DISPOSITIF POUR DIRIGER LA CROISSANCE DES PLANTES ET FACILITER LEUR REMPOTAGE

PLANT EDUCATOR AND RE-POTTER

Abrégé anglais

ABSTRACT
The invention comes in two parts - a re-potting device
and a plant educator device. The plant educator device consists
of two components, which, when the base section is assembled,
may be installed in the plant pot immediately before the plant
is installed. The base section is designed to cause it to be-
come root-bound by the plant roots as they grow, thereby caus-
ing the plant to support the device. The upper section of the
plant educator is to be assembled only as the plant grows, and
acts to support the plant as well as training the plant to grow
into a selected shape, or form. The re-potter device consists
of three components, which when assembled, permits the re-
potter to grip the plant educator device and support it in mid-
air while the plant pot is withdrawn from the bottom without the
necessity of handling the plant itself, therey eliminating the
danger of damage to the plant as it is being re-potted. Damage
normally sustained in staking a plant is eliminated by install-
the base section of the plant educator BEFORE the plant is in-
stalled.

Revendications

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE PROP-
ERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:
Claim 1 - A device for the re-potting, support and/or educ-
ation of plants in a receptacle comprising: a vertical stem
means (4) having an upper and lower end, a circular ring-like
base means (5) attached to said lower end, a gripper means (3)
attached to said upper end, said gripper means (3) extending
transversely to one side of said stem means (4) and plant
educator means attached to said gripper means (3) and extending
downwardly therefrom.
Claim 2 - A device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said educ-
ator means consists of a plurality of limb means (1) joined to-
gether by a plurality of connector means (2).
Claim 3 - A device as set forth in claim 2, wherein said educ-
ator means rests within said receptacle completely imbedded in
the earth to become completely root-bound by the plant, whereby
said plant may be removed from said receptacle for re-potting
and the like.
Claim 4 - A device as set forth in claim 1, wherein one of said
limb means (1) extends through a slot-like opening in said gripp-
er means (3) below a connector means (2) located above said
gripper means (3).
Claim 5 - A device as set forth in claim 2, wherein several of
said plurality of limb means (1) of said educator means extend
generally in a vertical direction, while the remainder of said
plurality of limb means (1) extend in a horizontal direction,
each of said plurality of limb means (1) connected by one of
said plurality of connector means (2) to provide the educator
means with the desired congiguration.
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Description

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DI~CLOSURE
It is comrllon practice that wherl a plant requires support,a
short stake will be cut, driven through the roots o~ the plan-t,
thereby severely damaging them. The plant, which has established
a balanced dis-tribLItion o~ energy, must now devote rrlore energy
10 to the root system in order to grow replacement roots, and less
to the upper plant thereby causing the plant to wilt and lose
its blossoms. This is commonly referrPd to as a state of shock.
This will be repeated time and again as the stake rats and/or the
plant grows. Each time it is repeated, the plan-t will suffer
ZO again until the time arrives that it cannot recover. ~hen thi~
happens, the plant will be discarded and a replacement plant will
be bousht and the cycle will begin again.
A search of the market reveals no device that can overcome
this problem. Q very careful search of both -the Canadian and
30 American patent records show many applications for patents on
devices that were either intended as support or re-potting dev-
ices, but those device usually proved to be too involved, awk-
ward or too expensive ~or a single-putpose device, or, as in the
case of one device in particular (Canadian Patent nD. 1 163 441
40 i5sued to a Mr, David Kondruk ~40313) which was not thought out
too well and defeated it~ own stated purpo~e. Mr. Kondruk appar-
ently did not take into account the plan-ts natural tendency to
grow its own way. ~li9 stated goal was to elliminate, or allev-
iate the damarle to roots. To quote Mr. Kondruk, when transplant-
50 ing to a larger pot, the slotted disk 1U is used by inserting itbetween the washer 9 and base 3. This did not take into account
that usually when a plant requires re-potting, his entire device
will be root-boond. The roots will have grown completely around
tlle base, lurJs and all~ This would mean that in order to insert
60 -the slotted disk 1a, he must first cut away all the rnots to
above washer 9, thereby doing exactly the damage that was to be
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avnicled. The sei3rch also revea:Led nothing to train the plant -t;u
grow in a desired way.
Wit,h the foreyoing problems in view, my invention consists
70 in the construction, arrangement ano comblnations of the various
parts of my device, whereby the objects contempla-teri are attained
as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my claims,
and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:
Firgures 1 and Z show a front and side perspec-tive of the re-
80 potting device gripping the plant educator.
Figures 3 and 4 show a si-de anrl top plan view of the re-pott-
ing device.
Figures 5, 6 and 7 show a front, side and top plan view of
the plant educator.
90 Figures ~, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 shows a front view of a few
of the many configurations to select from in educating the plant.
Figure 15 shuL~Js the limb component of the plant educator,
while figures 16 and 1~ show a cut-out and -top plan vie~ of the
connector cornponent of the plant educator.
100 On the accompanying drawings, I have used the reFerence
character 1 to indicate the rod-like component hereinafter re-
ferred to as Limb. The reference character Z indicates the disk-
like component hereirlaFter referred to as the connector. Refer-
ence character 3 indicates the protruding object at the top oF
110 the re-potter hereinafter referred as the gripper. Reference
character 4 will indicate the st,em of the re-potter. ~eference
cllaracter 5 indicates t,he rinr~-like base of the re-potter.
tn ~irlure 4 o-~ the accompanying drawings, the gripper (3) will
be seen to cuntain a vertical slot in which the upper end of the
120 planl; educa-tor can be qrlpped (figures 1 and 2) to secure the
plan-t saF'ely in arl upright position to permit the receptacle -to
be withdrawn frorn Lhe bottorn. rhis permits the entire re-pot-ting
operation to br;~ rompleted without the necessity of handlirlg the
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the plant itselF and wi-thout releasing it frorn its suppurts. ~ith
130 t,he new, larger recep-tacle prepared in advance, one must merely
withdraw the olo receptacle, remove the plant from the re-patter
and lower it into the new receptacle, gently tamping it in. This
method would leave all parts oF the plant cornpletely unsca-thed
and in a healthy condition.
14D Figures 5, 6 and 7 show the lower part of the plant educator that
will be partially imbedrled in the earth in assembleo state. It
will oe no-ted that this par-t of the plan-t eoucator consists oF
one vertical limb (1) four connectors ~2) and a total of eight
limbs (1) of o'ifferent leng-ths extending horizontally from the
150 two bottom connect,ors (2). The diFferent limb (Z) leng-ths permit
the plant educator to be installed in an oFf-centre posi-tion in
the receptacle. It will also be noted -that the eight limbs (1)
are o-F difFerent heights and this causes the plant educator to
become completely root-bound by the plant compelling the plant
16D and the plant eoucator to mutually support and stabilize each
other. The relationship of the plant, the plant eoucator and the
repotting device is ~ery important as the three will work togeth-
erfor -the common gcal o-F protecting the plant From undue abuse
and rdamaye.
170 Figures 8 thru 14 require little explanation. ~y usiny the
limb (1) and the connector (2) cornponents as illustra-ted, one
may attain any desired conFiguration, some of which are lllustr-
ated.
All components described will be manufac-tured out o-F plant-
culoured plastic or transparent acrylic, or like materials to
render it as lnconspicLIoLIs as possihle l~hen in use.
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