NL1013457C1 - Cultivation system resp. cultivation gutter therefor. - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a channel for plant breeding that is used in a novel breeding system. The U-shaped profile (10) of the plant breeding channel is supported by suspension elements throughout its entire length. Said plant breeding channel consists of a top surface (9). The legs of the U-shaped profile point downward on both sides at a considerable spacing. Said spacing, or so-called brilliant light distance, is larger or at least the same as the height of the nutritive substratum mat (8). Both legs of the U-shaped profile can be bent towards each other or away from one another. The free ends of the legs are slightly curved outward and/or upward in such a way that each of them forms a water evacuation channel or drain (12). Said drain remains permanently visible from the outside and can thus be controlled in order to prevent possible blocking. The width of the surface (9) matches the width of a nutritive substratum mat (8) that is to be positioned thereon.

Description

-1-

Cultivation system resp. cultivation gutter therefor.

The invention relates to a new cultivation system which is expressed in the form of a new cultivation gutter for use in greenhouse horticulture for the purpose of laying or installing substrate mats and / or cultivation trays.

In a traditional cultivation gutter, a suitable substrate mat is placed in a cultivation gutter with a raised bottom section. On either side of the raised central bottom section there are then considerably lower drainage channels. Since the cultivation gutter is closed under the substrate mat and thus dark, increased root growth can always take place there. The plant roots then make their way through drainage holes provided in the plastic film 10 surrounding the substrate mat, and these plant roots thus penetrate into the water drainage channels.

The support surface of the substrate mat on the central raised cultivation trough bottom is only about 70% of the total available cultivation trough width. Because the substrate mat cannot be regularly lifted over its entire length to control and possibly cut away the undesired root growth, an unrestrained vigorous root growth of the plant is created under the substrate mat in the dark and from the drainage holes, which is disadvantageous for cultivation and which also causes an annoying blockage of the water drains. If the cultivation gutter is placed on a so-called slope, this will no longer have any useful effect in the case of root growth that clogs the water drainage channels.

The object of the invention is now to provide a new cultivation gutter with the new cultivation system, with which it is possible to completely prevent uninhibited root growth, while, moreover, the possibility of water drainage remains unaffected.

To this end, according to the invention, the central bottom part of a cultivation gutter is raised in a cross-section in such a way that the raised bottom protrudes far above the water discharge channels, which are then situated much lower. While in the traditional cultivation gutter only 70% of the substrate mat rests on the raised bottom part, in the new cultivation gutter the substrate mat is supported over its full width by the strongly raised bottom part. The drainage holes in the plastic film then lie flat on the cultivation gutter bottom and no longer give any access to the existing water drainage channels.

The great advantage of this arrangement with this new cultivation gutter is now also date via the drainage holes due to the presence of a root growth inhibiting “light bridge distance” 1013457 -2- between the upper support surface and the lower water discharge channel, over a side surface height of e.g. 8 cm, further root growth will no longer be possible. Plant roots can therefore no longer cause an annoying blockage of water drainage channels, so that maintenance work is reduced to a minimum.

The strongly raised bottom part of the new cultivation gutter can in principle be flat in cross section, but can also be e.g. slope from the center to both sides at a slight angle (slope). Also, the profile in the raised bottom section can be given a small curvature with a radius of curvature of e.g. 60-75 cm.

While in a traditional cultivation gutter the substrate mats are always in each other's drain water and there is thus a simple chance of undesired virus transfer from one substrate mat to another via the drainage holes in the plastic foil, this chance of virus transfer is resp. completely prevent the new cultivation gutter. After all, the substrate mats no longer have any mutual connection with each other via the water drainage channels.

Another advantage with this new cultivation system is the fact that the water drainage channels can easily be checked directly and visually for the presence of blockages, so that no disturbances will occur in the drain water drainage.

Moreover, this new cultivation gutter profile makes it possible to make larger spans because the cultivation gutter profile can in fact be considered as a U-profile, which in that position provides the greatest resistance to deflection, so that in principle a smaller number of suspension points can be present in the crop.

In order to maintain a permanently good central support of the substrate mat on the bottom part, which is already promoted by the fact that the total base surface of the substrate mat rests on the total bottom surface of the new cultivation gutter, at least one deepening groove can be placed in the middle of the cultivation gutter profile. applied. Such a groove, or more grooves, can also serve to receive a crop control measuring member. This groove allows the underside of the plastic film casing of the substrate mat to sag slightly on site, causing resistance to lateral shifting by impacting the substrate mat. With a slight slope of the support surface or a slight boiling thereof, the central highest part of the slope can also prevent lateral shifting, while drain water can easily drain. With a boiling, a ledge can be placed in the highest point with the same effect.

101345? -3-

In greenhouse horticulture, cultivation waste resp. dirt gets into the water drains and clog them. To counteract this phenomenon, the upright edges of the water drainage channels can be bent slightly towards the upright inner side. This reduces the through-gap for dirt to such an extent that control 5 still remains possible

The invention directly relates to the usual method for the continuous production of such new cultivation troughs for greenhouse horticulture over large lengths, in which a mobile so-called roll-forming machine is used for the production of a cultivation trough profile. The new cultivation gutter, which due to its higher bending resistance using a roll-forming machine with long lengths of e.g. Rolling 100 meters or more in one go and then simultaneously hanging on suitable suspension elements, now also presents fewer problems; buckling of the cultivation gutter profiles that have not yet been suspended after the roll forming will therefore now also occur less often.

The invention will be elucidated hereinafter with the aid of the drawing on the basis of some exemplary embodiments.

Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of a traditional cultivation gutter;

Fig. 2 shows a perspective view of a new cultivation trough;

Fig. 3 shows a side view of a cultivation trough in FIG. 2 with substrate mat; FIG. 4 is a side view of the laying of a substrate mat in a traditional cultivation gutter, and FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a new cultivation trough with longitudinal groove, and FIG. 6 with a new cultivation gutter shows the inwardly directed upright gutter edges;

Fig. 7 shows a cultivation gutter profile for the placement of cultivation trays of various shapes and sizes.

The cultivation method using a traditional cultivation gutter 1 boils down to the fact that a cultivation gutter is profiled with two upright upright side walls 2, each of which merges downwards into the bottom 3 of a water discharge channel or drain 4 which is formed from the channel walls 5 which is upwards merging into the bottom 6 of the trough 1. The substrate mat 7 having a width which fits into the upwardly projecting sidewalls 2 of the trough 1 is placed on the bottom 6 of the trough 1 and the mutual position is in FIG. 4 visible. It is clear that plant roots will be able to penetrate through the substrate mat 7 through the drainage holes (not drawn) therein into the bottom 3 of the water drainage channel 4 and clog the water drainage there. The occurrence of this undesired root growth is hardly noticeable because the substrate mat 7 closes the cultivation gutter 1 as a form-fitting lid and unfortunately the root growth can increase indefinitely in the dark created by the water supply present at the bottom.

It is otherwise with the new cultivation method of which in fig. 2 the new cultivation gutter is shown. The substrate mat 8 is now placed directly on top of the top part 9 of the cultivation gutter profile 10 and from the top part 9 the side walls 11 extend downwards on both sides and merge into water channels 12. Between the bottom of the substrate mat 8 and the bottom of the water drainage channels 12 is such a distance, e.g. of 12 cm, which prevents root growth from coming from the drainage holes in the substrate mat 8 to the water drainage channels 12 situated below. The water drainage channels 12 have a raised outer edge of approx. 4 cm high. This profiling makes an extra contribution to the profile strength. The drain water drainage will be extremely effective due to this new laying of the substrate mat 8. Nevertheless, contamination of the upwardly open water discharge channels 12 could take place due to ever present plant waste. Such contamination can be prevented by, as shown in FIG. 6 in profile indicates to convert the upright outer wall parts 13 of the water drainage channels 12 inwards. Fig. 5-6 shows a cultivation trough 14 in which the support surface for the substrate mat is provided with a longitudinal groove 15, e.g. with a width of 2 cm and a radius of curvature of 1 cm. This longitudinal groove 15 can serve to hold the substrate mat in place. The top supporting surface of the new cultivation trough can be flat, provided with a groove, slightly curved or running downwards at a slight angle from both sides of a central center line. In doing so, the desired bending strength of the cultivation gutter profile which is carried over a large length of hanging support members must be taken into account. 2 and 5 already have sufficient strength.

It goes without saying that without deviating from the principle of the invention, the profiling of the cultivation gutter profile can still be subject to change. Any wishes can be fulfilled therein by taking into account the design of the 30 mold roll sets. The provision of reinforcement grooves to increase the resistance to bending of a cultivation trough profile even further when using thinner strip material can e.g.

1013457-5. By constructing the cultivation gutter profile with slightly oblique legs, it will also be possible to easily stack (cultivate) the cultivation gutter profiles. In addition, provisions can be made on the cultivation gutter profile by making recesses in the side surfaces. On the one hand, these can have the purpose of making suspension possible and, on the other hand, of achieving a material saving, i.e. a saving in weight when hanging the cultivation gutter.

In another traditional cultivation gutter there are recesses in a U-profile for a specific size of cultivation trays or cultivation pots. In principle, a cultivation gutter with different dimensions is required for every other pot size, because the pots must have sufficient stability in the cultivation gutter. If a growing pot experiences insufficient support in the growing gutter with a growing plant, rests too little on the protruding pot edge, the pot can tip over.

A new U-shaped cultivation trough profile for placing cultivation trays of different shape and size, which find sufficient support therein, is shown in FIG. 7 Now in the horizontal center part 16 of the U with downwardly directed legs 17 and an edge reinforcement 15 18 at the bottom of the U, there are a number of round first recesses 19 for accommodating the round outer circumference of conventional thin-walled flexible cultivation boxes or plant pots . Normally, the recess can only serve for a limited number of pot diameters, because the center of gravity of the plant pot in the cultivation trough profile must not be too high due to the easy tipping over of the pot. A solution has now been found for this with the new 20 cultivation gutter by providing the first recess with a number of much smaller additional second recesses 20. The presence of those extra recesses 20 on the random pull of the first recesses 19 creates the possibility that the flexible conical tapering pot wall with a larger diameter than would still be suitable for reception in the first recess 19, with the excess wall circumference now being, as it were, partly folded, received in that extra second recess 20. The semicircular recesses 20 are shown in FIG. 7 placed diametrically at an angle of 45 ° to the centerline of the central section 16, which saves material and thus allows one cultivation trough profile to be used for a series of cultivation trays or cultivation pots with different diameters. If use is made of angular cultivation boxes or pots, the shape of the first recess can be adapted thereto. For example, a universal cultivation trough profile for use for both round and angular cultivation pots of various sizes can be used from a suitable polygonal first recess? -6- and then with the aforementioned additional second recesses.

Cultivation gutter profiles described here can, if desired, be made of galvanized steel, zinc-galvanized or in a lacquered or plastic-coated version.

5 1013457

Claims (11)

1. Cultivation gutter for use for a new cultivation system, in which the U-shaped cultivation gutter profile (10), which is supported over its entire length by suspension members, mainly consists of an upper support surface (9) which corresponds in width approximately to the width of a substrate mat (8) to be placed thereon and the legs (11) of the U are directed downwards from the supporting surface (9) on either side over a considerable distance, the so-called light bridge distance, which is greater than or at least equal to the height of the substrate mat (8) in which the free ends of said legs (11) are turned outwards and upwards over a small height such that they each serve to form a water discharge channel or drain (12). Cultivation gutter according to claim 1, characterized in that with the U-shaped gutter profile the ratio between the width of the support surface (9) for the substrate mat (8) and the distance from the bottom side of this support surface (9) of the substrate mat (8) until the bottom of the drain or drain (12) is greater than or equal to 1 at the most. Cultivation gutter according to claim 2, characterized in that the water discharge channel or drain (12) is permanently visible from the outside and is thus easily controllable for any blockage of the water discharge. 20 Cultivation gutter according to claim 3, characterized in that in the cultivation gutter profile (10) the two legs of the U are bent towards each other at a small angle α. Cultivation gutter according to claim 3, characterized in that in the cultivation gutter profile (10) the two legs of the U are bent away from each other at a slight angle β, such that two U-shaped cultivation gutter profiles (10) are can nest each other. 1 1013457 Cultivation gutter according to any one of the preceding claims 1-5, characterized in that the cultivation gutter profile (10) is provided in its support surface (9) with at least one recess (15) for the purpose of securing the substrate mat (8) laterally . -8- Cultivation gutter according to any one of the preceding claims 1 - 6, characterized in that each upright edge of the cultivation gutter profile (10) which forms the outside of the water discharge channel or drain (12) is bent towards the leg of the U such that only a small distance remains between that edge and the leg to prevent invasive plant waste, etc. i 5 Cultivation gutter provided with a number of recesses for use for placing cultivation trays of different diameters and dimensions, characterized in that the cultivation gutter is U-shaped and the two legs of the U are directed downwards, with the horizontal middle part (16) of the U is provided with a number of first recesses (19) for receiving the circumference of 10 thin-walled flexible cultivation trays and each first recess (19) is further provided at its random draft with at least one considerably smaller second recess (20) for accommodating a heavily deformed cultivation box section. Cultivation gutter according to claim 8, characterized in that the first recess (19) is circular and the second recess (20) is semi-circular in shape. Cultivation gutter according to claim 9, characterized in that the second recesses (20) are arranged diametrically relative to a first recess (19). Cultivation gutter according to claim 10, characterized in that the first recess (19) in size is a multiple in diameter of the second recess (20). Cultivation gutter according to any one of the preceding claims 8-11, characterized in that the first recess for the use of cultivation pots of different shape, such as round and angular, is polygonal. 1013457