WO2017044017A1

WO2017044017A1 - Plant carrier

Info

Publication number: WO2017044017A1
Application number: PCT/SE2015/050944
Authority: WO
Inventors: Tobias Persson
Original assignee: Björkemar Construction & Consulting Bcc Ab
Priority date: 2015-09-07
Filing date: 2015-09-07
Publication date: 2017-03-16
Also published as: CN108024507B; CN108024507A; ZA201802179B; MY195992A; UY36888A; BR112018004492A2; CO2018003181A2

Abstract

A plant propagation cell carrier (1) having a frame with plant cell compartments for each receiving a plant cell manufactured from fibrous web material, wherein each plant cell compartment has opposing pairs of side walls (5, 6; 7, 8) forming an essentially open upper end (3A) and a partly open bottom end (3B). Each of the opposing side walls of the plant cells have a root guiding rib (9) formed at an upper section thereof and also have an aeration cut-out (10) formed at a lower section thereof, whereby two or more plant propagation cell carriers are tightly stackable with plant cell compartments of an upper plant propagation cell carrier nestable in the plant cell compartments of a lower plant propagation cell carrier of a stack.

Description

TITLE: PLANT CARRIER

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present technology generally concerns the propagation of plants in individual compartments in a plant carrier often referred to as a tray and specifically relates to the configuration of such a plant propagation carrier/tray.

BACKGROUND

Over the years several different plant handling and transporting systems have been developed within the plant propagation field. For the growing of seedlings and cuttings in e.g. forest nurseries it is common to employ trays that generally consist of rows of cells gathered in a frame. The trays may either be manufactured with the cells being formed integral with each other as well as with a tray frame, or may consist of a frame with openings in which separate, loose cells may be received and supported. For both types it has been suggested to provide guide structures at the inner cell side walls to assist guiding plant roots in the cells. In order to promote effective air pruning of the propagated plants it has been suggested to optimize the conditions for general aeration and air pruning of the plants by providing adequate ventilation around upper cell ends and also appropriate slits in the cell side walls. In later years it has been suggested to propagate plants in "cells" made of fibrous material, such as special paper quality, instead of in the traditional plastic cells. In order to securely support the plants and fiber material cells they are normally supported in a plastic carrier having compartments that to a certain extent resemble the plastic cells of the traditional propagation trays. The existing systems using such fiber/paper cell and plastic tray combi- nations are mostly but not exclusively used in nurseries for propagating vegetable plants and flowers.

There has been an ongoing development within this field of the fiber material qualities for the propagation cells as well as of the actual cells formed therefrom. However, there is still a demand for further improvements, not least as regards the fiber material cell carriers and their general design and configuration. A general desire is to optimize the plant carrier configuration to enable effective handling and storage of the plant carriers while still providing adequate ventilation and maintaining appropriate root guiding. SUMMARY

It is a general object to provide an improved solution satisfying the above discussed requirements and demands. In particular it is an object to suggest an improved plant carrier configured to provide both increased user practicality and plant propagation conditions.

These and other objects are met by the technology as defined by the accompanying claims. According to the technology, there is provided a plant propagation cell carrier having a frame with plant cell compartments for each receiving a plant cell manufactured from fibrous web material. Each plant cell compartment has opposing pairs of side walls forming an essentially open upper end and a partly open bottom end. In a basic configuration each of the opposing side walls of the plant cells have a root guiding rib formed at an upper section thereof and also have a cut-out formed at a lower section thereof. Thereby two or more plant propagation cell carriers are tightly stackable with plant cell compartments of an upper plant propagation cell carrier nestable in the plant cell compartments of a lower plant propagation cell carrier of a stack. Advantages offered by the present technology in addition to those described above will be appreciated upon reading the below detailed description of embodiments of the technology.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The technology and its further objects and advantages will be best understood by reference to the following description taken together with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a top view of the plant cell carrier of the present technology;

Fig. 2 is an end view of the plant cell carrier of Fig. 1 ;

Fig. 3 is a top perspective view of the plant cell carrier of Fig. 1 ; is a side view of the plant cell carrier of Fig. 1 ; Fig. 5A is an enlarged side view illustrating the configuration of a single plant cell receiving compartment of the plant cell carrier of Fig. 1 ;

Fig. 5B illustrates a section, taken along line A-A, through the plant cell receiving compartment of Fig. 5 A;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged top view illustrating the configuration of a single plant cell receiving compartment in a corner area D of the plant cell carrier of Fig. 1 ;

Fig. 7 is a partial cross section along line B-B through the area C of the plant cell carrier of Fig. 1 ;

Fig. 8 A is an enlarged side view illustrating two plant cell receiving compartments of the plant cell carrier of Fig. 1 in a nested condition;

Fig. 8B illustrates a section through the nested plant cell receiving compartments of Fig.

8 A, taken along line C-C; and

Figs. 9A-D illustrate further the stackability of the plant cell carrier of Fig. 1, with fully nested plant cell compartments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The technology will now be explained with reference to an exemplifying embodiment of a carrier for supporting plant propagation cells. This embodiment of the present technology relates to an application of the technology to a plant propagation cell carrier intended for use in e.g. forest plant nurseries. However, it is emphasized that the present technology is equally well suited for application to other environments and for other types of plant propagation cell carriers. It is therefore emphasized that the illustrations are provided for the sole purpose of describing a preferred embodiment and are not intended to limit the technology to details or to any specific field of application. The plant propagation cell carriers that are illustrated in Figs. 1-9C are therefore only given as examples of an environment where the present technology may be applied. It shall be realized that the disclosure covers the incorporation of features related to other applications and any combination of features disclosed herein. As was discussed above, previous solutions for propagating plants in fiber material cells supported in carriers have all been only partially successful and have thus not succeeded in optimizing the plant carrier configuration as regards enabling effective handling and space saving storage of the plant carriers and yet providing appropriate ventilation and maintaining appropriate root guiding. The present technology attempts to find an effective and practical solution in an effort to optimizing such fiber material cell plant propagation. This is done by taking a new approach for combining effective stacking of plant cell carriers by enabling carriers to be tightly nested in each other in a stack and optimized plant propagation conditions. The object is to provide a practical, fairly simple and thereby economical solution that will contribute to a reduced space requirement at nurseries, during transport etc. and that will also promote effective plant propagation.

To overcome shortcomings and disadvantages in connection with the operation of known fiber material cell propagation carriers and systems, the present technology suggests a novel approach for optimizing overall carrier configuration by enabling much tighter, space saving stacking of plant propagation cell carriers. In essence this is achieved by improving the mutual tight nesting of plant cell compartments of plant propagation cell carriers in a stack by suggesting a unique combination of positioning and design of root guiding ribs and plant aeration openings or cut-outs. The configuration provides several essential advantages including: - tight stacking of empty plant propagation cell carriers with their respective plant cell compartments fitting into and thus nesting in each other:

reduced storage space for empty plant propagation cell carriers;

reduced transport space requirement for empty plant propagation cell carriers;

the root guiding and aeration capacity of the plant propagation cell carriers is improved or at least maintained compared to existing systems;

the solution of this disclosure may be applied to virtually any known types, shapes and sizes of fiber material cells by making appropriate adjustments and modifications.

The present technology will be explained below with reference to an exemplifying, partly schematical embodiment thereof that is illustrated in the accompanying drawing figures. In Figs. 1-9C is outlined an embodiment of a plant propagation cell carrier 1 configured in accordance with the presently proposed technology. Specifically, in the drawing figures 1-7 is shown partly schematic views of an exemplary plant propagation cell carrier 1 for use in any type of conventional fiber material cell plant propagation and plant transport system. With reference to drawing figures 8A-9C the optimized stacking and nesting of the proposed new plant propagation cell carriers is illustrated and clarified. In use, plant propagation cell carriers of the general type discussed herein are intended for receiving a substrate and a seedling/cutting surrounded by a plant propagation cell manufactured from fibrous web material, preferably a material consisting of cellulose fibers, plastic fibers or a combination thereof. A plant propagation cell 4 with its substrate and seedling/cutting is not specifically illustrated in detail in the drawings but is very schematically indicated in Fig. 1. In Figs. 1-4 is illustrated a plant propagation cell carrier 1 of this technology, having a basic frame 2 with uniformly distributed plant cell compartments 3. The plant cell compartments 3 are provided for each receiving the respective fiber material cell 4 being supported by plant cell compartment side walls 5-8 and a partly open bottom end 3B formed by the basic frame 2. Specifically, each plant cell compartment 3 has opposing pairs of side walls 5, 6, 7, 8 forming an essentially open upper end 3 A and a partly open bottom end 3B. Each of the opposing side walls of the plant cell compartments 3 have a root guiding rib 9 formed at an upper section 1 1 thereof and also have an aeration cut-out or opening 10 formed at a lower section 12 thereof. With specific reference to Figs. 5A and 6, corner portions 14 are provided between each two adjacent side walls 5-8 and each corner portion 14 may be provided with a corner slit 15 for further improving root guiding and air pruning and for extra aeration.

In the illustrated plant propagation cell carrier 1 (see especially Figs. 5A and 5B), a root guiding rib 9 is formed at an upper section 11 of each side wall 5-8 of each plant cell compartment 3. The root guiding ribs 9 each extend approximately from the open upper end 3A of each plant cell compartment 3 and, preferably continuously, down to a corresponding aeration cut-out 10 of the respective plant cell compartment side walls 5-8. An aeration cutout 10 is in a corresponding manner formed at a lower section 12 of each side wall 5-8 of each plant cell compartment 3. The aeration cut-outs 10 extend approximately from the partly open bottom end 3B of each plant cell compartment 3 and, preferably likewise continuously, up to a corresponding root guiding rib 9 of the respective plant cell compartment side walls 5-8.

In the illustrations of Figs. 5A and 5B it will also be clearly seen that each root guiding rib 9 formed at the upper section 11 of each plant cell compartment 3 of the plant propagation cell carrier 1, extends down a respective plant cell compartment side wall 5-8 a distance that in the illustrated embodiment is smaller than half the height of said plant cell compartment side wall 5-8. It is likewise seen that each aeration cut-out 10 formed at a lower section 12 of each plant cell compartment 3 of the plant propagation cell carrier 1 extends up a respective plant cell compartment side wall 5-8 a distance that in the illustrated embodiment is greater than half the height of said plant cell compartment 3 and its side walls 5-8.

Furthermore, each root guiding rib 9 formed at an upper section 11 of each plant cell compartment 3 of the plant propagation cell carrier 1 , preferably extends down a respective plant cell compartment side wall 5-8 approximately along the center line CL of said plant cell compartment side wall 5-8. Similarly, each aeration cut-out 10 formed at a lower section 12 of each plant cell compartment 3 of the plant propagation cell carrier 1 preferably extends down a respective plant cell compartment side wall 5-8 approximately centered relative to the center line CL of said plant cell compartment side wall 5-8.

In the plant propagation cell carrier 1, a width W2 of each aeration cut-out 10 in a direction transversal to the center line CL of a respective plant cell compartment side wall 5-8 is larger, preferably several times larger, than a corresponding width Wl of each root guiding rib 9. In a practical embodiment of the plant propagation cell carrier 1 the width W2 of each aeration cut-out 10 in a direction transversal to the center line CL of a respective plant cell compartment side wall 5-8, at any position along its lower section 12, amounts to more than half the width W of the lower section of said plant cell compartment 3 side wall 5-8. Finally, each plant cell compartment side wall 5-8 of the plant propagation cell carrier 1 generally tapers slightly from the open upper end 3 A of the plant cell compartment 3 and towards the partly open bottom end 3B of the plant cell compartment 3. Further, each aeration cut-out 10 also tapers slightly from the partly open bottom end 3B and towards the open upper end 3A of the plant cell compartment 3. It shall be emphasized though, that the above given examples of the dimensioning of the root guiding ribs and aeration cut-outs may be varied depending upon the application. Thus, their configuration as regards width and length along the side walls may differ from the above example as long as the dimensions are such that the root guiding ribs fit appropriately in the corresponding aeration cut-outs when carriers are stacked in the manner described more closely below. Basically, employing the just described configuration, this means that two or more plant propagation cell carriers 1.1, 1.2 are tightly stackable with plant cell compartments 3.1 of an upper plant propagation cell carrier 1.1 tightly nestable in the plant cell compartments 3.2 of a lower plant propagation cell carrier 1.2 of a stack of plant propagation cell carriers 1.1, 1.2. It will be realized, especially when viewing Figs. 8A and 8B, that with the described configuration and dimensioning of the root guiding rib 9 and aeration cut-outs 10 stacking will be very tight and space saving. Protruding parts of upper plant propagation cell carriers, namely the lower ends of the plant cell compartments, will nest deep and tight inside corresponding receiving parts of lower plant propagation cell carriers, namely the open upper ends of the plant cell compartments, to thereby positively reduce the combined height of a stack of plant propagation cell carriers. A main feature of such advantageous stacking is that the root guides 9 of plant cell compartments 3.2 of lower plant propagation cell carriers 1.2 will be received and fit in the respective aeration cut-outs 10 of plant cell compartments 3.1 of upper plant propagation cell carriers 1.1.

In alternative, but not specifically illustrated embodiments of the technology variations of the different illustrated parts of the carriers may be employed without departing from the scope of the technology. An example of this is different designs of details of root guiding ribs 9 and aeration cut-outs 10. Likewise, the basic configuration according to this technology may with minor modifications be transferred also to carriers supporting pots and to similar types of plant propagation cassettes. It shall also be emphasized that although the technology has been described and illustrated with specific reference to an application in a plant propagation cell carrier especially intended for use in forestry nurseries and the like, the technology is in no way restricted to such applications. The basic principles of the technology may be applied to other areas of plant propagation.

The present technology has been described in connection with an embodiment that is to be regarded as an illustrative example thereof. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present technology is not limited to the disclosed embodiment but is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements. The present technology likewise covers any feasible combination of features described and illustrated herein. The scope of the present technology is defined by the appended claims.

Claims

PATENT CLAIMS

1. A plant propagation cell carrier (1) having a frame (2) with plant cell compartments (3) for each receiving a plant cell (4) manufactured from fibrous web material, wherein each plant cell compartment has opposing pairs of side walls (5, 6; 7, 8) forming an essentially open upper end (3A) and a partly open bottom end (3B), characterized in that each of the opposing side walls of the plant cells have a root guiding rib (9) formed at an upper section (11) thereof and also have an aeration cut-out (10) formed at a lower section (12) thereof, whereby two or more plant propagation cell carriers are tightly stackable with plant cell compartments of an upper plant propagation cell carrier nestable in the plant cell compartments of a lower plant propagation cell carrier of a stack.

2. A plant propagation cell carrier (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that each root guiding rib (9) formed at an upper section (11) of each plant cell compartment (3) extends from the open upper end (3 A) thereof and down to a corresponding aeration cut-out (10) of the respective plant cell compartment side walls (5, 6; 7, 8).

3. A plant propagation cell carrier (1) according to claims 1 or 2, characterized in that each aeration cut-out (10) formed at a lower section (12) of each plant cell compartment (3) extends from the partly open bottom end (3B) thereof and up to a corresponding root guiding rib (9) of the respective plant cell compartment side walls (5, 6; 7, 8).

4. A plant propagation cell carrier (1) according to any of claims 1-3, characterized in that each root guiding rib (9) formed at an upper section (11) of each plant cell compartment (3) extends down a respective plant cell compartment side wall (5, 6; 7, 8) a distance that is smaller than an extension of a corresponding aeration cut-out (10) up a respective plant cell compartment side wall.

5. A plant propagation cell carrier (1) according to claim 4, characterized in that each root guiding rib (9) extends down a respective plant cell compartment side wall (5, 6; 7, 8) a distance that is smaller than half the height of said plant cell compartment side wall and that each aeration cut-out (10) formed at a lower section (12) of each plant cell compartment (3) ex- tends up a respective plant cell compartment side wall (5, 6; 7, 8) a distance that is greater than half the height of said plant cell compartment side wall.

6. A plant propagation cell carrier (1) according to any of claims 1-5, characterized in that each root guiding rib (9) formed at an upper section (1 1) of each plant cell compartment (3) extends down a respective plant cell compartment side wall (5, 6; 7, 8) approximately along a center line (CL)of said plant cell compartment side wall.

7. A plant propagation cell carrier (1) according to any of claims 1-6, characterized in that each aeration cut-out (10) formed at a lower section (12) of each plant cell compartment (3) extends down a respective plant cell compartment side wall (5, 6; 7, 8) approximately centered relative to a center line (CL) of said plant cell compartment side wall.

8. A plant propagation cell carrier (1) according to any of claims 1-7, characterized in that a width (W2) of each aeration cut-out (10) in a direction transversal to a center line (CL) of a respective plant cell compartment side wall (5, 6; 7, 8) is several times larger than a corresponding width (Wl) of each root guiding rib (9).

9. A plant propagation cell carrier (1) according to any of claims 1-8, characterized in that a width (W2) of each aeration cut-out (10) in a direction transversal to a center line (CL) of a respective plant cell compartment side wall (5, 6; 7, 8), at any position along its lower section (12) amounts to more than half the width (W) of the lower section of said plant cell compartment side wall.

10. A plant propagation cell carrier (1) according to any of claims 1-9, characterized in that each plant cell compartment side wall (5, 6; 7, 8) generally tapers slightly from the open upper end (3 A) and towards the partly open bottom end (3B) of the plant cell compartment (3) and that each aeration cut-out (10) tapers slightly from the partly open bottom end and towards the open upper end.