Method for producing coated growth medium blocks
AssigneeSyngenta Crop Protection AG
InventorsFernando Lemos Beltrame, Adilson Donizeti Correa Da Silva, Lothar Otto Erwin Langer, Jr., Ronei Ferreira de Menezes
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present technology relates to coated growth medium blocks for growing of sugarcane plants that include a casing or wrapper and a cavity for receiving the growth medium and for receiving a plant, planting unit or plant part embedded within the growth medium. The casing forms an envelope around each block which includes an individual planting unit embedded within an appropriate growth medium.
Claims25
A method of manufacturing a growth medium block for sugarcane cultivation, comprising:
- dispensing, from a casing roll, a sheet of air-permeable casing onto a first feed-path;
- dispensing substrate material, drawn from a reservoir, onto the sheet of casing;
- depositing a sugarcane planting unit on top of, of inside, the dispensed substrate material, the sugarcane planting unit comprising a mini-stem cutting having three nodes or less;
- and
- superimposing a longitudinal edge of the casing sheet over an opposing longitudinal edge to form a tubular container that defines a cavity enclosing the substrate material and the sugarcane planting unit, the container open at terminal ends, thereby providing the growth medium block.
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A method of manufacturing a growth medium block for sugarcane propagation, comprising:
- dispensing a sheet of air-permeable casing, cut from a casing roll, a size of the sheet corresponding to an integral number of individual growth medium blocks;
- dispensing compacted substrate material onto the sheet of casing;
- depositing, at intervals, a plurality of mini-stem cuttings of sugarcane on top of the dispensed substrate material;
- rolling a longitudinal edge of the casing sheet over an opposing edge and bonding the edges along a region of overlap to create an open-ended tubular container enclosing the substrate material and the plurality of mini-stem cuttings;
- cutting the open-ended tubular container into the integral number of individual growth medium blocks;
- and
- at least partially coating each individual growth medium block with a biodegradable polymer, thereby creating coated growth medium blocks.
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A coated growth medium block, comprising:
- an air-permeable casing defining a tubular structure with an inner cavity and open terminal ends;
- compacted substrate material housed in the cavity;
- a planting unit embedded inside the substrate material, substantially along a central axis of the tubular structure, wherein the planting unit can propagate a vegetatively reproducing plant when the block is sown in soil;
- and
- a biodegradable polymer coating at least partially covering an outer surface of the casing.
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Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.