Plant husbandry – Mulching
Reexamination Certificate
2001-01-23
2002-06-25
Poon, Peter M. (Department: 3643)
Plant husbandry
Mulching
Reexamination Certificate
active
06408568
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to blended soil-enhancing compositions in which coconut coir pith is combined with selected horticulturally acceptable non-coir pith, non-peat moss additive materials (hereinafter sometimes referred to as “non-coir
on-peat materials”) and to processes for producing such compositions. The blended compositions can be compressed for sale as baled products, and subsequently decompressed to provide plant growth media having improved fluff yield and wettability characteristics as compared with coir pith and non-coir
on-peat additives which are compressed and fluffed separately.
2. Description of Related Art
Coconut coir pith is a by-product of the coconut husk fiber processing industry. Coir is the name given to the fibrous material that constitutes the thick mesocarp (middle layer) of the coconut fruit (
Cocos nucifera
) In processing, the long fibers of coir are extracted from the coconut husk for use in the manufacture of brushes, upholstery stuffing, filters, twine and like products. The short fibers (2 mm or less) and dust (collectively referred to herein as “pith”) traditionally have accumulated in large piles or “dumps” as a waste product resulting from the processing of coconut husks to obtain the industrially valuable long fibers.
Coconut coir pith has a high lignin to cellulose, content which prevents oxidation and resultant shrinkage. Accordingly, these materials do not decompose rapidly, resulting in the “dumps” of material which have remained as accumulated waste for extended periods of time with essentially no industrial applicability other than for burning.
Relatively recently, it has been recognized that coconut coir pith material provides an excellent growing medium for plants and it has been suggested that coconut coir pith could provide an effective alternative to previously standard growing media such as peat moss. Coconut coir pith is very similar to sphagnum peat moss in appearance having a light to dark brown color and consisting primarily of particles in the size range of 0.2-2.0 mm (75-90%). Unlike sphagnum peat, however, there are no sticks or extraneous matter in the coconut coir pith. Furthermore, sphagnum peat moss has a density of about 7 lbs/cu ft when fluffed (30-50% moisture content) whereas coir pith is much denser (i.e., about 43 lbs/cu ft when compressed at a ratio of 5:1 on volume to volume (v/v) basis and about 25 lbs/cu ft when fluffed and having a 50-55% moisture content).
Additional analysis of coconut coir pith in comparison with sedge peat (also known as “Florida” peat) and sphagnum peat products has indicated that coconut coir pith has superior structural stability because of the high lignin to cellulose content of the pith which prevents oxidation and shrinkage as compared with peat moss which has a high cellulose to lignin content.
Normally, coconut coir pith to be used as a plant growth medium is prepared by collecting aged pith from existing waste dumps or newly processed pith and drying the material to a 20% moisture content and then compressing. the pith into bricks at a compression ratio of about 5:1 (v/v). These compressed bricks can then be expanded by adding water to achieve yields of about 7 volumes to each 1 volume input material at about 80% moisture content although some mechanical agitation is required in order to increase the output of the outturned coir pith. This mechanical agitation requirement presents a disadvantage in processing coir pith as it presents an inconvenience and expense for growers and other end users of the product. A further disadvantage in the processing of coir pith as a plant growth medium is that, unlike compressed bales of peat moss which can be readily fluffed or outturned to yield a desirable fluffed product, coir pith takes considerably more time to be fluffed or “outturned”.
The foregoing disadvantages in the processing of coir have contributed to its lack of suitability as a replacement for peat moss. Accordingly, it has been well known in the art to combine peat moss and coir pith in a non-compressed form. Such non-compressed mixtures of coir and peat moss are produced by initially decompressing bricks of compressed coir pith and bales of compressed peat moss to provide separate fluffed coir pith and fluffed peat moss raw materials. Then, the already fluffed materials are mixed together for distribution as a “loose-fill” product containing the decompressed, fluffed mixture of coir pith and peat moss.
The fluffed products produced in this manner have been demonstrated to provide better media for growing plants than the media provided by coir pith or peat moss alone. However, it has been recognized previously that these “loose-fill” products are not advantageous for purposes of shipment and/or storage of the products and that more favorable methods for producing growing media containing these mixtures would be very beneficial and commercially significant.
The above-described processing difficulties observed with coir when used alone, as well as the commercial limitations of loose fill mixtures of non compressed coir and peat moss, were successfully addressed in co-pending, commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/026,639 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,189,260, entitled “Compressed Mixtures of Coconut Coir Pith and Peat Moss and Processes for the Preparation Thereof”, which application is incorporated herein by reference and made a part hereof. In addition to providing compressed mixtures of coir and peat moss which addressed the problems noted above, the '639 application disclosed that a surprising improvement in fluff yield can be achieved when coir pith and peat moss, under controlled moisture conditions, are first compressed to form a baled product, and then decompressed via fluffing or outturning for ultimate use as a growth medium. In particular, the commonly assigned '639 application disclosed that decompression of a compressed coir/peat moss blend yields a final volume of fluffed product that is unexpectedly greater than the sum of the individual volumes of coir and peat moss used to produce the initial pre-compressed blend.
Nevertheless, while the compressed coir/peat moss blends, and processes therefor, described in the co-pending '639 application represent a significant advance over the prior art, a known drawback in using peat moss is that the harvesting of this material can cause a gradual depletion of environmentally sensitive wetland ecosystems such as bogs and swamps. Moreover, considering the quantities of peat moss which are harvested annually to satisfy commercial demand, the material cannot properly be considered a renewable resource. Consequently, a high quality alternative to peat moss that is consistently available and also satisfies heightened environmental concerns has been recognized, heretofore, as being a desirable objective, in that it would benefit the environment to decrease the amount of harvested peat required for horticultural use.
In particular, it would be highly desirable if the peat moss component of the compressed coir/peat compositions (and processes) described in commonly-assigned U.S. Ser. No. 09/026,639 could be entirely or even partially replaced with other less expensive, readily available and renewable horticultural additives, without sacrificing the improved fluff yield or other beneficial properties which were achieved employing compressed coir/peat moss blends.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide blended compositions containing mixtures of coconut coir pith and selected horticulturally acceptable non-coir
on-peat materials (both organic matter and inorganic) as compressed products suitable for sale in baled form and for subsequent decompression, for example, by fluffing and outturning.
A further object is to provide baled, compressed products containing mixtures of coconut coir pith and horticulturally acceptable non-coir
on-peat ingredients which can be readily decompressed (e.g., after shi
Kusey William E.
Yelanich Mark
Gellner Jeffrey L.
Jones Day Reavis & Pogue
OMS Investments, Inc.
Poon Peter M.
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