Planter pot with air pruning

#This invention relates to horticultural products. More particularly it discloses an improved planter pot.

#Seedlings when grown in prior art solid walled planter pots often develop root curl. The plant roots initially tend to grow laterally until they encounter the sides of the pot. They then continue downward along the sides to the bottom where they grow in a circular fashion around the inside of the pot. This results in a dense root ball which is difficult if not impossible to spread when the plant is subsequently placed in the ground. Root curl slows down the development of plants after placement in the ground and also reduces the ability of the roots to anchor the plant against wind. Many plants can only be left in conventional pots for about 3 months before unacceptable root curl occurs.

#It is therefore an object of this invention to ameliorate the aforementioned disadvantages. Accordingly a pot for growing a plant is disclosed, said pot in a position of use having one or more downwardly opening gaps through the sides thereof intermediate the bottom and upper rim whereby the tips of plant roots growing down said sides are pruned by the effects of air and light when encountering said one or more gaps so that further up the root lateral growth inwardly toward the centre of the pot is thereby encouraged.

#The currently preferred form of the invention will now be described with reference to the attached drawings in which:

#FIG. 1 is an elevation view of a planter pot constructed according to this concept.

#FIG. 2 is a plan view of the pot of FIG. 1.

#Referring first to FIGS. 1 and 2 the pot with this embodiment is square and has four idential tapered side walls (indicated generally as 1) which extend between the bottom 2 and the upper rim 3. Each side wall comprises upper and lower sections 4 and 5. While the upper and lower sections making up each side wall lie in parallel planes as best shown by FIGS. 1 and 3 the upper section 4 is spaced outwardly from the lower section 5 to form a downwardly directed gap 6. With this embodiment the adjacent edges 7 and 8 of the upper and lower sections are also aligned horizontally. The above structure occurs at the same height for each of the side walls so that the gap 6 is formed continuously around the periphery of the pot slightly below the mid-section. While the gap 6 with this embodiment is horizontal and about 6 mm wide the position, width and orientation may be changed according to design preference without departing from the scope of the invention.

#The wall sections 4 and 5 are preferably joined by ribs 9 which bridge the gap 6 at spaced apart locations. While it is not essential to the invention each rib as shown in FIG. 3 may be in the shape a parallelegram which is inclined upwardly from the lower section 5 to connect with an adjacent portion of the upper section 4. In a variation to the embodiment shown the upper edges 10 of these ribs may also merge into vertical ridges which extend up the inside surface 11 of the upper section 4 to act a root guides. These ridges may protude out from said inside surface about 2 mm

#As will be noted from FIG. 2 the bottom 2 is substantially open with only relatively narrow cross-members 12 and tie bars 13 provided to brace the side walls 1 against deflection. Preferably the side walls of the pot also merge smoothly into the edges 14 of the open bottom to avoid any surfaces which could deflect downwardly growing root tips into a spiral pattern The upper edges 15 of the cross-members and the tie bare are preferably bevelled to further eliminate any upwardly deflecting surfaces