JPH08289681A - Growth promotion in hydroponics and device therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To promote the growth of a plant such as leaf vegetables, fruit vegetables or flowering plant in its hydroponics by allowing a plant to float on a culture fluid in an immersed state followed by raising waves on the fluid level to swing the plant as a whole to conduct a gas exchange effectively. CONSTITUTION: A plant P is allowed to float on a culture fluid 2 in such a state as to immerse a part or the whole of the root of the plant in the fluid 2 followed by raising waves on the fluid level so as to swing the plant P as a whole by the surge of the waves, thus promoting the growth of the plant P in its hydroponics. The device for the growth promotion of plants in hydroponics is equipped with a device 4 to raise waves on the level of the culture fluid 2 in a tank 1 and is designed to allow a setting panel 3 to float swingably on the fluid 2 owing to waves and support a plant P on the setting panel 3 in such a manner as to stick out a part of the whole of the root of the plant P.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to hydroponics of various plants, particularly leaf vegetables such as lettuce, spinach, komatsuna, bok choy, salad vegetables, fruit vegetables such as tomatoes, strawberries and cucumbers, carnations, flowers such as chrysanthemums. And a device used therefor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a method of preventing root oxygen deficiency in hydroponics and promoting plant growth, a planting panel is horizontally fixed at a position appropriately higher than the level of a culture solution placed in a tank, A plant is supported on the planting panel in a state where its roots are hung below the planting panel, and a wave is generated on the culture surface by moving the diaphragm up and down on the culture surface, thereby generating a wave of the plant. Alternately contact the roots with culture medium and air,
It is known that the nutrient solution and the dissolved oxygen are absorbed from the culture solution and the oxygen is directly absorbed from the air (JP-A-63-309119).

[0003] However, according to experiments and studies by the present inventors,
In the above conventional method, by generating waves in the culture solution, sufficient oxygen can be taken into the culture solution, but in the conventional method, the plant is supported by a fixed planting panel. Therefore, it has been found that there is a drawback that gas exchange in the leaves and roots of plants is not effectively performed. That is, in the conventional method, the leaves of the plant are almost stationary, so if the carbon dioxide gas is absorbed from the stoma of the leaf, the carbon dioxide gas in the surrounding air will decrease, and if the oxygen is discharged, the oxygen in the surrounding air will be reduced. As a result of increasing the concentration of carbon dioxide and further lowering the concentration of carbon dioxide, the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed decreases, resulting in imbalanced gas exchange, and insufficient photosynthesis.

[0004]

An object of the first invention of the present application is to provide a method for promoting plant growth by effectively performing gas exchange of plants,

A second object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus capable of effectively carrying out the method of the first invention.

[0006]

Means for Solving the Problems As means for solving the above-mentioned problems, the first invention of the present application is to float a plant on the surface of a culture solution with all or part of its roots immersed in the culture solution. A wave is generated on the culture surface, and the whole plant is shaken by the undulation of the wave, to propose a growth promotion method in plant hydroponics,

The second invention of the present application provides a planting panel having a buoyancy on a surface of a culture solution in the tank, which is provided with a wave-making device for introducing a culture solution into a tank and generating a wave on the surface of the culture solution. Float the rocks freely by the waves, immerse the plant in the planting panel with all or part of its roots in the culture solution below the planting panel, and leave the leaves on the planting panel. The present invention proposes a device for promoting growth in plant hydroponics, which is made up of:

[0008]

According to the first invention of the present application, the whole plant is shaken by the undulation of the wave created on the surface of the culture solution, so that the air around the leaves of the plant and the culture solution around the roots are always fresh air and It replaces the culture medium, thereby maintaining an effective gas exchange. Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS For convenience, an apparatus used first will be described. In FIG. 1, a rectangular oblong box-shaped cultivation tank (1) is horizontally installed when viewed from a plane with an open upper surface.
A culture solution (2) containing nutrients, useful bacteria and the like is poured into the inside of the tank, and buoyant rectangular plate-shaped planting panels (3) are floated on the liquid surface of the culture solution in a state adjacent to each other. The wave making device (4) is provided at one end in the longitudinal direction of (1).

The above-mentioned planting panels (3) are, for example, lightweight buoyant plates made of styrofoam having a buoyancy. In this example, as shown in FIGS. The grooves (5) are formed in parallel at equal intervals, and circular studs (6) are penetrated in a staggered arrangement as a whole in a portion corresponding to the bottom plate of each groove (5). I have.

The planting holes (6) of the planting panel (3) described above.
Inside, the base of the plant (P) is held through a flexible elastic cushioning material (7) such as foamed polyurethane, and the root (8) of each plant (P) is held in the concave groove (5). And the leaves (9) are projected on the upper surface of the planting panel (3), and the planting panel (3) in which the plant (P) is planted in this way.
Are floated on the surface of the culture solution (2) with the concave groove (5)... Facing downward and the concave groove (5)... Oriented parallel to the longitudinal direction of the tank (1). By doing this, planting panel (3)
As shown in FIG. 2 (B), the roots (8) are floated by opening the spaces of the concave grooves (5) ... with respect to the culture solution surface (S).
A part of ... Is exposed to the air, and the rest of the root is immersed in the culture solution (2).

The structure of the wave making device (4) is as follows. 1 and 3, a left and right frame plate (1) is provided at one end of the cultivation tank (1) in the longitudinal direction so as to cross the tank (1).
1), (11) and a frame (10) composed of an upper frame plate (12) are erected, and guide sleeves (13), ( 13)
And the sleeves (13), (1)
Slide rods (14) and (14) are slidably inserted into and supported by 3), respectively.
4) Both ends of the beam (15) are connected to the upper end of (14). The beam (15) traverses above the tank (1) left and right, and projects both ends of the beam outward from the vertically long windows (16) and (16) of the frame plates (11) and (11). The projecting ends of the beam (15) are connected to the upper ends of the slide rods (14), (14), and the support rods (17) are projected downward from the beam (15), and the lower ends of the support rods are wave-formed. Block (18) is fixed.

The wave making block (18) is a prismatic block having a substantially trapezoidal cross section and slightly shorter than the left and right width in the tank (1). The tank (1) has an inverted trapezoidal shape with its trapezoidal upper side facing downward. It is located inside 1) so as to be able to move up and down in the left-right direction.

A shaft (20) is mounted on bearings (19) and (19) fixed to the upper portions of the left and right frame plates (11) and (11), respectively, as a lifting drive device for the wave-making block (18).
So that both ends of the shaft project outwardly, and the cranks (21) and (2) are respectively provided at both projecting ends of the shaft (20).
1), and the cranks (21) and (21) are connected to the upper ends of the slide rods (14) and (14) by connecting rods (22) and (22), respectively. A motor (24) is attached to a bracket (23) fixed to the lower surface of 12), and a small sprocket (25) fixed to an output shaft of the motor is changed to a large sprocket (26) fixed to the shaft (20). It has a chain (27).

Now, when the motor (24) is started, its rotation is transmitted to the shaft (20) through the sprocket (25), the chain (27) and the sprocket (26), and the shaft (2).
The cranks (21) and (21) are rotated by the rotation of (0) to slide the slide rods (14) and (14) through the connecting rods (22) and (22) into the guide sleeves (13) and (1).
3) vertically so that the beam (1
5) and raise and lower the wave making block (18) vertically.
In this case, the wave-making block (18) descends from a position slightly raised on the surface of the culture solution to a position sinking deeply into the culture solution, and then rises to the original position.

An embodiment of the method of the present invention together with the operation of the above-described apparatus will be described below. When the wave-making block (18) is moved up and down by starting the motor (24), waves are continuously generated on the surface of the culture solution (2) in the tank (1), and due to the undulations of these waves, each planting panel (3) ... shakes, and each plant (P) supported by these shakes. As a result, each plant (P) ... leaf (9) ... shakes in the air and constantly touches new air, continues to absorb sufficient carbon dioxide, and roots (8)
... shakes in the culture medium (2) and always touches a new culture medium,
Absorb sufficient nutrients and dissolved oxygen. At the same time, in plants that depend on pollination such as insect-bearing flowers and wind-bearing flowers, pollination is automatically performed by the shaking of the entire plant (P).
In this example, the groove (5) of the planting panel (3) ...
The part of the root located therein receives the wave and alternately comes into contact with the air and the culture medium, and absorbs oxygen in the air, nutrients and oxygen in the culture medium, respectively.

The wave-making block (18) easily sinks due to its inverted trapezoidal cross-sectional shape when descending into the culture medium, and then descends on the wide upper surface of the block (18) when ascending. , Thereby causing a wave of considerable thickness, such as a tsunami, to run forward in the longitudinal direction of the tank (1), and at the same time, draw the liquid at the bottom of the tank (1) under the block (18). Repeat this for tank (1)
The liquid inside is convected and homogenized. In this case, the dissolved oxygen in the water is generally 4 to 5% in the water in contact with the air, but the dissolved oxygen in the boundary layer portion of the water 5 mm thick from the surface of the water is 21% like the oxygen in the air. Oxygen in the culture solution is abundantly homogenized by the convection.

As the planting panel used in the apparatus of the present invention, a planting hole penetrating a plate having upper and lower flat surfaces, and various other panels are also used. Further, the wave-making device is not limited to the above example, and a device for rotating a water wheel type wave-making member in a liquid and other various devices are used.

[0019]

According to the method for promoting growth in hydroponics according to the first invention of the present application, the leaves and roots of the plant are constantly exposed to fresh air and culture solution by shaking the whole plant,
Thereby, sufficient absorption of carbon dioxide from the leaves, sufficient nutrients and oxygen from the roots are continuously performed, and it is possible to achieve growth promotion, and also in plants that depend on pollination such as insects and wind flowers. Pollination can be performed automatically.

According to the apparatus for promoting growth in hydroponics according to the second invention of the present application, the method of the first invention can be effectively carried out.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway side view of a hydroponic cultivation device.

FIG. 2 (A) is a partially enlarged plan view of a planting panel. FIG. 3B is a sectional view taken along line BB of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line III-III of FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 P Plant 1 Cultivation tank 2 Culture solution 3 Planting panel 8 Root 9 Leaf 18 Wave-making block

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A plant is floated on the liquid surface of a culture solution in a state where all or a part of its root is immersed in the culture solution, and a wave is generated on the surface of the culture solution. A growth promoting method in hydroponics of a plant, which comprises shaking the whole plant. 2. A wave-forming device for putting a culture solution in a tank and generating a wave on the liquid surface of the culture solution, and shaking a planting panel having buoyancy on the culture solution surface in the tank by the wave. The planting panel was allowed to float freely, and all or part of the roots of the plant were immersed in the culture solution under the planting panel, and the leaves were supported on the planting panel. A growth promoting device in hydroponics of plants.