Method and apparatus for increasing the spacing between plants in accordance with their growth rate

Apparatus for growing plants comprising a plurality of generally parallel troughs for holding a number of individual plants, varied pitch screw means for increasing the spacing between adjacent troughs in a direction perpendicular to said troughs as the plants mature, means interconnecting said troughs with said screw means, and means for rotating said screw means to effect said increase in spacing between adjacent troughs.

Apparatus for hydroponically growing plants comprising first and second groups of longitudianlly spaced delivery tubes for feeding a nutrient to the plants to be grown, a group of elongated troughs for containing seedlings to be matured, varied pitch screw means for advancing said group of troughs from a first growing station having a preferred relation with said first group of delivery tubes into a second growing station having a preferred relation with said second group of delivery tubes, means interconnecting said troughs with said screw means, and means for rotating said screw means, the pitch of said screw means at said second growing station being greater than the pitch of said screw means at said first growing station.

Apparatus for growing plants comprising first and second elongated troughs, means in each trough for holding a series of laterally spaced plants, a plurality of longitudinally coupled screw sections for moving said troughs in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axes of said troughs, the pitch of said screw sections increasing in said perpendicular direction so that the spacing between said troughs is increased when said troughs are moved from a first growing station to a second growing station, whereby at least one of the screw sections can be replaced with another screw section having a different pitch in order to accommodate plants having a different plant growth.

Apparatus for hydroponically growing plants comprising a plurality of troughs, a drive pin extending downwardly from each end of each trough, a pair of laterally spaced elongated units, each unit including a series of tandemly and longitudinally arranged tubular screw sections with each screw section being formed with a helical groove, the drive pins of one end of said troughs extending downwardly into the helical grooves of one of said units and the drive pins at the other ends of said troughs extending downwardly into the helical grooves of the other of said units, a guide pin extending downwardly from an intermediate portion of each trough, and a channel-shaped track into which said guide pins extend for guiding said troughs in a rectilinear direction.

Apparatus for growing plants comprising a group of generally parallel troughs for holding a number of individual plants, means for supplying a liquid nutrient at at least first, second and third growing stations, said third growing station being spaced from said first growing station and said second growing station being intermediate said first and third growing stations, means for advancing said same group of troughs from said first growing station to said second growing station and simultaneously increasing the spacing between said troughs of said same group during the advancement thereof from said first growing station to said second growing station, means for advancing said same group of troughs from said second growing station to said third growing station and further increasing the spacing between said troughs of said same group of troughs during the advancement thereof from said second growing station to said third growing station.

Apparatus for growing plants comprising a group of troughs for holding a number of individual plants, means for positioning said troughs in an initially closely spaced parallel relation at a first growing station, a first plurality of feed tubes at said first growing station having a spacing correlated with that of said initially closely spaced troughs when positioned at said first growing station, means for moving said same group of troughs to a second growing station in which the parallel spacing between said troughs is increased, a second plurality of feed tubes at said second growing station having a spacing correlated with the increased parallel spacing of said troughs when positioned at said second growing station, means for moving said same group of troughs to a third growing station in which the parallel spacing between said troughs is further increased, and a third plurality of feed tubes at said third growing station having a spacing correlated with the further increased parallel spacing of said troughs when positioned at said third growing station.

A method of growing plants comprising the steps of arranging said plants in parallel troughs for advancement in one direction perpendiculr to said troughs between first, second and third growing stations, increasing the spacing between said troughs to increase the spacing between said plants as said plants are advanced in said one direction from said first to second station and from said second to third station, delivering a liquid nutrient into one end of each trough, and changing the depth of nutrient in at least one trough by relatively adjusting the elevation of the other end as said trough moves between said first, second and third stations.

A method of growing plants at first, second and third locations, said third location being spaced from said first location and said second location being between said first and third locations, the method comprising the steps of arranging certain of the plants to be grown in a first number of parallel rows at said first location, moving said first number of parallel plant rows from said first growing location to said second growing location and increasing the distance between said rows during the movement thereof while maintaining said rows parallel, and again moving said first number of parallel plants rows from said second growing location to said third growing location and further increasing the distance between said same rows during the movement thereof between said second and third locations.