Plant husbandry – Miscellaneous – Potting or transplanting machine
Reexamination Certificate
2002-09-16
2004-11-23
Gellner, Jeffrey L. (Department: 3643)
Plant husbandry
Miscellaneous
Potting or transplanting machine
C047S00101T
Reexamination Certificate
active
06820367
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Reforestation is often carried out by outplanting seedlings that have been grown in seedling nurseries. The seedlings may be bare root stock or, more commonly, the root is enveloped in growth medium in the form of a plug in a container—this latter is referred to as containerized stock. Outplanting of containerized stock, therefore, involves placing the plug into soil at the reforestation site.
For the purposes of this specification, the term “plug” will be considered to include pellets—for example, Jiffy™ pellets—and any other suitably retained growth medium, for example, growth medium in multiple cavity containers such as styroblocks. A number of plugs are typically retained in a block. For the purposes of this specification, the term block will, therefore, refer to any container that has a plurality of cavities each which holds a plug. Further, the term “fertilizer” will be considered to include both organic and inorganic forms of fertilizer.
To produce containerized stock, the seedlings are seeded directly into the plug, which has been prepared in advance, by filling a plug cavity with a growth medium. Typically, the growth medium is inert and is, for example, comprised of peat or a mixture of peat, vermiculite and sand. As the medium is very low in plant nutrients, fertilizer is provided either as a slow-release fertilizer that is included in the mix, or through fertigation.
Commonly, slow-release fertilizers are available as prills. In this context, “prill” is encapsulated fertilizer in the form of a bead. A prill in the context of conifer seedlings growth is chemical or organic fertilizer encased in a polymeric coating made of plastic. Alternatively, granular formulations, both organic and inorganic, may be used that slowly release the fertilizer. These slow-release fertilizers may be added to the plug at the time of sowing with the objective of providing a residual load to the seedling once it is lifted and outplanted. However, regardless of the type of slow-release fertilizer used, much of it has been expended by the time the seedling is ready to be lifted.
Once a seedling reaches the prescribed height, caliper and developmental stage, it is lifted. At this time, it may be outplanted directly, as occurs with the “hot lift” seedlings, or it may be placed in cold storage, where it will remain over the winter. At the end of the cold storage period, the seedling is thawed and outplanted directly into the reforestation site.
Establishment of the seedling in the reforestation site is a critical step in the reforestation process. Hence there has been research on methods of increasing the rate of early growth. Frequently, seedling growth following outplanting is limited by a lack of adequate nutrients.
Research to increase the availability of nutrients to the seedling following outplanting has been extensive and has focussed on such techniques as co-cultivating mycorhizal fungi with the seedling roots in the nursery, placing fertilizer “tea bags” in a hole next to the hole that the plug is planted into at the reforestation site (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,022,182 and 5,317,834), and studying root growth to determine ways to increase the seedling's access to the limited soil nutrients. Limited fertilizer spray programs have also been implemented, but unfortunately, these often result in the brush and weeds outgrowing the seedlings. When this occurs, the brush and weeds have to be controlled, adding further expense to the cost of reforestation.
Despite the concern about the availability of nutrients to the seedling following outplanting, fertilization at lift, rather than at or following outplanting, does not appear to have been actively pursued. Hence the prior art for such an approach appears to be limited to field crop fertilizers, crop seeders and the lifting and packaging equipment currently employed in seedling nurseries.
There are many patents that disclose devices and methods for injecting materials, including fertilizer into soil. These have been developed for field crops, and not for containerized crops, such as conifer seedlings. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,394,812 discloses a device and method to inject polymeric materials into soil. The invention is based on a fluid delivery system, with pumps and monitors to control the flow rate. The monitor is in the form of a float valve. The fluid with the polymer therein is delivered to a series of apertures by means of a high pressure pulse.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,907,516 discloses a device and method for pulsed injection of liquid fertilizer into the soil. A solenoid control valve operates intermittently to interrupt the flow of liquid in order to provide liquid fertilizer to the nozzle in a series of short pulses. Penetration of the fertilizer into the soil is dependent upon the force of the jet of liquid through the nozzle.
Seeders for various purposes are previously known. U.S. Pat. No. 6,237,514 discloses an apparatus and method for disbursing agriculture seeds and other particulate materials into soil. A hopper supplies seeds to pockets that are located on sprocket wheels. The seeds are retained in the pocket by a housing that abuts the sprocket wheels. The number of seeds that are retained in each pocket is dependent upon the seed size and the pocket size. Rotation of the sprocket wheels to an open position in the housing results in release of the seeds. The seeds drop without assistance and land on the soil. Seed bed preparation therefore is carried out separately prior to seeding.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,273,648 discloses apparatus providing even distribution of air-entrained particulate material to headers and ultimately to delivery nozzles. Specifically, the patent discloses a conveyor tube and distribution header for use with pneumatic seeders. Turbulence is used within the conveyer tube to propel the seeds toward the distribution head. The distribution head receives the seeds through a flow inlet and then divides the flow into a number of outlet ports.
Another apparatus for dispensing granular or particulate materials is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,189,965. The apparatus is designed to uniformly discharge a predetermined quantity of granular material at a predetermined rate of application. A hopper is used to feed a metering system that has a number of rollers with pockets to receive the granular material. As the rollers turn, the granular materials are released into segregated metering channels and are pneumatically propelled through a delivery system. Hence, a continuous stream of granular or particulate materials is dispensed onto the soil.
The nursery industry employs mechanized planters for emblings (somatic embryos) and seeds. Essentially, a dibbler is used to create a depression in the seed bed and seeds or emblyings are dropped into the depression. The seed bed may be a transplant bed. Alternatively, the seeds may be sown directly into the plugs. The plugs are arranged in a block such as a styroblock.
Typical styroblocks are each comprised of a styrofoam-type polymer in the form of a block with plug cavities. The plug cavities are generally slightly conical and are wide at the top of the block, narrowing to a small hole at the bottom of the block. The number of plug cavities is variable, as are the size and volume of the plug cavities; all are dependent upon the stock type that is being grown or the desired specifications of the final product.
The process of lifting the seedlings from the blocks in preparation for cold storage or planting is generally mechanized, although the operation is still done manually at some nurseries. Usually, the block is grasped in a holding device, a series of pins are aligned with the plugs in a row-by-row manner and the pins are pushed into the plugs pneumatically, resulting in extraction of the seedlings in their plugs. The seedlings then fall onto a moving culling bed, where they are manually checked for size and morphology, grouped into sets of seedlings and wrapped as bundles in a plastic-type film, such as Saran™.
To Applicant's knowledge, fertilization
Bay Ted
Ingram Mark
Jackson Andrew
Kitchen John
Krushelniski Kyle
Barrigar Robert H.
Gellner Jeffrey L.
Pacific Regeneration Technologies Inc.
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