Plant inventory, distribution and display system

Abstract

A system for inventorying and distributing potted plants for a greenhouse includes a system of elevated rails disposed throughout the greenhouse. Rolling benches travel on the system of rails so that the potted plants may be transported to and from proper growth positions in the greenhouse. Plants that are ready to be shipped to retailers are tagged with labels via hog rings and loaded from a rolling bench onto a spacer tray that features receptacles sized so as to prevent the plants from tipping during transport. A number of spacer trays are loaded onto a rolling plant rack for delivery to a retailer's store via a delivery truck. Filled plant racks are rolled off of the delivery truck and into position at the retailer's store and exchanged for empty plant racks. The plant racks feature shelves that are spaced to allow easy plant maintenance in the store. The shelves are also tilted to allow display of the plants. The plant pots, spacer tray and plant rack may include color and ornamental indicia identifying the greenhouse of origin for the plants or a brand mark. Bar code labels are attached to the plant racks, spacer trays and plant pots and are scanned by bar code scanners at the greenhouse and retailers' stores so that useful tracking data may be collected.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.