Plant husbandry – Cover – shade – or screen – Adjustable on supporting structure or having means allowing...
Patent
1987-02-27
1989-03-28
Johnson, Richard J.
Plant husbandry
Cover, shade, or screen
Adjustable on supporting structure or having means allowing...
47 20, A01G 1302
Patent
active
048152366
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention concerns a protective hood for the raising of cultivated plants to be raised on supports, such as stakes, sticks or the like, in particular tomato plants, according to the preamble of claim 1.
A protective hood of this generic type is known from DE-A-2 647 398. This protective hood comprises a sleeve provided with slit like orifices, one end of which may be fastened to the support and the other end secured on or in the ground. This sleeve comprises elongated, straight slits. The slits are located in one form of embodiment of the known protective hood transversely to the sleeve and thus to the support, while in another form of embodiment they are parallel to them.
The starting material for the manufacture of the protective sleeve according to the invention comprises a sheet material made of an inexpensive, plant compatible, non-toxic plastic, for example, a high pressure (low density) polyethylene, which is processed by conventional sheet blowing methods into a sleeve. The diameter of the sleeve is controlled by the circumference of the plant to be protected. This leads to widths of the sleeves in the flat state of 40 to 80 cm. Depending on the diameter of the sleeve, the wall thickness may also be varied, for example, from 30 to 100 .mu.m. To prepare the protective sleeves, suitable lengths are cut from the sheet. The cutting process is conveniently left to the user on the site of the plants. In this case, the starting material for the preparation of the protective sleeves is supplied in the form of a rolled-up or zig-zag folded sheet with a length that is a multiple of the length of the individual protective sleeves. The length actually required may then be cut from the sheet. To facilitate the cutting process and in particular for use in the covering of plants of a uniform type, the sheet may be provided by the manufacturer with regularly spaced weakening lines, cut transversely to the longitudinal direction. Optionally, weld beads extending adjacent to said weakening lines may also be provided, with said beads serving as the upper closure of the protective sleeves.
The elongated slits are located in rows parallel to each other, in which the slits are also extending, and the slits of adjacent rows are offset relative to each other. If the sleeve is stretched transversely to the longitudinal direction of the slits, the webs located between the slits of adjacent rows are twisted and the slits are deformed into lens shaped orifices. Depending on the extent of the elongation the orifices created are of different sizes.
During the growth of the plants, whereby the volume of the plants becomes larger, the plant rests against the inside of the protective hood and stretches the sleeve, whereby the individual slits are gradually opened in keeping with the growth of the plant.
By means of the gradual opening of the slits into lens shaped orifices due to the growth of the plants, the internal space of the protective hood under which the plant is located, is becoming increasingly connected with the environment of the protective hood through the sleeve.
Known protective hoods of this type have been found to be useful in themselves.
If, in particular during the terminal phase of the growth of the plants, in particular tomato plants, there are heavy rains, it may occur that the plants do not developing an optimal manner as they receive too much water, while the shoots particularly of tomato plants, should not receive any water at all during this period. As the slits located between the webs are straight, the twisting of the webs cannot be predetermined. According to probability, one-half of the webs may be twisted to the extent that the water running from the protective hood, in particular rain water, flows inside the protective hood. The tomato plants are thus becoming wet.
It is therefore the object of the invention to provide a protective hood of the abovementioned generic type, wherein the twisting of the webs located between the slits may be controlled even in the case of the gradual opening so that
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