JPS63276424A - Method for growing plants and system therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable high-speed and stabilized production of plants, by allowing the plants to grow only with artificial light at least during their seedling stage, then to grow with sunlight in the green house. CONSTITUTION:An artificially controlled chamber 1 is formed in a green house 2 and the growing conditions therein is adjusted to those equal or similar to in the green house 2. The plants 17 is cultivated in the chamber 1 at least at their seedling stage, namely until the growth rate decreases down to 30-50% of the initial rate, only with artificial irradiation such as lamp 12. Then, they are transplanted into the green house 2 and cultivated with sun light.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for growing plants, and particularly to a method and apparatus for growing plants using a combination of artificial lighting and sunlight. .

[Conventional technology]

It is well known that plant growth is highly dependent on the environment. Therefore, so-called completely artificially controlled plant factories are used to block sunlight and use artificial light sources to facilitate environmental control.

This type of fully artificially controlled plant factory performs all cultivation processes from seeding under constant, suitable environmental conditions, and is capable of high-speed, stable productivity regardless of natural conditions, making it a new type of agriculture. It has the ability to speak as a means of production.

However, a major problem remains in that the cost of electric power for artificial lighting, which is an essential requirement, is excessive.

To this end, in order to reduce power consumption in fully artificially controlled plant factories, combination plant factories that use both an artificial light source and sunlight have been considered.

This is a greenhouse with lamps installed inside it, which mainly uses sunlight during the day, and artificial lighting is provided when necessary on cloudy days or at night.

What makes this greenhouse different from a normal greenhouse is that in addition to lighting equipment, it also has insulating curtain opening/closing control and heating and cooling equipment.

The cultivation process in this combined plant factory consists of raising seedlings using artificial light in a separate nursery room and actual cultivation.

Alternatively, there is also the process of cultivating the seeds from the seeding pond in the main cultivation room.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

Conventional combined plant factories are configured as described above, and the environment is controlled by opening and closing curtains and heating and cooling equipment during the main cultivation process, but in actual operation, temperature control has to be rough due to operating costs. As a result, cultivation is performed under conditions that are quite far from suitable environmental conditions, resulting in problems such as extended cultivation periods, unstable production, and complicated equipment and control.

This invention was made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object thereof is to provide a stable and economical plant growing method and device.

[Means for solving problems]

The plant growing method according to the present invention involves growing young seedlings and semi-adult plants under artificial light illumination for at least the seedling period, and then growing them under sunlight in a greenhouse after the artificial light illumination growth period. be.

Further, the equipment for this purpose includes a greenhouse, an artificial environment chamber provided in the greenhouse and in which the growth environment conditions are controlled, and a Shukenzuka observation device for turning the artificial environment room into a growth environment.
It is equipped with a control device f to control it to the required growth environment conditions.

[For production]

In the artificial environment chamber configured as above, from seeding to
Seedlings or semi-adults are grown in an artificial environment chamber where the environment is prepared by a growth environment device controlled by a control device, and once they reach a predetermined size, the plants are transferred from the artificial environment chamber to the greenhouse. Put it out and let it grow in sunlight.

〔Example〕

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The method and apparatus of the present invention will be explained in detail below based on the drawings showing one embodiment thereof.

It is a well-known fact that the growth rate of plants strongly depends on environmental conditions. Therefore, plants can be cultivated at high speed by artificially controlling environmental conditions to create optimal conditions.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

In an embodiment of the present invention, an artificial environment chamber is installed in a greenhouse into which sunlight is incident, and young seedlings or semi-adults are grown using artificial light such as lamps, and the growth rate of the young seedlings or semi-adults is 30% of the initial growth rate. The structure is such that the seedlings or semi-adults are grown to a stage where the seedlings have decreased by ~50%, and then the seedlings or semi-adults are grown into adults in a greenhouse where sunlight is incident.

In the figure, code (1) is an artificial environment chamber, (2) is a greenhouse that has the artificial environment chamber (1) inside and receives sunlight, and (3)
) is the nutrient solution stored in the nutrient solution tank (4).
(11) is a cultivation tank for hydroponic cultivation; (12) is an artificial light illumination device; for example,
The fluorescent lamp (hereinafter simply referred to as a lamp) (13) is one of the growth environment devices for controlling and adjusting the temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide concentration, etc. in the artificial environment chamber (1) by a control device (not shown). (14) is a fan for taking air from the greenhouse (2) into the artificial environment room (1), (17) is a young seedling or semi-adult, (18) is a ventilation opening, (
19) is a drain pipe, (21) is a ventilation door for ventilating the air in the greenhouse (2), (22) is a cultivation tank, (25) is a biogenic plant, and (26) is a drain pipe.

The germinated seedlings (17) are placed in the cultivation tank (1) of the artificial environment room (1).
1), the lamp (12) is turned on and the seedlings (1)
7) grows. At this time, the environmental conditions of the artificial environment chamber (1) are maintained at conditions suitable for the growth of the seedlings or semi-adults (17), and the seedlings or semi-adults (17) grow at a high speed.

When the growth rate has decreased by 30 to 50% from the initial growth rate, the seedlings or semi-adults (17) are transferred to the cultivation tank (22) K of the greenhouse (2), and the plants (25) are transformed into adults using sunlight. let

At this time, if the temperature in the greenhouse (2) becomes high, the ventilation door (21)
) is opened, and the air inside the greenhouse (2) and the outside air are ventilated.

On the other hand, the pump (3) supplies the nutrient solution in the nutrient solution tank (4) to the cultivation tank (11) in the artificial environment room (1) and the cultivation tank (22) in the greenhouse (2). ) and (22)
The overflowing nutrient solution is returned to the nutrient solution tank (4), and the nutrient solution is transferred to the nutrient solution tanks (11) and (2) by the nutrient pump (3).
The cycle of being supplied to 2) is repeated.

FIG. 2 shows the results of a growth experiment conducted to demonstrate the effects of this invention.

In the figure, the symbol (10m) is a semi-logarithmic plot of the living weight from young seedlings to adult plants against the number of days when saladana was cultivated under artificial environmental conditions using a lamp (12).

The cultivation conditions are photoperiod (1 day irradiation time of lamp (12))
for 24 hours, light intensity 14Ktx, carbon dioxide concentration [350
p11m, silver base 5℃, humidity g 70%, wind speed 0.5
m/s.

The nutrient solution concentration was 1.5 mmau, the water temperature was 23°C, and the pH was 7 to 5.

Moreover, the code (102) is the result of a spinach growth experiment.

The cultivation conditions were a day length of 16 hours, a light intensity of 14 Klx, and the other conditions were the same as those of the above-mentioned 0 salad experiment.

As shown in Figure 2, the growth rate changes at different growth stages.
It can be seen that the growth rate decreases rapidly as growth progresses.

In the case of saladana, in the early growth stage, the growth is rapid, with an increase in weight of about 40 mounds in 10 days, but after that, the weight decreases to about 5 times the increase in the same number of growing days.

The same can be said for spinach, although the effects are different.

FIG. 3 shows the results of an experiment in which the effect of light intensity was investigated on the growth rate of saladana as an adult plant with a living weight of 10 m or more.

In the figure, the code (103) indicates a light intensity of 25Ktx.

In the case of 24 hour day length, (104) is 14Ktx
.

Each case is shown for 24 hours.

As shown in the figure, the growth rate K increases by increasing the light intensity, but this increasing effect is small compared to the light intensity increase ratio, so in this case it is not efficient to use a lamp with high energy cost as a light source. Instead, it is efficient to use strong sunlight (direct illuminance is 100 Klx).

Next, Figure 4 shows the growth curve of seedlings when the day length in the artificial environment room (1) is 24 hours (symbol (105)) and 12 hours (symbol (to6F)) and the light intensity is 14Ktx. The other conditions were the same as the experimental conditions shown in FIG.

From the figure, it can be seen that growth can be significantly promoted by the day length control provided by the lamp (12).

In addition, w, Figure 5 shows that in the Figure 4 O experiment, the day length was set to 24 hours,
This figure shows the growth curve of seedlings when the light intensity is fixed at 14 Ktx and the carbon dioxide concentration is varied.

In the figure, the symbol (10?) is 350-1 (it), 1 is 1000μ, and (109) is 40004.

Generally, fertilizing with carbon dioxide promotes growth, but
For the growth of young seedlings or semi-adults, it is preferable not to fertilize with carbon dioxide gas.The artificial environment chamber (1) is set up in a warm room (21) and the young seedlings or semi-adults (17) are grown at the carbon dispersion concentration in the atmosphere. It is preferable to grow.

When the day length in the artificial environment chamber (1) was set to 24 hours of continuous irradiation, the carbon dioxide concentration was the same as the atmospheric concentration, and the other conditions were the same as in the experiment shown in Figure 2, the weight of salad seedlings decreased in 7 days. 0.
It increased by 10yK from 59.

On the other hand, it takes more than 20 days to achieve this kind of weight increase in a greenhouse using sunlight, which significantly shortens the number of cultivation days.

Next, the weight is 10? Saladana seedlings or semi-adults (17)
were transferred to a greenhouse (2) where sunlight enters and grown. At this time, according to the present invention, the nutrient solution in the nutrient solution tank (4) is shared between the young or semi-adults (17) and the adults. Plant (2)
5), young seedlings or semi-adults (17
) to the greenhouse (2), there is no change in the nutrient solution environment, and stress on the roots can be prevented. According to the experimental results, even when seedlings or semi-adult plants (17) were transplanted into the greenhouse (2), there was no root damage, growth stagnation, or death.

Traditionally, due to different nutrient solutions, it often occurs during transplantation.
There was a problem with root damage. This invention is highly effective because once roots are damaged, it takes a long time to recover.

The biogenic plants (25) transferred to the greenhouse (2) in this way
) It took about 20 days for the weight to increase from 102 to 100 tons.

At this time, the maximum temperature in greenhouse (2) was 35°C and the minimum temperature was 10°C. On the other hand, the nutrient solution temperature, water temperature and pH
are the same as the artificial environment chamber (1), with temperatures of 1.5 mm, 23°C, and 7 to 5, respectively.

From the above results, it can be seen that the weight of saladana varies from 0.5 f to
The total number of cultivation days required to increase to oy is 27 days.

On the other hand, when cultivated in a conventional greenhouse alone, it takes 50 days or more, so the present invention can significantly promote growth.

In this case, the cultivation area in the artificial environment room (1) is the greenhouse (2).
The size of greenhouse (2) is about 1/20 of that of
It is about half the size of a conventional greenhouse alone.

In addition, since the cultivation surface in the artificial environment chamber (1) is small, the lighting power consumption of the lamp (12) is small, and the energy consumption for maintaining suitable environmental conditions is small. Explain other effects of.

Another effect is that by growing young seedlings or semi-adults in the artificial environment chamber (1) under the same or similar conditions as those in the greenhouse (2), they are suitable for cultivation in the greenhouse (2). The purpose is to produce excellent young seedlings or semi-adult plants (17).

The first aspect of this invention is to convert the air inside the greenhouse (2) into an artificial environment room (
1) to make the temperature, humidity, nutrient solution composition, S degree, and water temperature of the artificial environment room (1) the same as those of the greenhouse (2).

The air conditioner (13) is stopped, the ventilation port (18) is opened, the fan (14) is operated, and the air inside the greenhouse (2) is introduced into the artificial environment room (1)K. At this time, the artificial environment room (1
) so that the wind speed in the cultivation room is at least 2rn/s.
By adjusting the air volume of the fan (14), the artificial environment room (1)
The temperature and humidity of the greenhouse will be almost the same as those of the greenhouse (2)■.

According to saladana cultivation experiments, greenhouse (2) ■Growing environment conditions were maximum temperature 35°C, minimum temperature 10'C, and sachet temperature 23°C.
When the nutrient solution concentration is 1.3 to 1.5 millimh, the seedlings or semi-adults (17) in the artificial environment chamber (1) are
The number of days required for the weight to increase to 0p was several days longer than when the temperature was maintained constant at 25°C and humidity at 70%, but the biogenic plant (25) at temperature (2) increased from 1Of to The number of days it took to increase to 1009 was several days.

This is due to the environmental change when transplanting from the artificial environment room (1) to the greenhouse (2). This seems to be due to stress relief.

According to this invention, since the number of growing days in the greenhouse (2) is shortened, there is an effect that the plant cultivation device can be made more compact.

In addition, compared to saladana grown alone in a conventional greenhouse,
Since the leaves are dark green and the seedlings (17) are uniform, uniform biogenic plants (25) can be produced, and high quality biogenic plants (25) with less insect damage can be produced. .

The second aspect of this invention is to grow young seedlings or semi-adult plants (17) for several days in an artificial environment chamber (1) under the same or similar photoperiod and light intensity conditions as those in a greenhouse, and then transfer them to a greenhouse (2). It was designed to be ported.

The growth stage in the artificial environment chamber (1) is divided into two stages, and the number of pumps (12) and the lighting time are adjusted. In the first stage, the photoperiod is 24 hours and 14 Ktx, and in the second stage, the photoperiod is 12 hours. According to the experimental results of cultivation at 25 Klx for several days,
There was no growth stagnation at the time of transplantation, and subsequent growth in the greenhouse (2) was promoted, and the same effect as in the first case of the present invention was obtained.

The day length and light intensity may be set in other ways, although the effects will be different. Moreover, the number of growth stages may be more than one.

In addition, the installation location of the artificial environment room (1) is
Spaces where the intensity of sunlight irradiation is low inside, for example,
The space in the north and west part of the greenhouse (2), the space where sunlight is blocked by building supports, or the space between the cultivation m (22) of the greenhouse (2) and the ground (in this case, the space between the cultivation tank (22) ) is preferably raised above the ground).

In addition, although the case where the air conditioning and snowproofing system is not installed in the greenhouse (2) has been explained above, the case where the greenhouse (2) is installed with an air conditioning system r is also explained.
Naturally, it can be adapted even if the temperature and humidity are adjusted.

In addition, although saladana was explained above, leaf vegetables and fruit vegetables other than salads have different effects.

Plants such as flowers may also be used.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, an artificial environment chamber in which growth environment conditions are prepared by a growth environment device controlled by a control device is provided in a greenhouse, and young seedlings or semi-adult seedlings are grown by lamps, that is, artificial light illumination. grow, and then
Since they are transferred to a greenhouse and allowed to mature under sunlight, it is possible to rapidly produce meritorious or semi-adult plants suitable for greenhouse cultivation, which is stable and economical.Furthermore, the equipment and system are simple, and land productivity is improved. This has the effect of providing a method and device for growing plants that are both cost effective and energy efficient.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the device of this invention, and FIG. 2 is the result of a growth experiment to demonstrate the effects of this invention.
Figures 3 to 5 show the results of a growth experiment showing the effects of various conditions on the growth rate of adult salad plants. Figure 4 is a bioweight graph showing the results of a growth experiment to investigate the effect of day length on the growth rate of young seedlings or semi-adult plants. Figure 5 is a graph of biomass weight versus number of growing days showing the results of a growth experiment examining the effect of carbon dioxide concentration on the growth rate of young seedlings or semi-adult plants. (1) φ・Artificial environment chamber, (2)・φ Greenhouse, (3)・・Pump, (4)・・Nutritional solution tank, (5)・・・Growth environment device (Nutrient solution temperature controller), (11 )(22)...Cultivation tank, (
12) Artificial lighting (lamp), (13) Growth environment equipment @ (air conditioner), (14) Fan, (17) Seedlings or semi-adults, (25) Biogenic plants . In each figure, the same reference numerals indicate the same or corresponding parts. W-) Figure 2 Figure 3 Number of growing days (days) Figure 4 Figure 7 Number of growing days (days) Figure 5 Number of growing days (days)

Claims (5)

[Claims] (1) In a plant growing method in which plants are grown using a combination of artificial light and sunlight, young seedlings and semi-adults are grown at least during the seedling period only under artificial light, and then, after the above-mentioned artificial light and lighting growth period, a greenhouse is grown. A method of growing plants characterized by growing them indoors using sunlight. (2) The method for growing plants according to claim 1, wherein the growth environment conditions during the growth period with artificial light are controlled to be the same as or close to the growth conditions of a greenhouse. (3) Growth environment conditions include temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide concentration,
The plant growing method according to claim 1 or 2, which includes the composition and concentration of the nutrient solution and the water temperature. (4) The growth period of at least young seedlings and semi-adult seedlings grown by artificial light illumination is the period until the growth rate of the seedlings decreases by 30 to 50% of the initial growth rate. The method for growing a plant according to any one of Items 1 to 3. (5) A plant growing device that grows plants using a combination of artificial lighting and sunlight is divided into a greenhouse, an artificial environment chamber that is installed inside the greenhouse and whose growth environment conditions are controlled, and an artificial environment chamber that grows plants using both artificial lighting and sunlight. A plant growing device comprising: a growing environment device that generates a growing environment; and a control device that controls the growing environment device to a required growing environment condition.