WO2003022315A2

WO2003022315A2 - Sterilizing soil

Info

Publication number: WO2003022315A2
Application number: PCT/ZA2002/000127
Authority: WO
Inventors: Paul Snyman Greyvensteyn
Original assignee: Paul Snyman Greyvensteyn
Priority date: 2001-08-15
Filing date: 2002-08-15
Publication date: 2003-03-20
Also published as: AU2002351421A1; WO2003022315A3

Abstract

A vibrational energy is supplied by means of an apparatus that provides an electromagnetic radiation in precisely selected frequencies in a soil or other growing medium and/or space above the medium. The radiation is provided to a crop field by means of wires that encircle the field and may be insulated or not and may be lightly embedded in the soil. The frequency or frequencies are precisely aligned with the harmonic frequency of the pest(s) concerned as determined by the inventor.

Description

STERILIZING SOIL

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention lies in the field of agriculture, pomiculture, viticulture, arboriculture and horticulture, that is, growing crops of ail kinds, orchards, flowers, fruit and vegetables, e.g. maize, peanuts, lucern (alfalfa), etc. The application of the invention is extended to all activities of this kind, not only in geoponics but also in growing media such as are used in hydroponic culturing and others. The invention is applicable both to small scale or domestic activities and to large scale commercial farming operations, where large areas are committed to crop production season after season. The invention is applicable both to open ground cultivation and indoor cultivation as in hothouses,

BACKGROUND

Sustainable agricultural and horticultural production require attention to rendering the soil or other growing medium sufficiently free from pests, weeds and other organisms that reduce the yield of the crop. It is also necessary to maintain the air space above the ground free of insects and other vectors harmful to optimum development of a crop, during the growing period. It is in this sense that sterilizing is used herein, namely the preparation and maintenance of a growing medium and/or environment, to eliminate or render harmless organisms that may reduce or delay or otherwise harm the intended crop. In commercial farming this has become an invariable practice, as part of the large investment required to initiate production.

Insecticides, pesticides and herbicides have become the most widely used approach to sterilizing soil and ongoing development of them continues unabated. This is due not only to the quest for more effective or more selective treatments, but also to combat the natural selection process whereby pesticide-, insecticide- or herbicide-resistant organisms develop, resulting from the ongoing use of these products. The use of these chemicals has thus become increasingly complex for the farmer.

The extensive use that is made of such chemicals has had devastating effects on the environment that were not intended. These include reduction or even extermination of helpful bacteria populations, organic matter, insects, bird life and animals. Insecticides remaining in plants are suspected and in some cases demonstrated to cause harm in humans eating insecticide contaminated plants produced using them. A rising tide of objection to the use of insecticides, to consumption of foods produced with their use with concomitant favouring of "organic" foods and increasing concern about the degrading of the environment, has placed pressure on the farming industry to resort to alternative methods.

In addition to these adverse factors, the very substantial cost of sterilizing the soil in this way is subject to the risks of farming and a component of the high capital risk associated with this activity.

THE INVENTION

It has been discovered that soil and other growing media can be sterilized by a method that includes the application of vibrational energy in the soil or medium at a selected frequency or frequencies of between twenty cycles per second (20 Hz) and twenty thousand cycles per second (20kHz).

According to the invention the vibrational energy is supplied by generating electromagnetic radiation in the electromagnetic spectrum that is between 20 Hz and 20 kHz. Electromagnetic radiation must be selected in frequencies that comply with regulatory restrictions where these apply, e.g. certain long waveband radio transmission frequencies. That is, however, not an element of the invention, but a necessary observance of legislation in the radio field.

The principle of the invention is that the primary resonance frequency of various pests have been determined by the inventor and the method is to apply an electromagnetic radiation of the same wavelength to the pest, resulting in its destruction or at least, in some cases as will be noted below, driving them away. Destruction can occur by bursting or other structural damage to cell walls and other organic structures of the pest.

Although other means of propagating vibrational energy could according to the broader principle of the invention be used, the requirement of a propagating medium restricts the application of the invention in most cases to electromagnetic radiation. For example ultra-sound could in some limited applications be applied, but requiring the presence of a physical medium.

An important advantage of the method of the invention is that it is impossible for an organism to develop a resistance to the vibrational energy.

In broad principle any wave form is included as possibilities in the application of the invention, it being the primary or base frequency that is relevant, as carrying most of the energy of the wave. Use of digital technology conveniently provides "square" wave forms of which the Fourier analysis is well known. A positive offset is preferred as well as provision of the radiation in pulses, either in flashing or occultating mode.

Preferably a square wave with a sweep function is used, to range across selected frequencies. However, it is an important feature that broad band radiation is not resorted to because using selected and restricted frequencies allows other aspects of ecology to remain undisturbed, a major benefit of this technology, for sustainable crop production. Thus the sweep function will include frequency hopping, that is, to hop from a specified frequency to each further specified frequency, these frequencies specified according to the selected pests to be eliminated.

It is found that worms and similar small animals can be exterminated, rendered sterile, chased away or otherwise rendered harmless to crops etc. The invention is also effective against insects and other organisms above ground, generally where these are mobile animals, they are inhibited from entering and/or staying in a treated region - they are chased away.

Thus the invention provides an apparatus which is adapted to apply an electromagnetic field to a region where an agricultural and/or horticultural or similar activity is to be carried out, for the purpose of sterilizing the growing medium and/or above the medium, comprising a generator for electromagnetic waves, a control means and conductors which may be led to selected regions. An amplifier to amplify the signal to a required volume is preferably added and a volume control can be convenient. The voltage for the signal has been found not to be required to be high, for example, a voltage around 12 volts has been effective, in tests. Voltages of up to 75 volts can be used, with convenience to reduce or eliminate insulation requirements and safety requirements for staff and farm workers. By virtue of this the energy source could be provided by means of solar panels.

The generator may produce a square wave output and the wave profile may be modulated as required.

The basic frequency is selected according to the animal or organism or ranges or groupings of animals and/or organisms to be targeted.

The apparatus may be adapted and/or programmed to carry out a regime of treatment comprising time components, frequency levels and/or ranges, voltages and other possible variables.

The apparatus may comprise a source of electrical power, a means of amplifying, transforming, modulating and otherwise treating or processing a signal to produce electromagnetic energy.

It has been shown moreover that the electromagnetic energy can be applied over an extended area by means of a simple extension of conductors carrying the electrical signal, which generates the electromagnetic energy. The conductors may be wires, which need not be insulated and can be extended along the perimeter of a growing area, above the soil and/or lightly covered. Insulated flex has been successfully used.

Proper distribution of the signal to the targeted area is necessary and this is made possible by the installation of positive and negative conductors at the perimeters of selected target area.

It has been found that a spacing of about 150 metres is effective and with this kind of distance treatment of areas measured in hectares, is feasible. Even up about 300 metres is feasible.

THE DRAWINGS

The invention is more fully described by way of examples, to which the invention is not limited. In the drawings : -

Figure 1 is a plan view of a control panel of an apparatus in accordance with an embodiment of the invention,

Figure 2 is an electrical diagram of the apparatus,

Figure 3 is a layout of an installation,

And

Figure 4 is a photograph of comparative fields of trial conducted with the invention, against a control.

As shown in figure 1 , the control panel 1 has an LCD display 2, a keyboard 3 and a volume control 4 to control the amount of power delivered by a signal amplifier to two wires 5 from which the electromagnetic signal is radiated. Figure 2 shows a circuit 6 comprising a source of power from a 220 volt power supply 7 which leads to a transformer 8 which transforms the supply to 12 volts. The transformer output is processed by two resistors 9 and 10 and a capacitor 11 and fed to a timer 12 which produces an output at a frequency which is selected within the range of 5 kiloHertz to 600 kiloHertz. This output is fed to an amplifier 13 which can be controlled to adjust the output power of the signal, which is connected to the conductors 5 which are led to the crops.

The frequency of he signal is selected according to the organisms to be targeted, the value of this is that certain organisms can be left unaffected. For example, bees can be left unharmed and not driven away. But worms have been selectively eliminated from soil by the use of a 50 kiloHertz signal.

Mildew has been prevented/regressed by the application of a 34 kiloHertz signal.

More tests are required, but it appears at this stage that a tendency is that smaller organisms require higher frequencies and larger organisms smaller frequencies. Further examples of present indications (which may be found to vary with better experience are the following frequencies, which repress the organisms indicated.

Common moulds 250 Hz

Ergot (fungus) 295 Hz

Afflatoxin (fungus) 177 Hz

A syrup-like fungus on certain grain species 277 Hz

Ants 1800 Hz

Dust mites 800 Hz

Bees 1353 Hz

Ticks 953 Hz

Crickets 1394 Hz

Aphids 516 Hz

Harvester ants 1115 Hz

Termites 1116 Hz Black ants 1087 Hz

Mosquitoes 1158 Hz Gnats 993 Hz

Wasps 1043 Hz Locusts 1218 Hz House flies 993 Hz

Meat fly 980 Hz

Lucern 782 Hz

Turnip (rape or cole) 758 Hz Spinach 755 Hz

Mint 772 Hz

Dove (bird) 8666 Hz^*

^* (The bird is not killed, but is chased off, as are other "mobile" creatures.)

It can be seen that the invention can be applied selectively to deal with a particular pest and/or a group of selected pests by use of sweep technology by which the frequencies will cover the selected ones with selected time spans per frequency and power levels.

Figure 3 shows a typical layout 14 in which 1 ,2mm high tensile steel wire conductors 15, 16 17 and 18 poly vinyl chloride (PVC) coated are used. The wires 15 and 17 are positive and the wires 16 and 18 are negative. As seen at 19 the wires are open circuit. The area to be treated is enclosed by the lines 20. The signals are supplied by the signal generator 21.

Figure 4 shows at top crops grown with protection against pests according to the invention and below crops in a control field that was without protection. The two fields were alongside each other subject to the same soil conditions and both were irrigated to exactly the same extent. The crop concerned was lucern. No chemical pesticides or treatments of any kind were applied to both fields. The time from planting was four weeks in both cases. The only difference between the two fields was that one was exposed to electromagnetic radiation at 1115 to 1116 Hz in accordance with the invention. Tests of this kind have been carried out on several test fields and control fields over a period of a year. The results are clear.

NUMERALS

1 apparatus control panel

2 led display 3 keyboard

4 volume control

5 antenna wires to crops

6 apparatus circuit diagram

7 220 volt supply 8 transformer

9 1k resistance

10 3.9 k resistance

11 470 capacitor

12 timer chip 13 500 watt amplifier

14 field with conductors

15 positive conductor

16 negative conductor

17 positive conductor 18 negative conductor

19 open circuits

20 area of crop field to be treated

21 apparatus supplying vibrational energy

Claims

1. A method of sterilizing or rendering free from pests soil and other growing media and free space above the media, that includes the application of vibrational energy in the soil or medium and free space above at a selected frequency or frequencies of between twenty cycles per second (20 Hz) and twenty thousand cycles per second (20kHz).

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 , in which the vibrational energy is supplied by generating electromagnetic radiation in a selected frequency or frequencies in the electromagnetic spectrum that is between 20 Hz and 20 kHz, the selected frequencies being matched to the primary resonance frequency of various pests that have been determined to be eliminated.

3. A method as claimed in either one of claims 1 or 2, in which use is made of digital technology that conveniently provides "square" wave forms with a positive offset.

4. A method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, in which the radiation is applied in pulses, either in flashing or occultating mode.

5. A method as claimed in any one of claims 2 to 4, in which the wave is provided with a sweep function, to range across selected frequencies with frequency hopping, to hop from a specified frequency to each further specified frequency, these frequencies specified according to the selected pests to be eliminated.

6. An apparatus which is adapted to apply an electromagnetic field to a region where an agricultural and/or horticultural or similar activity is to be carried out, for the purpose of sterilizing the growing medium and/or above the medium, comprising a generator for electromagnetic waves, a control means and conductors which may be led to selected regions, with an optional amplifier to amplify the signal to a required volume.

7. An apparatus as claimed in claim 6, in which the voltage for the signal is not more than seventy five volts (75 v), and not less than twelve volts (12 v)

8. An apparatus as claimed in either one of claims 6 or 7, in which the energy source is provided by means of solar panels.

9. An apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 6 to 8, which is adapted and/or programmed to carry out a regime of treatment comprising time components, frequency levels and/or ranges, voltages and other possible variables.

10. An apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 6 to 9, in which the conductors are wires, which are either insulated or not insulated and are extended along a perimeter of a growing area, above the soil and/or lightly covered.

11. An apparatus as claimed in claims 10, in which the signal to the targeted area is supplied by the installation of positive and negative conductors at the perimeters of the selected target area.

12. An apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 6 to 11 , in which a spacing of about 150 metres of the conductors is adopted.

13. A method of treating soil or a growing medium and/or space above soil or growing medium substantially as herein described.

14. An apparatus for treating soil or a growing medium and/or space above soil or growing medium substantially as herein described.