Horticultural substrate conditioner
AssigneeProfile Products L.L.C.
InventorsRobert Lando, Joseph Smith, George Andulics
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A horticultural substrate conditioner includes a housing having an opening to receive a growing medium and an outlet to discharge the growing medium, a shaft arranged within the housing, the shaft rotatable relative to the housing, and a plurality of tines disposed on the shaft spaced apart from each other, the tines comprising a flexible material, wherein upon entry of a growing medium into the housing, the tines are capable of engaging the growing medium such that as the shaft rotates, the growing medium is broken apart and/or reduced in density and size to enable optimal distribution of the growing medium into a container upon discharge from the housing.
Claims19
A horticultural substrate conditioner comprising:
- a housing having an opening to receive a growing medium and an outlet to discharge the growing medium, the housing having a length, width and height dimensions, the opening spanning the length and height dimensions, and at least one of the dimensions of the housing is adjustable;
- a shaft arranged within the housing, the shaft rotatable relative to the housing;
- and
- a plurality of tines disposed on the shaft spaced apart from each other, the tines comprising a flexible material, the shaft being the only shaft having tines disposed between the opening and the outlet,
- wherein upon entry of a growing medium into the housing, the tines are arranged to separate the growing medium such that as the shaft rotates, the growing medium is broken apart and/or reduced in density and/or size to enable uniform distribution of the growing medium into a container upon discharge from the housing.
A substrate conditioner comprising:
- a housing having an opening to receive a medium and an outlet to discharge the ng medium, the housing having a length, width and height dimensions, the opening spanning the length and height dimensions, and at least one of the dimensions of the housing is adjustable;
- a shaft arranged within the housing, a length of the shaft being adjustable;
- and
- a plurality of flexible tines disposed on the shaft and including a first portion of the tines being less flexible than a second portion of the tines, each of the plurality of tines having dimensions of about 0.25 cm to 0.5 cm by about 20 cm to 25 cm,
- wherein each of the plurality of tines is spaced apart by about 1.25 cm to 2.5 cm.
A method of conditioning a fibrous growing medium to optimize filling conditions in a container, the method comprising:
- providing a horticultural substrate conditioner comprising a housing an opening, an outlet and a plurality of flexible projections disposed upon a rotatable shaft, the housing having a length, width and height dimensions, the opening spanning the length and height dimensions, and at least one of the dimensions of the housing is adjustable;
- supplying a fibrous growing medium having a first density and first size to the horticultural substrate conditioner;
- separating the fibrous growing medium with at least some of the plurality of flexible projections;
- breaking apart the fibrous growing medium by rotating the shaft, thereby lowering the first density and first size of the fibrous growing medium to create a conditioned growing medium having a second density and second size lower than the first density and first size, the first density being about 10% higher than the second density;
- and
- discharging the conditioned growing medium into the container disposed adjacent to the soil feeder substrate conditioner.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.