Plant container liners

Details Plant container liners Plant container liners

2001-05-18

2004-04-20

Poon, Peter M. (Department: 3643)

Plant husbandry

Receptacle for growing medium

Specific container material

C047S065800, C047S067000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06722081

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to plant container liners and a method of manufacturing plant container liners or blanks therefor. In particular, although not exclusively, the invention relates to a method of forming sphagnum moss liners for plant containers such as hanging baskets, especially those baskets in the form of skeletal containers. While the specification refers primarily to the use of sphagnum moss, the principles of the invention may be extended to other vegetative fibre materials such as coconut fibre.
BACKGROUND OF 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 filled 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 product 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.
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.
Moreover, the known forms of hanging basket liners will not retain moisture indefinitely and much moisture from the soil will be expirated through the liner. Furthermore, hanging basket liners formed of natural material will have a tendency to grow mould on the other surface thereof which reduces the visual appeal of the hanging baskets. Thus there has been a tendency to use the less aesthetically pleasing and less environmentally friendly plastic containers.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a plant container liner or a blank therefor, and a method of manufacturing a plant container liner/blank 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
Accordingly, in accordance with a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of forming a plant container liner or a blank therefor, the method including: forming a first layer of compressed sphagnum moss which is dry or at least partially dried; and incorporating a layer of water resistant material into the liner or blank.
In a preferred form of the invention using sphagnum moss, the moss is compressed into a sheet which when reconstituted will incorporate the layer of water resistant material. It would be desirable for the layer of water resistant material to be sandwiched within the sphagnum moss but towards the outer surface of the liner because for visual impact, concealment of the water resistant layer by a layer of sphagnum moss is desirable. This can be achieved by initially laying a thin layer of the sphagnum moss, then the water resistant layer and finally the major amount of sphagnum moss to be compressed.
It is also intended that a wide range of materials may be utilised to form the water resistant or water impervious layer. In a simple form the layer can be provided by a mat of cellulous material such as a suitable grade of paper which may or may not have surface coatings. Suitable surface coatings wh

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