Plant container liners

Details Plant container liners Plant container liners

2003-02-27

2004-04-27

Jordan, Charles T. (Department: 3644)

Plant husbandry

Receptacle for growing medium

Method of using a plant receptacle

C047S05810R

Reexamination Certificate

active

06725599

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to plant container liners or blanks therefore. In particular, although not exclusively, the invention relates to sphagnum moss liners for plant containers such as hanging baskets, especially those baskets in the form of skeletal containers.
BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION
Because of its unique water retaining properties, and pleasant appearance as a natural plant substance, sphagnum moss has traditionally been a favoured material for use in conjunction with floral arrangements and related horticultural activities.
Traditionally, sphagnum moss has been sold mostly in a dried state but sometimes in a wet state, but generally in a natural loose form in which each filament of the moss plant is separate and distinguishable.
In recent decades, a new technology has developed in the sphagnum moss industry. This is the use of pressure to compress the loose moss in a press into compact sheet form. These sheets are of various thickness, usually from 2 or 3 mm to about 7 mm. They are somewhat like cardboard in flexibility and look somewhat like particle board in texture.
In its traditional loose form, sphagnum moss has always been associated with hanging baskets. One reason for this is its particular ability to absorb and retain water up to and exceeding 20 times its own weight. Another is its natural and aesthetically pleasing appearance.
The most common traditional method of using sphagnum moss to line hanging baskets is to place some loose moss in the bottom of a wire hanging basket, then cover the moss with a little potting mix. After this the basket is gradually filled, firstly by building up the outer layer of sphagnum moss around the outside of the basket and secondly by holding it in place with a little more soil and potting mix. This process is repeated several times until the lining of sphagnum moss reaches right to the upper rim of the hanging basket.
This is obviously a very labour intensive task. For this reason it has mostly been performed at home by the enthusiastic gardener, and by staff in some garden centres. In this form, hanging baskets with a layer of sphagnum moss directly inside the wire basket can be made available only when they are filed with soil and potting mix, because it is the soil and potting mix which holds the outer lining of loose filaments of moss in place.
It is evident that there is an extremely limited scope for selling sphagnum moss lined hanging baskets in this form. The labour content in filling them is very high. In addition the basket would need to be regularly watered to keep the potting mix and the sphagnum moss moist.
For these reasons. sphagnum lined hanging baskets filled in this way would normally have to be made and sold in the same garden centre. Such articles could not be manufactured on a large scale using technology and production machinery and then transported in bulk nationally and internationally to many retail outlets. Consequently only very small numbers of such sphagnum lined baskets are made up in this way.
One company in USA has taken a step forward in this regard and created a sphagnum moss lined hanging basket which can much more readily be transported in cartons as freight, or even posted in the mail, which makes them much more marketable than the previously mentioned type. In these, filaments of loose dry sphagnum moss are fixed onto the outside of the basket with very fine filament or wire. This means that no soil or potting mix is needed to hold the sphagnum moss in place.
However, the process of sewing the filaments or moss onto the outside of the basket is very time consuming and keeps this type of moss lining within the category of a hand crafted item. As such, this type of liner will always be relatively expensive, limited in numbers, and therefore a speciality item.
One New Zealand company also markets a compressed sphagnum moss product formed as a blank shaped like a Maltese cross. When placed inside a hanging basket, the edges fold up and contour to the shape of the basket. A disadvantage of a liner in this form is that initially at least, the liner does not conform satisfactorily to the shape of the curved hanging basket.
Common features of known compact sphagnum liners are:
1 They are both presented to the public in flat, one dimensional form.
2 Both must be placed inside a hanging basket before they can assume and retain the three dimensional shape of the basket.
3 Both are in untreated compacted sheet form and bear little resemblance to sphagnum moss.
4 Both have to be assembled by the purchaser according to instructions supplied.
Extensive market research conducted on our behalf concerning basket liners made up of flat sections of compacted sphagnum moss shows that unless there has been a considerable amount of prior instruction and education. a large proportion of the general public and the gardening public are not aware that:
such flat shaped pieces of compacted sphagnum moss are in fact basket liners;
such a smooth surfaced, cardboard-like substance is in fact sphagnum moss.
In addition, the public needs instruction as to how such objects should be assembled into their end form as basket liners. In particular, a great deal of care and attention is required to manipulate the blanks to enable them to fit the containers. If the dry compacted sphagnum moss liners are bent to suit the contour of the containers, this leads to cracking. A comparison would be like trying to mould a sheet of balsa wood to fit into a bucket. The cracking results in breaking of the moss fibres themselves. This reduces the fibre length of the moss and the moss in and around the cracks may be of insufficient strength to effectively bind and hold the liner together once filled with soil. This can lead to unattractive holes in the moss with consequent loss of soil through the holes. Accordingly, it is necessary to gently wet the sheets of compressed sphagnum moss before manipulating it into the plant containers. Furthermore, the customer ought to take care with the manner in which the water is applied to the liners. If the temperature of the water is too high ie in excess of 25° C. or the pressure to great, the user can easily blow a hole in the liner. Consequently, the degree of care required to manipulate the prior art liners may be viewed as very high, perhaps leading to wastage or excessive difficulty by the end user.
Consequently, expensive and extensive advertising and promotional material, and special training of shop sales persons at every point of sale has been necessary to combat the fact that many people do not know:
what such objects are and what they are for;
what they are made of;
how they are to be assembled.
In spite of all this instruction, which does increase the price unnecessarily, many people still pass them by because they do not know what they are, and do not realise how they make up into a basket liner.
As a result, these liners have been observed in sales outlets being progressively moved into obscure positions of display where they gather dust.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a plant container liner or a blank therefor, which will address at least some of the foregoing problems or at least provide the public with a useful choice over liners/blanks at present available.
STATEMENTS OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a liner for a plant container including one or more sheets of partially compressed, dried or at least substantially dry, reconstitutible sphagnum moss formed into a 3-dimensional shape having a top opening and one or more walls extending in an upstanding configuration towards the opening, the walls having a body and top edges defined along the top opening wherein the top edges are compressed to a lesser degree than the body of the walls.
In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention there is provided A blank configured to form a liner for a plant container, the blank comprising one or more sheets of partially compressed, dried or at least substantially dry sphagnum mos

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