RU2070782C1 - Device for plant growing with automated soil moistening - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: agriculture; hothouse crop production; indoor floriculture. SUBSTANCE: device has one vegetation pot or several vegetation pots with holes for drainage, a water-tight tank for water, and one wick or several wicks (as many as the number of the vegetation pots). The wicks are fabricated from some hydrophilic porous material. The tank is provided with a tube or several tubes vented to the atmosphere. The lower ends of the tubes directed towards the tank bottom do not reach the bottom, and the distance between the bottom and their ends is 5-10 mm. There is one wick inside each tube. The upper ends of the wicks pass through the drainage holes to touch the soil in the vegetation pots, and the lower ends of the wicks touch the bottom. The tank is provided with a tight-plugged outlet hole. The wicks consist of two detachable parts in contact with each other. The upper parts are secured in the drainage holes, and the lower parts are located in the tubes in the tank for water. The device automatically maintains optimal moisture content in the soil in one vegetation pot or several pots during the entire period of cultivation. EFFECT: improved growing conditions. 2 cl, 4 dwg

Description

 The invention relates to devices for growing plants with automatic soil moistening and can be used for growing decorative and other crops in residential and office buildings, as well as in greenhouses.

A device for growing plants in which the soil is moistened with a wick [1]
A device for growing plants with automatic soil moisture using a wick [2]
Another device for growing plants using a wick [3]
It is also known a device for growing plants with automatic soil moistening [4] consisting of a flat, horizontally located open top container, at the bottom of which there is a layer of water. Porous vegetation vessels with plants are placed above the water on dry supports of rails or trellises. Wicks are installed between the supports, the lower ends of which are supported by the bottom of the water tank, and the upper ends are in contact with the bottom of the porous vegetation vessel. Around the vegetation vessels around the perimeter of the water tank is a sealed container with a supply of water, in the lower part of one of the inner walls of which there is a narrow horizontal hole.

 This design maintains a constant water level in the water tank, regardless of the water level in the sealed tank.

This device has the following disadvantages:
firstly, it functions only when plants are grown in porous pots, while most modern pots are made of waterproof plastic;
secondly, the regulation of soil moisture is carried out by changing the total flow area of the wick pores through the use of equal thickness or their compression, which does not provide a constant and optimal soil moisture in the pots for the plant. In this case, as the plant grows and the surface size of the leaves grows, soil moisture will inevitably decrease. Given that the absorption of water by plants significantly depends on external conditions (plant illumination, humidity and air temperature), the known device cannot provide a constant optimal soil moisture.

 The purpose of the invention is the provision of a constant and optimal soil moisture in one or more vegetation vessels at the same time during the whole time of growing plants.

 The goal is achieved by a new device for growing plants with automatic soil moistening (FIGS. 1 and 2), containing one or more vegetation vessels 1 with drainage holes 2, a sealed water tank 3, in the body of which an outlet 7 is made with a stopper tightly placed in it 8 and one or more (according to the number of growing vessels) wicks 4 made of hydrophilic capillary-porous material, the lower end of the wick touching the bottom of the water tank, and according to the invention, the water tank fitted with hermetically fixed one or more tubes 6, the upper ends of which communicate with the atmosphere, and the lower ends are directed inside the container and are located at a distance of 5-10 mm from its bottom, while the wicks 4 are placed inside the tubes 6, and their upper ends pass through the drainage holes 2 inside the vegetation vessels 1.

 In addition, for ease of maintenance, in the device (figure 3) the wick 4 is made detachable from two parts in contact with each other, while the upper part (4-1) is fixed in the drainage hole 2 of the vegetation vessel 1, and the lower part (4- 2) located in the handset.

 The principle of operation of the proposed device is based on the patterns of water distribution in capillary-porous media, namely, on the dependence of soil moisture w on height H of its location above the water level (Fig. 4).

 For most plants (mesophytes), the relative soil moisture is considered optimal; 70; for moisture-loving plants (hygrophytes), the optimum soil moisture is 85-90; and for plants from arid habitats (xerophytes, succulents), soil moisture in the range of 40-60 is considered optimal; for different groups of plants should be different.

 In addition, the height H, which provides optimum soil moisture for the plant, depends on the soil structure.

 In FIG. Figure 4 shows the dependence of soil moisture w on height H for loose light soil a and heavy clay soils.

 In the proposed device, the soil moisture is determined by the height H of the location of the vegetation vessel above the lower end of the tube 6.

 The value of H is selected for this device according to the schedule (figure 4) depending on the type of plant for which the device is intended, and the type of soil used for this.

 The device (Fig.1 3) works as follows.

 The vegetation vessel 1 is removed, the cork 8 is removed from the outlet 7 and the container 3 is filled with water. Then the outlet 7 is sealed with a stopper 8, and the vegetation vessel (1) is installed on the water tank 3, Water from the tube 6 enters the wick 4 due to capillary forces, and then through the drainage hole 2 of the vegetation vessel 1 into the soil with the plant .

 Initially, the water level in the tube 6 and the water tank 3 will be the same, then as a result of the absorption of water by the capillary-porous system (wick soil) from the tube 6, the water level in it will rapidly decrease (due to the relatively small volume of the tube) to the level of the lower end of the tube 6, after which it will remain unchanged regardless of the water level in the tank 3, which ensures maintaining a constant soil moisture in the vegetation vessel 1. After the water in the tank 3 ends through the tube 6, water is refilled into the tank and the device starts AET function as shown above.

 If the wick 4 is made detachable, then when the vegetation vessel 1 is installed on the water tank 3, the upper (4-1) and lower (4-2) parts of the wick 4 are connected, forming a single capillary-porous system, and the device works as described above.

 The volume of the tank 3 is determined based on the expected water consumption by the plant and convenient intervals for filling the device with water.

 The proposed device meets the criterion of "novelty", as in the patent and scientific literature, i.e. from the prior art, no technical solution with the claimed combination of features.

 The present invention has an inventive step, as for a specialist it clearly does not follow from the prior art.

 The present invention is industrially applicable, as it can be widely used in production.

 As a result of using the device, a constant and optimal soil moisture is automatically ensured in one or several vegetation vessels simultaneously during the entire time of plant cultivation.

Claims (2)

 1. A device for growing plants with automatic soil moisturizing, containing one or more vegetation vessels with drainage holes, a sealed water container, in the case of which an outlet is made with a stopper tightly placed in it and one or more wicks according to the number of vegetation vessels, made of hydrophilic capillary-porous material, while the lower end of the wick touches the bottom of the water tank, characterized in that the water tank is equipped with hermetically fixed one or several small tubes, the upper ends of which communicate with the atmosphere, and the lower ends are directed inside the tank and are located at a distance of 5 10 mm from its bottom, while the wicks are placed inside the tubes, and their upper ends pass through the drainage holes into the vegetation vessels.  2. The device according to p. 1, characterized in that the wick is made detachable from two parts in contact with each other, while the upper part is fixed in the drainage hole of the vegetation vessel, and the lower part is located in the tube.

Images