JPH03224420A - Mist culturing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To sufficiently supply mist to the rooting part of a cutting by operating a vibrator by driving a mist generation device, generating mist with irradiating supersonic waves to a culturing solution and inducing air flow with a fan. CONSTITUTION:A mist generation device 2 is driven to operate a vibrator 5 and supersonic waves are irradiated to a culturing solution 4, then mist M is generated in a tank 3. Air flow is fed into the tank 3 by a rotating fan 6 and said mist M is flowed out from a sending port 3a together with the flow of the air, then flowed into a mist chamber 10 through a connecting pipe 7 and an introducing port 9, thus the mist M having <=10mu average particle diameter and made to be able to keep a floating state for a long time is supplied to the rooting part 15a of a cutting 15 regardless of distance with the air flow by the fan 6.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a mist cultivation device that converts water or culture solution into mist (1) and supplies the mist (1) to plants.

[Prior Art] Mist cultivation, which is one of the facility cultivation methods, is a cultivation method in which a culture solution is intermittently sprayed onto the exposed roots of a plant.

In a conventional mist cultivation device used for mist cultivation, for example, as shown in FIG.
The culture solution 31 was intermittently sprayed onto the roots 35a of the plants 35 from the spray nozzle 34 at the tip of the plant. Mist cultivation has also been carried out by the grower moving a mobile spraying device to the roots of each plant and spraying the plants individually.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the conventional mist cultivation device described above, since the mist particle size is large, the mist tends to form water droplets, and it is difficult to supply the mist to the roots 35a of the plants 35. , root 3
It was necessary to mist the culture solution 31 very close to 5a. Therefore, it was necessary to match the position of the spray nozzle 34 with the root portion 35a of each plant 35, which required high equipment costs.

Furthermore, the distance between the plants 35 is determined by the cultivation device, and the distance cannot be changed arbitrarily.

On the other hand, spraying using the mobile spraying device requires a great deal of effort.

In conventional mist cultivation, when the roots of the plant body 35 have soil, for example, as shown in FIG. However, since the mist particle size of the culture solution 37 is large, the mist immediately aggregates and flows down, so the culture solution 37 does not penetrate into the inside of the soil 39.
It was not possible to supply the mist to the roots in the soil. However, soil does not give the effects of fertilizer, moisture, temperature, pH, etc. to the roots immediately, but gradually! Depending on the type of plant, the presence of soil may be better for plant growth. Also, there are cases where it is more convenient to repot plants if soil is present.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a mist cultivation device that does not require expensive equipment costs or human labor.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention includes a means for supporting the nutrient-absorbing portion of a plant to allow ventilation, and a mist of a liquid containing nutrients necessary for the growth of the plant to an average particle size of 100 μ (microns) or less. A mist cultivation device has been created which has a means for feeding the mist and a blowing means for sending the mist generated by the means to the nutrient absorbing part of the plant.

The means for supporting the nutrient-absorbing part of the plant in a ventilable manner only needs to have a structure that can supply mist to the nutrient-absorbing part of the plant. The nutrient-absorbing part of a plant may be the roots or the whole plant, but it does not necessarily have to be the main nutrient-absorbing part of the plant. A liquid containing nutrients necessary for plant growth is, for example, a culture solution containing various nutrients and fertilizers, but its components can differ depending on the growth stage of the plant, such as the germination stage of seeds. In this case, water may be used. As a means for reducing the average particle size of the liquid to 100 μm or less, there are, for example, means using various spray type humidifiers and ultrasonic type humidifiers. The blowing means for sending mist means means for moving mist using gas, for example, means for moving mist by air flow.

[Function] According to the mist cultivation device according to the present invention, the average particle diameter is 10
A fine mist of 0μ (micron) is created. Since the mist is fine, water droplets are not immediately formed from the mist and fall down, but can be moved over long distances by air flow using a blower, for example. Further, since the nutrient absorbing portion of the plant is supported so as to allow ventilation, the mist can be easily supplied to the nutrient absorbing portion by the ventilation means regardless of distance.

In addition, since the mist is fine, even when the mist is supplied from the bottom of a flowerpot containing soil, water droplets are less likely to form and fall down, allowing it to pass through the soil and supplying the mist into the soil. sell.

[Example] Next, an embodiment embodying the present invention will be described.

[Example 1] The mist cultivation device of Example 1, which will be explained below based on FIGS. 1 to 4, includes a cultivation section 1 and a mist generation device N2 for supplying hemist to the cultivation section 1 side. Become. The mist generator 2 includes a vibrator 5 which is a mist generating means for applying ultrasonic vibration to the culture solution 4 in the tank 3 to make the culture solution 4 into fine particles with an average particle diameter of 100 microns or less to form a mist. A fan 6 is provided as a blowing means for causing the generated mist to flow together with air toward the cultivation section 1 side. One end of a flexible connecting pipe 7 is connected to an outlet 3a opened in the tank 3 to send out the mist in the tank 3 to the cultivation section 1 side, and the other end of the connecting pipe 7 is connected to the cultivation section 1 side. It is connected to an inlet 9 opened at the bottom of the container body 8.

The culture solution 4 is prepared by appropriately mixing nutrients or fertilizers required for the growth of plants and dissolving them in water.

The almost rectangular box-shaped vessel 8 has an opening 8a on the top surface, and the hollow interior thereof serves as a mist chamber 10 filled with mist flowing from the tank 3 through the inlet 9. The rest of the mist chamber 10 is closed, and the upper part of the mist chamber 10 is used as a plant support section 11. The plant body support part 11 has a styrofoam plate 13 formed in a rectangular plate shape placed on a flange 12 protruding from the inner surface of the container body 8 near the opening 8a, and a styrofoam plate 13 formed in a rectangular plate shape to close the opening 8a. A plurality of communication portions 14 of small holes communicating with the mist chamber 10 are bored in the plate surface of the plate 13. A pothos cutting 15, which is a type of ornamental plant, is inserted into the communication part 14 and placed in the plant support part 11, and the rooting part 15a of the cutting 15 is arranged in the mist chamber 10. When inserting and supporting the cutting 15 into the communication portion 14, absorbent cotton or the like may be used together.

Note that the communicating portion 14 can be easily formed by cutting the surface of the Styrofoam plate 13 with a knife or the like, or by reinserting the cut piece 14a into the communicating portion 14, or by making it from an airtight material. The communication part 14 can be easily sealed by filling it with an object such as a cylinder having a diameter that can fill the communication part 14. Therefore, the communication portion 14 can be provided at any position above the mist v10.

In addition, due to changes in excess mist in the mist chamber 10 over time,
Alternatively, an outlet port 16 provided at the bottom of the container body 8 is used to circulate the culture solution 4 produced by adhering to the wall surface of the mist chamber 10 and agglomerating it from the mist chamber 10 to the tank 3 for reuse.
A circulation vibrator 17 communicating with the tank 3 is connected to the tank 3 . The mouth edge 16a of the outlet 16 is provided so that its height can be adjusted.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described.

When the mist generator 2 is driven to operate the vibrator 5 and the culture solution 4 is irradiated with ultrasonic waves, a mist M is generated in the tank 3. In this example, in order to maintain the suspended state of the mist M in the gas for a long time, ultrasonic irradiation is performed until the average particle diameter of the mist M becomes 10 microns or less. When the rotating fan 6 blows air into the tank 3, the mist M flows out from the outlet 3a along with the air flow, flows into the mist chamber 10 via the connecting vibrator 7 and the inlet 9, and the average The mist M, which has a particle size of 10 microns or less and can be maintained in a suspended state for a long time, is supplied to the rooting part 15a of each cutting 15 regardless of its distance by the air flow generated by the fan 6.

Therefore, in the mist cultivation device according to this example, the distance between each plant body is not determined by the device.

After the cuttings 15 have taken root through the above-mentioned mist cultivation, the Styrofoam board 13 around the communication part 14 is removed, the cuttings 15 are taken out from the plant body support part 11 together with this cut part 13b, and the taken out cuttings 15 are placed in a pot. When replanting, etc., cut out the cut portion 13b.

According to this example, the ultrasonic vibration from the vibrator 5 causes the culture solution 4 to
Since the bacteria and green algae such as chlorella inside are physically destroyed, the transmission of diseases caused by the bacteria in the culture solution 4 can be prevented. In addition, it is possible to prevent green algae such as chlorella from growing in the culture solution and the nutrients in the culture solution being consumed by chlorella and the like.

In addition, unlike the case of spraying, in this example, there is no supply failure of the culture solution or failure of fine particle formation due to clogging of the spray nozzle, and the culture solution 4 can be stably turned into a mist and supplied to the cuttings 15. .

If excess mist changes over time or adheres to the wall surface of the mist chamber 10 and becomes liquid, the outlet port 1
6 and the circulation vibrator 17, it returns to the culture solution 4 in the tank 3 and is reused. The culture solution 4 in the tank 3 is collected at appropriate times and its components are examined to replenish the tank 3 with consumed nutrients and nutrients that are insufficient as the plants grow. Therefore, there is no need to replace the entire culture solution 4, so costs can be saved.

On the other hand, in the case of plants where pathogenic bacteria are a particular problem, such as plants, a drain may be provided at the bottom of the container 8 to prevent the spread of disease caused by pathogenic bacteria in the culture solution 4, so that excess mist in the mist chamber 10 can be drained. The culture solution 4 may be disposable by discharging the culture solution produced by aggregation.

In order to root the cuttings 15, it is necessary to supply sufficient oxygen to the rooting area 15a, but in this example, since mist is supplied by the fan 6, sufficient air, that is, oxygen, must be supplied to the rooting area 15a. supply vine. Therefore, in the mist cultivation device of this example, the rooting rate of various plants is better than in open field cultivation, hydroponic cultivation, and conventional mist cultivation devices. Furthermore, it is possible to root even relatively large plants. In addition, in order to improve the rooting rate of the cuttings 15, it is necessary to suppress the evaporation of water from sweets, etc., and for this purpose, it is necessary to surround the upper part of the plant body support part 11 with a removable transparent cover. The area around the cutting 15 may be sealed. Further, the transparent body may be covered with a blackout curtain if necessary.

In the device of Embodiment 1, the foamed steel O-hole plate 13 for supporting the plants has a certain degree of airtightness, and of course may be made of other materials as long as it can support the plants. , does not need to be plate-shaped, and may be plural. The entire upper part of the mist chamber 1o does not have to be the plant support part 11, and a part of the upper part of the mist chamber 10 has the plant support part 11
exists.

In addition to the pothos cuttings 15 of this example, examples of plants to be cultivated using the mist cultivation device of this example include vegetables such as tomatoes and cabbage, ornamental plants such as Dracaena, and
Mist cultivation is possible for various plants, including orchids and other flowers.

It is also possible to replace the Styrofoam board 13 that supports the plant with a sponge and sow the seeds on the sponge. Sufficient RAS is required for seed germination, and in the device of this example, since the mist M is supplied by the fan 6, air, that is, oxygen, can be sufficiently supplied to the seeds. Therefore, in the mist cultivation device of this example, the germination rate of seeds of various plants is better than that in open field cultivation and conventional mist cultivation devices. After germination from the sponge, the sponge can be cut to an appropriate size and replanted. Note that a part of the styrofoam plate 13 may be made of sponge. Note that the carrier on which the seeds are sown may be made of a material other than sponge, as long as it has air permeability and can support the seeds. Seeds of various plants such as lettuce, spinach, or melon can be sown.

The height-adjustable mouth rim 16a is made higher than the bottom of the vessel body 8 to hold an appropriate amount of the culture solution 4 produced by the agglomeration of excess mist at the inner bottom of the mist chamber 10, and to hold the culture solution 4 in which the plants are grown. Mist cultivation can also be done by soaking the root tip of the body.

In this case, even if there is a situation where the mist formation of the culture solution 4 from the mist generator 2 is stopped due to a power outage, etc., and the mist M is not supplied to the rooting area 15a for a long time, the plant body will not wither. It is easy and safe.

The supply of the culture solution 4 is achieved by providing a plurality of connecting pipes 7 between the mist generator 2 and the cultivation section 1.
Method of supplying mist M at the same time to A vinyl chloride pipe is placed horizontally with both ends blocked to form a vessel body 8, and a passage part 14 communicating with the inside of the vibrator is penetrated through the upper side of the body of this wet body 8 to serve as a plant body support part. In addition, the inside of the vibrator may be used as the mist chamber 10.

Further, in this example, the circulation vibrator 17 may not be provided. Even in this case, excess mist may return to the tank 3 through the connecting pipe 7 and be reused. In this case, by providing a height-adjustable mouth rim 16a at the top of the connecting pipe 7, an appropriate amount of culture solution is retained at the bottom of the mist chamber 10, and the tips of the roots are immersed in this for mist cultivation. I can do it.

[Example 2] A mist cultivation device according to Example 2, which will be described based on FIGS. 5 and 6 and with the same reference numerals assigned to the same parts as in Example 1, is a state in which a plant is placed in potted soil, etc. Applicable to mist cultivation.

The spray gun 21 as a mist generating means provided in the mist generating device [2] turns the liquid sprayed from the spray nozzle 22 into a mist by the pressure of the compressed air from the air compressor 23, so that the average particle size is 100 microns or less, and In order to maintain the suspended state of the mist for a long period of time, the mist is desirably ejected as fine particles with an average particle diameter of 10 microns or less. Water 24 is stored in the tank 3 to be turned into a mist by a spray gun 21 and supplied to the cultivation section 1 side.

A plastic plate 25 having a size that closes the opening 8a is placed on the flange 12 of the plant support portion 11 of the container body 8.
A plurality of communication portions 26 are formed in the plastic plate 25 . The communication portion 26 is formed into the same opening shape with a diameter that allows the pot 27 to be inserted and supported. The pot 27 made of cable ware and having a drainage hole 27a at the bottom is fixed near the upper part to the mouth edge of the communication part 26, and the lower part is arranged in the mist chamber 10.

Note that the potting soil 29 on which the strawberry seedlings 28 are placed is as follows:
Culture soil mixed with organic fertilizer such as compost is used.

Further, the communication portion 26 can be closed by fitting the lid 26a.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described. The mist M' generated by turning the water 24 into a mist with an average particle diameter of 10 microns or less by the spray gun 21 is sent to the cultivation section 1 side via the connecting vibrator 7 by the air blown by the fan 6, and fills the mist chamber 10. do. The mist M' exists in the mist chamber 10 in a floating state for a long time. Mist M' adheres to the surface of the pot 27 placed in the mist chamber 10 and permeates into the potted soil 29 inside through the unglazed pot 27 having ventilation. In addition, in the mist chamber 10, the air flow from the fan 6 causes air to flow upward through the drain hole 27a of the pot 27 and the potted soil 29, and to flow upward into the mist chamber 10. M- is permeated into the inside of the pot 29 along with this air flow.

In this way, the air contained in the potted soil 29 is exchanged, and the mist M' that has flowed into the potted soil 29 adheres to the roots 28a of the strawberry seedlings 28 and is absorbed by the strawberry seedlings 28. In addition, as a result of the mist M- adhering to the potting soil 29 and agglomerating, the root portion 28a, together with the water impregnated in the potting soil 29,
Absorbs fertilizer.

According to this example, the strawberry seedling 28 in the pot 27 placed in the air flow path blown by the fan 6 has its root portion 28a sufficiently supplied with oxygen, and the root portion 28a remains in the mist atmosphere. and mist cultivation.

Furthermore, according to this example, unlike the case of cultivating by directly pouring water onto the soil, the fertilizer added to the pot 29 is effectively utilized without being washed away with the water. In general, in conventional facility cultivation such as mist cultivation and hydroponic cultivation,
Although chemical fertilizers are applied due to reasons such as relationship with cultivation equipment, the mist cultivation of this example is also suitable for organic cultivation using compost or the like.

Note that if the pot to be placed on the plant support section 11 is large, or if it is a non-ventilated pot such as a decorative pot, the communication section 26
Limist cultivation may also be performed by placing the plant on the plant support 11 with the water drain hole 27a in the bottom of the pot corresponding to the other, and sending mist M' into the pot soil using air from the fan 6.

After harvesting plants such as strawberries, disinfect the soil.

According to the device of this example, even if the pot ±29 is a small amount, the mist M
' is supplied to the roots of the plant in the potting soil 29 by the air flow, so that sufficient oxygen is supplied to the roots. Therefore, plants can be cultivated using only a small amount of soil. In this case, the above disinfection only needs to be carried out on a small amount of potting soil 29, which reduces costs.

Also, plants such as strawberries do not form flower buds unless they go through a cold period. For this reason, in order to harvest strawberries out of season, strawberry pots were put out in the summer. However, in this example, if the volume of the mist chamber 10 is made small, it is sufficient to cool only a small amount of air near the roots in order to cool the roots of the plants. Therefore, the cost of temperature control for plants can be reduced, and temperature control is easy because all that is needed is to cool the air that sends the mist.

Conversely, even when it is necessary to heat the vicinity of the base of a plant board, only a small amount of air needs to be heated, which can reduce costs.

In the case of a plant whose leaves are sprayed with water and nutrients, for example, if the plant is planted in a pot and placed directly in the mist chamber 10, the leaves are supported to allow ventilation and mist cultivation is possible.

[Experimental Example 1] Next, the following experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of the mist cultivation device according to the present invention on plant growth. In the mist cultivation device of the present invention, 10 melon seeds were sown into the soil in a plastic flower pot. A fine mist created from water using an ultrasonic humidifier was moved by air flow and was supplied into the soil from the drainage hole at the bottom of the flowerpot for two hours a day, twice a day in the morning and evening.

As a control, melon seeds were grown under the same cultivation conditions such as temperature, except that water was not supplied by mist, but by watering directly from the top of the flower pot into the soil using a watering can. This example was prepared by setting up five flower pots in which 10 melon seeds were sown using the cultivation apparatus of the present invention. Similarly, as a control example, 5 flowerpots in which 10 melon seeds were sown were prepared. The results of the germination test are shown in Table 1.

Table 1 In Table 1, the number of days indicates the total number of days after sowing. The germination rate is a number with the number of seeds sown as the denominator and the total number of germination as the numerator.

As shown in Table 1, in this example, germination was already observed in 20 out of 50 seeds four days after sowing. On the other hand, in the control example, only 2 out of 50 seeds have germinated on the 4th day. In the control example, germination was observed in 17 out of 50 seeds at the 7th millet after sowing.

Therefore, by sowing seeds in the mist cultivation device according to the present invention, the fine mist is supplied to the seeds through the soil by the air flow, so that the seeds are sufficiently supplied with the oxygen necessary for germination, which is different from the normal cultivation method. We were able to obtain a good germination rate compared to

[Other Examples J In an experiment using spinach seeds, which are said to often die after germination, the number of surviving individuals two weeks after sowing was 9 out of 10 seeds sown in mist cultivation using the mist cultivation device of the present invention. In normal soil cultivation as a control, only 4 out of 10 seeds were sown.

Reference photo 1 shows a cabbage seedling A that was mist-cultivated using the mist cultivation apparatus of the first embodiment, and a cabbage seedling B that was grown using normal hydroponics.

Further, in the reference photo (2), saffron bulbs are mist-cultivated using the mist cultivation device of the present invention (C1 is conventional), D is hydro-cultivated, and E is soil-cultivated.

From the above experimental results, it was confirmed that mist cultivation using the mist cultivation apparatus of the present invention resulted in good plant growth.

[Effects of the invention] According to the mist cultivation device according to the invention, the average particle diameter is 100
Since a fine mist of micron size or less is created, the fine mist can be easily sent over long distances by a gas flow. Therefore, mist can be easily supplied to each of a plurality of plants regardless of distance, without requiring equipment costs or manpower.

Also, a fine cough mist can be supplied into the soil from the lower part of the flower pot holding the soil.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Embodiment 1 of the present invention is shown from FIG. 1 to FIG.
The figure is a vertical sectional view, Figure 2 is an overall external view, Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view of the cultivation section taken along line n-1 in Figure 2, Figure 4 is an explanatory diagram of the plant support section, and Figure 5 is an explanatory diagram of the plant support section. Embodiment 2 of the present invention is shown in the figure and FIG. 6, FIG. 5 is a partially cutaway three-dimensional view, FIG. 6 is an explanatory view of the plant support part, and FIGS. 7 and 8 are 1 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view and a partially cutaway elevational view of a conventional example. 1... Cultivation section 2... Mist generator 3... Tank 3a... Outlet port 4... Culture solution 5... Vibrator 6... Fan 7... Connecting pipe 8...・Vessel body 8a...Opening 9...Inlet 10...Mist to 11...Plant body support part 12...7 Lange 13...Styrofoam plate 14...Communication part 14a...・Removed piece 15... Cutting 15a... Rooting part 16... Outlet 16a... Edge part 17... Circulation pipe M... Mist 21... Spray gun 22... Spray nozzle 23... Air compressor 24... Water 25... Plastic plate 26... Communication portion 26a... Lid 27... Pot 27a... Drain hole 28... Strawberry seedling 28a. ... Root part 29 ... Pot soil M' ... Mist 31 ... Culture solution 32 ... Cultivation bed 33 ... Spray vibrator 34 ... Spray nozzle 35 ... Plant body 36 ...・Soil for flower pot 37...Culture solution 38...Spray nozzle 39...

Claims (1)

[Claims] A means for supporting the nutrient absorbing part of a plant so as to allow ventilation, and a liquid containing nutrients necessary for the growth of the plant, having an average particle size of 100μ (
1. A mist cultivation device comprising: a means for forming a mist to a size smaller than 1.0 microns; and a blowing means for sending the mist generated by the means to a nutrient absorbing part of the plant.