BACKGROUND

Epiphytes are plants that grow on other plants without taking nutrients from them. They usually grow in tropical areas where they not only receive the required heat, but also regular (almost daily) rain showers. Their roots are thus subject to cyclic periods of saturation and dehydration. Commercially important, pot-grown epiphytes are orchids belonging to the Orchidaceae family. The generaPhalaenopsis, MiltoniopsisandCattleya, among others, also belong to this family.

In practice, an orchid is cultured for a considerable amount of time in a greenhouse in a pot, which can take up half a year to one year and a half After the young plants, which have for instance been obtained by meristem cultivation, have been transplanted into the definitive pots, the initial cultivation of the young plants takes, for instance, about 30 weeks, after which the further development of the plants can take another 40 weeks. In a first phase after potting, the temperature in the greenhouse should be relatively high, namely about 28° C. For the second phase of the cultivation, the pots should then be transferred to another part of the greenhouse in which the temperature is maintained at about 17 to 18° C. During this second phase, the development of the branches takes place. The third phase, being the final cultivation of the orchids, then takes place in a greenhouse at a temperature of about 23° C. to draw the orchids into bloom.

In the first phase of the cultivation, the pots are placed against each other to be able to fit as many plants per unit area as possible. In the second phase, the pots are further apart to give the plants a sufficient amount of light and to prevent their roots from growing together. In the third phase, the pots are also further apart, but the pots are often placed into a vase, or provided with a collar that extends above the pot to prevent the plants from growing together with their aerial roots.

The use of a collar during the third phase of the cultivation of orchids is for instance described in NL-C-1031049, while the use of a vase for this phase is described in NL-C-2002081. The vase described in the latter patent is hexagonal over its entire height, so that gaps between the vases can be avoided. The vases have a height that is about twice as high as the height of the plant pot placed therein.

After the final cultivation of the plants, the vases or the collars are removed, so that for transport of the plants, the pots can again be placed against each other. The pots can for instance be placed in trays having two rows of five pots therein. On the so-called Danish trolleys which are usually used for transport, six of such trays can then be placed on each platform, being sixty pots in total.

The pots that are used in practice for the initial cultivation of orchids are transparent, round pots. Due to the pots being transparent, not only the roots coming out of the pot, but also part of the roots that are inside the pot receive light. The growth of these roots is favorably influenced by the light they receive. The round shape of the pots offers the advantage that compression of the pot when taking hold of it is maximally avoided. A pot having a round shape is, in other words, sturdier than for instance a square pot.

Before the young plants are planted in the round pots, they are cultured in trays or in small pots. In WO 2015/181278, small square pots are described of which only the bottom portion is filled with culture substrate, and of which the upper portion forms a collar intended to prevent the aerial roots from growing together. Due the small pots being square, they can be placed against each other without gaps. A disadvantage of square small pots is, however, that when the roots grown into a corner of the small pots, the roots must change direction, wherein it was found that a significant number of the roots bend upwards instead of turning sideways. To prevent the aerial roots from growing out of the small pot, in spite of the presence of the relatively high collar portion, said collar portion of the small pot according to WO 2015/181278 is provided with inwardly protruding lips. The small pots themselves consist of two halves, so that the young plants with the substrate hanging therefrom can easily be removed from the small pots and in transferred into the final pot.

However, a disadvantage of round pots is that when positioning the pots against each other a gap is always left open between the pots. In particular during the first phase of the cultivation of the plants, when the temperature in the greenhouse should be kept the highest, it is therefore not possible to place the pots closer together and thus allow more plants to be cultured per unit area. A further disadvantage of the round pots is they are also placed against each other during transport, so that during transport empty gaps are left between the pots as well.

SUMMARY

This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This summary is not intended to identify key features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

The present disclosure relates to a pot for culturing an epiphyte, in particular an orchid, wherein said pot is integrally injection molded from a transparent plastic and has a bottom, a lower edge arranged to be supported on a base surface, an upper edge and a sidewall extending between the lower edge and the upper edge, wherein the bottom connects with the sidewall. At the level of the sidewall of the pot, said upper edge is provided with an outwardly protruding lip. The pot further has a height, measured between said lower edge and said upper edge in a direction perpendicular to said base surface, and a maximum long diagonal, wherein the height of the pot is at most 20%, preferably at most 15% and more preferably at most 10% larger than the maximum long diagonal of the pot. It is, in other words, a transparent pot filled with a substrate in which the epiphyte is planted, and not a vase in which such a pot, for instance in a later phase of the cultivation, is placed to prevent the leaves, and especially the aerial roots of adjacent epiphytes from growing together.

The disclosure aims to provide a novel pot for culturing an epiphyte which, compared to a round pot having the same diameter as the circumscribed circle of the novel pot, allows more pots per unit area to be arranged in the greenhouse during the first phase of the cultivation of the epiphyte, and which also during transport allows more pots to be placed onto a same trolley, or in other words allows more pots to be transported per unit area.

To this end, the pot according to the disclosure is characterized in that an upper cross section through the sidewall of the pot, according to a first cross-sectional plane parallel to said base surface and tangent to the lower face of said protruding lip, has a substantially hexagonal or octagonal shape.

Because the pot is injection molded, and thus needs to be able to be demolded, an upper cross section of the pot is always larger than the bottom of the pot. The pot according to the disclosure is, at least at the top, hexagonal or octagonal, thus allowing more pots to be placed per unit area compared to a round shape having the same diameter as the diameter of the circumscribed circle of the hexagonal or octagonal shape, both during the first phase of the cultivation and during transport. This is achieved in particular by the fact that both with a hexagonal and with an octagonal shape, less gap space is left between adjacent pots compared to a round shape.

Moreover, opting for a hexagonal or octagonal shape instead of a square shape leads to the corners being less acute. This reduces the tendency of roots to grow out of the pot at the top. A hexagonal or octagonal pot also fits better into a round cache-pot, also known as an overpot, so that using a hexagonal or octagonal pot, compared to a square pot, a pot with a larger volume can be placed into the cache-pot, naturally allowing a larger volume of substrate to be provided for the epiphyte.

In an embodiment of the pot according to the disclosure, the upper cross section has a substantially hexagonal shape.

A hexagonal shape offers the advantage that no surface area is lost between adjacent hexagons. In particular, it allows a tiling to be formed with hexagonal shapes wherein no surface area is present between adjacent pots. This is not the case with an octagonal shape, as with four adjacent octagonal shapes, a square gap is left open centrally between four adjacent octagonal shapes. Thus, a hexagonal shape allows a higher number of pots to be placed per unit area, compared to an octagonal shape having a circumscribed circle with a same diameter.

In another embodiment of the pot according to the disclosure, the upper cross section has six vertices, determined for each of the six corners by the point furthest from the opposite corner, and these six vertices determine a hexagon. This hexagon has a first surface area, and the upper cross section through the pot has a second surface area that is preferably at most 9%, more preferably at most 7%, even more preferably at most 5% and most preferably at most 3% larger than said first surface area.

The hexagonal shape of the upper cross section of the pot can thus slightly differ from the hexagon determined by the vertices, wherein a small difference of for instance at least 1 or 2% is suitable, to thus create a positive strain onto the sides of the hexagonal cross section. This positive strain ensures that the hexagonal shape can be less easily compressed when taking hold of the pot.

The hexagon formed by the vertices of the upper cross section is preferably substantially regular, wherein the sides of said hexagon each have a length that differs at most 5%, preferably at most 4%, more preferably at most 3% and most preferably at most 2% from the average lengths of the six sides.

Due to the hexagon being substantially regular, no specific orientation of it needs to be kept in mind when positioning the pot.

Optionally, however, the hexagon formed by the vertices of the upper cross section can also be substantially elongated, wherein two pairs of opposing sides of said hexagon each have a length that differs at most 5%, preferably at most 4%, more preferably at most 3% and most preferably at most 2% from the average lengths of these two pairs of opposing sides, wherein the third pair of opposing sides have an average length that is longer than the average length of said two pairs of opposing sides, and wherein each of the sides of said third pair of opposing sides has a length that differs at most 5%, preferably at most 4%, more preferably at most 3% and most preferably at most 2% from the average length of the third pair of opposing sides.

Such an elongated hexagonal shape offers the advantage that the epiphyte can be planted with its opposing leaves in the lengthwise direction of the elongated hexagon, allowing the plants to be placed closer together laterally.

However, due to the smaller volume of the pot that can thus be placed in a round cache-pot, in some embodiments, the elongated hexagon is not too elongated and the average length of the sides of said third pair of opposing sides is at most 30%, preferably at most 20% longer than the average length of the sides of said two pairs of opposing sides.

In another embodiment of the pot according to the disclosure, a lower cross section through the sidewall, according to a second cross-sectional plane parallel to said base surface and tangent to the upper face of the joining of the bottom to the sidewall, has a substantially round shape.

This embodiment is especially advantageous for a number of reasons. First, the possibility exists that, as described above, roots will start growing in another direction upon reaching a corner in the sidewall. When a round shape is provided at the joining of the bottom and the sidewall, this also means that there are no corners to be encountered by the roots. The roots can therefore grow unencumbered and thus will continue to grow in the bottom half of the pot. Thus, due to the pot being round at the bottom, fewer roots will grow out of the pot.

In another embodiment, the round shape also offers the advantage that the pot can be gripped more sturdily at the bottom. It is also advantageous to use a round shape because it is less likely to snag when being moved over a conveyor belt in the greenery, in other words, the round shape ensures a smoother passage of the pot through the automated transport system in the greenery. Furthermore, the orientation of the pot is irrelevant when using a round shape, whereas it is to be taken into consideration when using an angular shape. Hence, when using a round shape, it is not necessary to provide the transport system in the greenery with orientation preserving means to ensure that the pots are correctly oriented.

In another embodiment, the smallest circle encircling said lower cross section has a third surface area, and said lower cross section has a fourth surface area that is at most 5%, preferably at most 4%, more preferably at most 3%, even more preferably at most 2% and most preferably at most 1% smaller than said third surface area.

The lower cross section thus has a shape that is a good approximation of a circle shape.

In an embodiment of the pot according to the disclosure, the shape of the cross sections of said sidewall, according to cross-sectional planes located one below the other parallel to said base surface, continuously transitions, over the majority of the distance between the first and the second cross-sectional plane, from said substantially hexagonal or octagonal shape to said substantially round shape. Preferably, the shape of the cross section of said sidewall continuously transitions over at least 70%, preferably over at least 80% and more preferably over at least 90% of the distance between the first and the second cross-sectional plane, from said substantially hexagonal or octagonal shape to said substantially round shape.

The continuous transition, i.e. the transition without sudden jumps, allows the volume of the pot to be kept as large as possible and also, simultaneously, allows the sturdiness of the lower part of the pot to be kept as high as possible.

In some embodiments, the shape of said cross sections of the sidewall continuously transitions from said substantially hexagonal or octagonal shape to said substantially round shape due to said cross sections having curved sides with a curvature that increases toward said lower cross section.

In some embodiments, the sides of the cross sections of the sidewall elk substantially constitute an arc of a circle having a radius of curvature that decreases toward said lower cross section.

In some embodiments, said cross sections have rounded corners. More preferably, said rounded corners are rounded according to an arc of a circle having a radius of curvature that is substantially constant, wherein the length of said circle arcs decreases toward the lower cross section.

In some embodiments, said cross sections have curved sides and the circle arcs of the rounded corners have ends that are aligned with the adjoining ends of the curved sides of said cross sections. In this way, a continuous transition between the rounded corners and the curved sides is achieved, causing the hexagonal shape still present in the lower part of the pot to be less noticeable.

In some embodiments, said curved sides substantially form an arc of a circle having a radius of curvature that preferably decreases continuously toward said lower cross section.

In an embodiment of the pot according to the disclosure, the pot has a long diagonal that decreases linearly from said upper cross section down to a distance of at most 10% of the height of the pot above said lower cross section. Thus, the sidewall of the pot, contrary to many other pots, forms no collar between said upper cross section and a cross section located at 10% of the height of the pot above said lower cross section.

In most existing pots, the collar provides extra sturdiness against compression of the pot. In the pot according to the disclosure, however, it can be omitted, to thus retain a maximal volume of the pot.

In an embodiment of the pot according to the disclosure, the pot is provided at the bottom with a foot that extends vertically and transitions by way of a collar into the inclined sidewall. This collar can then serve to support the foot of a pot nested therein, to thus prevent nested pots to become stuck.

The disclosure further relates to a potted epiphyte, in particular a potted orchid, which is planted in a pot having a growing substrate therein. The potted epiphyte is characterized in that said pot is constituted by a pot according to the disclosure.

Further advantages and particularities of the disclosure will become clear from the following description of the embodiments of a pot for culturing an epiphyte. This description is, however, only given by way of example, and is not intended to limit the scope of protection as defined by the claims.

