Plant husbandry – Receptacle for growing medium – Irrigator
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-20
2002-05-14
Jordan, Charles T. (Department: 3644)
Plant husbandry
Receptacle for growing medium
Irrigator
Reexamination Certificate
active
06385908
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention teaches a planter modification system and associated method of use which permits users to modify conventional planters and planter designs to greatly improve their capacity to properly care for potted plants by way of facilitating a cycle of saturation and dehydration of the potted plant.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Most plant containers have drainage apertures in their bottoms. They also frequently have permanent reservoirs to provide for a certain amount of water to moisten the soil through the process of osmosis and capillary action amongst dirt particles. Still other containers have removable reservoirs which can be snapped into place.
Planters with reservoirs also have the tendency to overflow as the planters are inadvertently over-filled. If this occurs on or near expensive furniture, carpets or wood floors, this can represent a serious occurrence in any household. Also, water which stands in such reservoirs tends to quickly stagnate and create a detrimental condition known colloquially as “wet feet” or “root rot.”
Planters which do not have reservoirs have apertures that discharge water as soon as it reaches the planter's bottom. This is particularly true when the soil in a container is very dry, and voids and cracks form around the parameter of the planter. Under such conditions, the plant which is watered simply by adding water at the top of the soil benefits little from the watering.
Some of the inadequacies of presently available planters are reflected, at least in part, in a recent Better Homes and Gardens publications entitled the “New Houseplants Book”:
The best pots have holes in their bottoms for excess water to drain out. If water collects in the bottom of a pot, it can cause root rot, which eventually kills plants. Because of these holes, each pot needs a plastic or clay saucer underneath it to prevent excess water from spilling onto your carpet, floor, or furniture. Many hanging pots have built-in saucers to collect excess water. Be careful when watering plants in these pots since their saucers are shallow and water sometimes overflows.
Whatever a plant lover's level of patience for water spillage, inefficient watering, etc. through use of presently available planters, none of these planters adequately provide for the proper management of a potted plant's state of moisture saturation or dehydration. Consequently, plants in containers are often improperly watered and, at best, do not thrive to their natural potential, or, at worst, eventually die.
For reasons mentioned above, if the soil in a container is very dry, it is sometimes necessary to submerge the container in a water-filled tub to thoroughly saturate the soil. At present, this is typically done in a secondary reservoir (a large tub, usually) which will accommodate an entire planter with the subject potted plant therein. Not only is complete soil saturation sometimes necessary, it is, for most plants, almost always desirable and beneficial.
The ability to nearly fill a planter with water, yet later drain the planter, provides necessary phases in the any proper watering regiment. Author W. E. Shewell-Cooper, in the book titled “How to Grow Potted Plants” T provided the following illuminating discussion:
Put yourself, therefore, imaginatively in the place of the plant—and discover its every need. The soil in which you were growing is completely cut off from the great bulk of soil in the earth. You are isolated. You are in a room in which it never rains. When all the moisture in the ball of soil has been used up by your roots, there is no more to draw on and, in fact, the ball of soil in which you are growing shrinks, so much that there's actually a space between the rim of the ball and the inside rim of the pot.
Another authoritative source on proper watering of potted plants provides:
McCall's Garden Book
“The best way (especially for plants that dry out rapidly) is to set the pot in a container of water that is at room temperature. Water should be ½ inch below pot's rim if you are using a porous pot (common clay pot). Let it sit for a couple of hours, or until the soil becomes moist on top. If you are using a non porous pot, such as glazed pottery, water should be 1 inch over pot's rim. Let it sit for 15 minutes or until bubbles stop arising from the pot. In either case you will want to set the pot where it can drain afterward.”
“Containers with no drainage holes are attractive, but so difficult to water successfully that they are not recommended.” (emphasis added)
New Illustrated Encyclopedia of Gardening
Edited by T. H. Everett-Assistant Director (Horticulture) and Curator of Education
The New York Botanical Garden
With contributions from Twenty Horticulturists and Authorities in the United States and Canada
Other pertinent quotes pertaining to the need to thoroughly water potted plants is provides as follow:
“Although one cannot say how often a plant should be watered it is quite possible to indicate how much water should be given at each application: enough thoroughly to soak the entire mass of soil.”
Luster Leaf Products, Inc.
Woodstock, Ill.
“The term over watering is sometimes misunderstood. Over watering refers to an excessive frequency of watering-not to the amount of water applied at any given time. Some plant owners kill with kindness by adding water before the plant really needs it. The result of this over watering is, inevitably rootrot.”
Container Gardening Indoors and Out Jack Kramer
“Water indoor plants thoroughly and deeply and allow them to dry out before watering them again. If possible, soak plants once a week in a tub of water for several hours or until the soil stops bubbling. This gives complete watering and keeps the root ball from drawing away from the container walls causing a well. Remember that if soil becomes bone dry, the root ball shrinks and water runs down the sides of the pot rather than into the roots.”
Although this approach of total hydration to dehydration is ideal, it presents many problems. Large plants may weigh 50 or more pounds. Such larger containers frequently contain plants 6 feet or more in height. This type of planter, for example, may be indoors and on the second floor of a two story home. Containers of this size, if totally soaked as recommended, would require watering only every four to six weeks.
The present invention allows one to convert commonly used planters of all types for a cost comparable to the average cost of a saucer. Once modified, one need only to fill the planter and let the water stand until all of the air bubbles have disappeared. Since the planter has no apertures, any danger of spillage is eliminated. Water with only one half of the normally recommended amount of fertilizer will suffice. When the proper time has transpired after the planter has been filled (usually 15 to 30 minutes), draining time can be less than 30 seconds to approximately 4 minutes, depending upon the size of the planter. Water drained can be used in other planters. During this process, the planter is never moved.
In most cases, modifying new planters would result in the lowering of costs due to simplification and the elimination of such items as snap-on reservoirs. Most ceramic planters have small integral saucers that are cosmetically unattractive and totally impractical. Many such planters have brightly colored labels warning buyers of possible damage from water overflow. (See photo #1)
The present invention enables one to care for plants in containers with minimal time and effort. It also enables one to have planters under circumstances that formerly made watering so involved and difficult any considerations for having a planter were abandoned.
Summary of the Invention
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide a device and associated methodology which facilitates the proper moisture management of houseplants using existing planters.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a device and associated methodology of use which ob
Hayes Bret
Henry David G.
Jordan Charles T.
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