JPS62115217A - Medium for plant culture - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to an artificial plant cultivation medium suitable for raising seedlings and cultivating all kinds of plants such as canola and flowers.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, natural soil has generally been used as a medium for growing plants. However, digging up the soil, sifting it, disinfecting it, fertilizing it, adjusting the acidity, and other so-called upper punching requires manpower and is labor intensive, which has caused problems in recent labor conditions. Recently, there have been cases in which plant cultivation has been disrupted due to continuous crop failure and disease outbreaks due to lack of soil maintenance. Due to these circumstances, attempts have recently been made to cultivate plants using artificial media such as rock wool instead of using natural soil. However, rock wool has too much water-retaining property, which causes the roots to rot, causes irritation when exposed to water, and causes problems in handling, such as inhaling the powder, which is not good for health.
In addition to its physical shape retention, which results in uneven density and hardness depending on location, rock wool is not used for plant cultivation because its ingredients are soluble and active, so it exhibits strong alkalinity, and calcium and magnesium elute. It was difficult.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) The present invention does not have problems such as component elution, can control fertilizer components without disturbing them, can arbitrarily set the fertilizer components necessary for plant cultivation, and can appropriately adjust the type and amount of fertilizer. Fertilizer can be applied according to
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a plant cultivation medium that does not require pH adjustment, can retain an appropriate amount of water during irrigation, and has many voids that contain as much as 30% usable air in the gas phase.

(Means for solving the problems) The present invention has a fiber length of 25 to 150 and a fiber thickness of 0.5 to 1.
00 denier mainly synthetic short fibers and heat-adhesive short fibers having a component on the surface with a low melting point of 20°C or more, the former is 90 to 60% by weight of the latter, and 10% by weight.
Consisting of short fiber blocks mixed at a proportion of ~40% by weight and bonded and shape-retained, the short fiber block has a thickness of 0.5% by weight.
5-15 cm, density 0.005-0.07 g
/cm3 is a plant cultivation medium.

The short fiber blocks constituting the plant cultivation medium of the present invention do not elute any components and are extremely stable from a physical and chemical standpoint. It must be made of at least synthetic short fibers because it is extremely easy to handle, does not irritate the skin, and does not cause any harm even if it enters the human body, such as the respiratory tract. It is. In this case, it is preferable that the synthetic short fibers contain at least 50% or more. The other fibers may be any natural fibers. The synthetic fibers mentioned here include polyester,
Examples include polyamide fibers, polyethylene fibers, polypropylene fibers, vinyl chloride fibers, and vinylidene chloride fibers. The synthetic short fibers must have a fiber length of 25 to 150 mm and a fiber thickness of 0.5 to 100 denier. If the fiber length is shorter or longer than this, it is difficult to form a carded web to maintain the shape of the block, resulting in two problems. Further, the fiber thickness needs to be 0.5 to 100 deniers. If it is less than 0.5 denier, the fiber density of the block produced by the block shape-retaining extra height will be too high, and like rock wool, it will have too good a water retention property and will not have water permeability and will easily cause problems such as root rot. On the other hand, if it exceeds 100 denier, the block becomes rough and capillary phenomenon is difficult to occur, resulting in insufficient water retention and water diffusion into the block, which is not good. Also,
If the fibers exceed 100 denier, the roots spread within the block will be hindered from elongating, resulting in poor growth.

The fiber length and fiber thickness do not need to be constant values as long as they are within the above ranges, and different fiber lengths and fiber thicknesses may be mixed.

The synthetic short fibers described above are mixed with heat-adhesive short fibers having on the surface a component having a melting point lower than the synthetic fibers by 20° C. or more.

The heat-adhesive short fibers are fibers spun in parallel or core-sheath structure with high melting point components so that at least the low melting point components appear on the surface, and the combinations of each component include polyethylene/polypropylene, polypropylene/polyester, nylon 6/nylon. 66, or ethylene vinyl acetate/polypropylene.

The melting point difference needs to be 20° C. or more; if it is less than this, it is not possible to deal with the problem of unfused portions occurring due to heating unevenness that increases as the thickness increases. A preferable melting point difference is 20°C or more and 200°C or less. The fiber length of the heat-adhesive short fibers is such that it has good ability to pass through a card for forming a web.
The fiber length is preferably the same as that of the synthetic short fibers described above.

In addition, the mixing ratio of the short synthetic fibers and the heat-adhesive short fibers is required to be 90 to 60% by weight to 10 to 40% by weight of the former. If the mixing ratio of heat-adhesive short fibers is less than 10%, there will be few contact points and only fluffy and soft blocks will be formed as a whole, which is not desirable as a medium for supporting plants. Mixing ratio of heat-adhesive short fibers is 40
If the weight percentage is exceeded, the block becomes hard and becomes a hindrance to plant growth.

The short fiber block constituting the plant cultivation medium of the present invention is produced by mixing the short fibers described above, hanging it on a card, stacking the resulting card web, and pressing it down with caterpillars until it reaches a temperature higher than the softening point of the low melting point component. It is obtained by applying heat to melt and bond only the low melting point components and retaining their shape.

The density of the short fiber block is 0.005 to 0.07 g/a
m' is appropriate, and if the density is less than 0.005 g/cm3, it will be too coarse, resulting in poor water retention and water diffusivity; if it exceeds 0.07 g/cm', it will be too dense, and water permeability will be poor. Not only will this cause problems, but it will also cause problems with the growth of the plant's roots, which is not good. In addition, the thickness of the short fiber block is 0.5
~15cm is required.

A nonwoven sheet with a thickness of less than 0.5 cm will cause the roots to extend into the block, making it impossible to support the plant. Also,
If the thickness exceeds 15C11, it is difficult to retain the shape using current technology and it is difficult to commercialize the product. Moreover, if a large thickness is required, blocks may be stacked and used as one block.

(Example) Example Polyester 1 denier 38% cut cotton 40%.

10 denier 64% polyester cut cotton.

Polyethylene/polyester thermal adhesive fiber 4 denier 5
30% of 1-Ryu cut cotton was mixed and hung on a card to obtain a carded web. These were laminated to a thickness of 7 cm and a bulk specific gravity of 0.
It was made into a block of 0.03 g/cm', heated and compressed to retain its shape. This is length 10 cm x width 10 c- (called block body A) and length 30 c++ x width 9
It was cut to 0c+* (referred to as block B). Unlike rock wool, which has a high pH as it is, this material does not require any pretreatment such as pH adjustment with sulfuric acid solution and can be watered as is, and the vapor phase ratio after irrigation is 28%, which is extremely high. It showed ideal medium characteristics with many properties.

First, tomato seedlings are raised using block body A, and after about 3 months, the seedling raising block is placed in one part of block body B at 40 c-
They were planted at regular intervals.

During tomato cultivation, irrigation and culture solution were dripped in an amount equivalent to the amount of transpiration from the crops and the cultivation system, and the state of the canes produced was investigated.

In Rockwool medium, the concentration of the culture solution changes due to component elution, etc.
Although it was difficult to control the pH, the medium of the present invention is extremely stable, easy to handle and manage, and the growth results such as plant height, number of parts, maximum leaf length, diameter, etc. observed 3 months after planting, and the growth results of tomatoes. The cumulative yield was not much different from that of cultivation in natural soil.

(Effects of the Invention) Since the plant cultivation medium of the present invention is composed of short synthetic fibers, it is physically and chemically stable, and does not have components eluted or easily decomposed and putrefied, and is stable in terms of fiber thickness and By arbitrarily selecting the shape retention density, water retention and water permeability can be arbitrarily designed according to the type of plant.
Easy to manage nutrient solution. Moreover, since the density and hardness within the block are uniform, it is easy to handle and industrial production is possible. In addition, unlike rock wool, it does not get dirty when touched, does not irritate the skin, and is easy to handle.

Claims (1)

[Claims] Mainly synthetic short fibers with a fiber length of 25 to 150 mm and a fiber thickness of 0.5 to 100 deniers, and the synthetic short fibers are heat-adhesive short fibers having a component with a low melting point of 20°C or more on the surface, the former versus the latter. are mixed in a ratio of 90 to 60% by weight to 10 to 40% by weight and are bonded and shape-retained, and the thickness of the short fiber block is 0.5 to 15 cm.
m and a density of 0.005 to 0.07 g/cm^3.