the roots to spread out.) The preferred range of the maximum diameter of the fibers is about 15 to 50 μm. In addition, the maximum diameter mentioned above means the diameter of the major diameter part when the cross-sectional shape perpendicular to the axis is elliptical, and when the cross-sectional shape perpendicular to the axis is irregular, it means the diameter of the longest part, and furthermore, the maximum diameter in the longitudinal direction. - In the case of fibers with different diameters, it means the diameter of the thickest part.

The fibers used in the present invention may be short fibers or long fibers, but in either case, they are aligned in the longitudinal direction of the fibers and bundled in a parallel state. Here, the parallel state means a state in which the fiber bundles can be easily peeled off along the longitudinal direction.

The method for maintaining the shape of the focused fiber bundle is not limited in any way; for example, the outer periphery of the fiber bundle may be bound with a string-like material or tape-like material; Although a tape-like material may be coated spirally, the following embodiment is most preferred. That is, low melting point fibers having a melting point difference of 20° C. or more from the main fibers or sheath core structure fibers having a low melting point only on the surface are mixed and bundled, and the outer periphery of the fiber bundle is heated to mainly weld and shape maintain the outer periphery. This is advantageous because a focused body with a stable shape can be obtained.

The bulk specific gravity of the bundle is 0.005 to 0.15 g/c
It is necessary that m'. In other words, the bulk specific gravity of the bundle is 0.
．． If the bulk specific gravity is less than 0.05 g/cm3, it will be too coarse and have poor water absorption and water retention properties, and if the bulk specific gravity is more than 0.15 g/cm', it will be too dense and have poor rootability. A preferable range of the bulk specific gravity of the bundle is about 0101 to 0.07 g/cm'.

The shape of the bundle may be cylindrical or polygonal and is not limited in any way, but when used, it can be divided by a surface perpendicular to the longitudinal direction or an inclined surface (preferably a surface at right angles) to form an appropriate shape. Need to adjust the length. The length varies depending on the length of the fitting part of the hydroponic cultivation device and the growing plant, but is preferably about 10 to 30 mm.

Using such a bundle as a support for hydroponic plants,
By sowing seeds on the cross section of the bundle, germination and growth of plants can be achieved in an optimal state.

The present invention will be explained in more detail with reference to Examples below, but the Examples below are not intended to limit the present invention.
Any design changes for the purposes described below are included within the technical scope of the present invention.

[Example] A 6 denier, 64 mm polyester short fiber and a 3 denier fiber whose surface has a low melting point of 110°C.

51 mm polyester sheath core short fibers, 7
A card sliver was obtained by blending the cotton at a ratio of 0:30.

The obtained card slivers were bundled and placed on the inner surface of a cylindrical heater tube with a diameter of 2 cm heated to 140°C at a distance of 2 m/2.
The fiber bundle was kept in a cylindrical shape by welding the fibers on the surface in contact with the heater tube. - The shape-retaining body thus obtained had a cylindrical shape in which the fibers were bundled in parallel and welded and fixed mainly at the outer periphery, and its bulk specific gravity was 0.0537 cm3.

Next, divide the above-mentioned shape support body into 2 cm long pieces, and divide the divided bodies (hereinafter referred to as supports) into pieces with a depth of 2 cm so that the cross section of the divided bodies (hereinafter referred to as supports) is in the vertical direction.
cm in flat bats, and watered from above to allow the support to absorb and retain water, and at the same time, the bottom of the flat bat was placed at a depth of 5 m.
Filled with water to a depth of about m.

Then, when spinach seeds were sown on the cross section of the support and their germination and growth status was observed, the roots grew along the fiber bundles of the support and grew until they penetrated the support. The seeds were planted on the planting board of the equipment. Furthermore, the above-mentioned board then largely protruded into the nutrient tank and could be harvested in 45 days. On the other hand, when a similar experiment was conducted using a conventional polyurethane foam block, the following results were obtained. That is, the bulk density is 0.02 g/cm'
2 x 2 x 2 (
When seeds were sown using a porous block (cm) with cuts made to a depth of 3IIIm, very few roots penetrated through the porosity and did not grow at all.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, by employing the above-described structure, a plant support for hydroponic cultivation with good water retention and root permeability can be realized, and by using the support, Even plants with thick roots, such as spinach, could be germinated and subsequently grown in good conditions.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) Fibers with a maximum cross-sectional diameter of 10 to 100 μm are bundled in parallel and have a bulk specific gravity of 0.005 to 100 μm.
A plant support for hydroponic cultivation characterized by having a density of 0.15 g/cm^3. (2) A method for growing plants, which comprises seeding seeds on the support according to claim (1) for germination and growth.