GB2330510A - Plant support - Google Patents

Abstract

A containerised plant support system comprises a plant pot, tub or trough 1 having a base 2 and side walls, the base having one or more sockets 46 integrally formed therein, or mounted thereon and secured in place. Each socket is adapted to receive the lower end of a plant support cane or stake 5b.

Description

PLANT SUPPORT Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a plant support for containerised plants.

Background to the Invention Alongside the massive growth in DIY home improvement in the last half of this century there has been a corresponding boom in interest in gardening and a rapid growth in the number of gardening centres and other retail outlets for plants and gardening equipment. Virtually every town in the country now has at least one gardening centre providing a wide range of shrubs, trees and bedding plants in addition to indoor plants. Almost without exception these plants are sold in pots and commonly with one or more stakes to support the plant not only for attractive presentation of the plant but also to stimulate a good growth habit of the plant enhancing leaf spread and aeration to maximise photosynthesis and minimise disease.

The vast majority of the containers for the plants sold in garden centres are pots of moulded plastics material that have a generally frusto-conical form with a base that may be apertured for drainage and a prominent upper rim that enables the pots to be readily separated when stacked nesting into each other.

Without exception, as it seems, the commercially available pots are provided with smooth side walls and a largely featureless base.

When staking plants to support them within such pot containers the primary support to the plant is given by the compaction of the root ball and soil within the pot. The one or more stakes or canes that are used to provide further support are normally inserted into the soil and serve as additional struts that are themselves held in place largely by the soil compaction. Whether a single stake or cane is used or a plurality in the form of a wig-wam, for example, it is clearly undesirable for the stakes or canes to be solely held in place by the soil since they may relatively easily become dislodged - most commonly when the soil dries out or when the pot is knocked.

A number of proposals have been put forward to seek to remedy this problem.

In French patent number 2 671 453 there is proposed a cylindrical plant container having a plurality of sockets disposed in the upper rim of the container into which a mast may be inserted. The mast carries an arm that, in turn, has a plurality of sockets to receive one or more moulded plastics support poles for the plant.

In a further French language patent application, EP 0 089 291, the plant support comprises a grid framework that is mounted in sockets provided at the upper rim of a square shaped container or in sockets projecting from a grille that is stood in the base of a dish-shaped container to assist in soil drainage.

Prior art proposals of the aforementioned type present relatively unstable or elaborate and relatively expensive systems that are inappropriate and impractical for the majority of uses. They, furthermore, require the use of specially moulded support columns.

It is the general objective of the present invention to provide a containerised plant support system that is economical and practical and overcomes the major drawbacks of the prior art.

Summary of the Invention According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a containerised plant support system which comprises a plant pot, tub or trough having a base and side walls, the base having one or more sockets integrally formed therein or mounted thereon and secured in place the socket(s) being adapted for mounting therein of the lower end, in use, of a plant support cane or stake to hold the stake upright.

According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a containerised plant support system which comprises a plant pot, tub or trough having a base and side walls, the base having one or more sockets integrally formed therein or mounted thereon and secured in place the socket(s) being adapted for mounting therein of the lower end, in use, of a plant support cane or stake to hold the stake upright, the system further comprising one or more such canes or stakes.

Preferably the one or more sockets are provided in a bar, pillar or buttress moulded from the base of the pot, trough or container. This provides for economic manufacture and, furthermore, provides integral reinforcement of the base of the pot, tub or other container.

Alternatively, the socket(s) may be formed in an initially separate base member that is adapted to be inserted into the pot to abut against the base and be wedged or otherwise secured in place.

Preferably the socket(s) are open-ended. This will allow a greater adjustment of the extent to which the cane or stake is supported by the socket and help avoid occlusion of the socket with soil, enabling any soil within the socket to be removed by advancement of the stake or cane therethrough.

Further preferred features of the invention will be apparent from the following description of preferred embodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Brief Description of the Drawings Figure 1 is a top plan view of a first embodiment of the invention and figures 2, 3 and 4 are top plan views of second, third and fourth embodiments of the invention, respectively. Figure 5 is a sectional view taken along the line V-V in Figure 1.

Description of the Preferred Embodiments Referring to Figures 1 and 5, the first illustrated embodiment is of a substantially conventional frusto-conical moulded plastics plant pot 1 of which the base 2 has been moulded to have a symmetrical array of three and a half inch tall by half inch diameter pillars 3a, 3b, 3c upstanding therefrom. Each of the pillars 3a3c has a respective tubular socket at its centre 4a, 4b, 4c that is sized to accommodate a conventional wooden plant cane with a tight friction fit. Such a cane 5b is illustrated inserted into the socket 4b of one of the pillars 3b.

For effective support the depth of the socket into which the wooden cane 5b mounts is suitably at least about 1cm and of a diameter or width to grip the respective cane for substantially the full length of the pillar 3a-3c. Although in Figure 5 the sockets 4a-c are illustrated as being open-ended, they may aiternatively be blind.

Whereas the pillars for a-c are, in this case, moulded from the base 2 they may, alternatively, be formed separately and adhered or otherwise secured to the base 2. In the Figure 2 embodiment the sockets 4 are provided in butresses 6 formed in or secured on the base 2 of the pot against the upstanding side wall of the pot.

In the Figure 3 embodiment the sockets 4 are provided in a row at intervals along a bar that is upstanding from the base 2 of the pot or wedged against the base 2 of the pot or otherwise secured in place.

In the Figure. 4 embodiment this is a variant on the Figure 3 embodiment having a further bar shaped portion bearing the sockets 4 and extending transversely to the first bar.

In each case, the use of the system conveniently involves first installing the canes 5 into the respective sockets 4. The plant to be grown in the pot may then be installed with its root ball either between the array of canes 5 or to one side of them and with the stem of the plant suitably positioned to be supported substantially upright and substantially centrally of the pot. The pot may then be back filled with further soil or soil substitute to raise the soil level to the appropriate height.

In any of the configurations illustrated it may be desirable to secure together the tops of the canes 5 to form a tripod or wig-wam structure. This may be achieved by the conventional ties or may be achieved by using a substantially rigid structural member having corresponding sockets to receive the upper ends of the canes 5. Such a structural member might, for example, have a configuration corresponding to the crossed bar members of the Figure 4 embodiment, formed as a single cross shaped plastics moulding or constructed of wood.

In all embodiments the sockets serve to constrain the canes to prevent them from shifting and to thereby enhance stability of the canes as supportive elements.

The use of the present invention in the context of growth and display of plants in garden centres is extremely valuable since the apparatus of the present invention provides simple and an economical solution to the problem of securely supporting the growing plants.

As discussed above, although the preferred embodiment comprises a pot, other containers are considered to be encompassed within the scope of the invention.

Claims (6)

1. CLAIMS 1. A containerised plant support system which comprises a plant pot, tub or trough having a base and side walls, the base having one or more sockets integrally formed therein or mounted thereon and secured in place the socket(s) being adapted for mounting therein of the lower end, in use, of a plant support cane or stake to hold the cane or stake upright.
2. 2. A containerised plant support system which comprises a plant pot, tub or trough having a base and side walls, the base having one or more sockets integrally formed therein or mounted thereon and secured in place the socket(s) being adapted for mounting therein of the lower end, in use, of a plant support cane or stake to hold the cane or stake upright, the system further comprising one or more such canes or stakes.
3. 3. A containerised plant support system as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein the one or more sockets are provided in a bar, pillar or buttress moulded from the base of the pot, trough or container.
4. 4. A containerised plant support system as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3 wherein the socket(s) are formed in an initially separate base member that is adapted to be inserted into the pot to abut against the base and be wedged or otherwise secured in place.
5. 5. A containerised plant support system as claimed in any of claims 1 to 4 wherein the socket(s) are open-ended.
6. 6. A plant support system substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to any suitable combination of the accompanying drawings.