Patent ID: 7946078
Filing Date: 2011-05-24
Classification: A01G

Abstract:
1. A method employing a starter tray with a floor and one or more side walls extending from said floor in an outward direction, the method comprising the steps of: placing starter soil in said starter tray upon said floor and encompassed by said one or more side walls; planting a plurality of plants of at least one species in the starter soil; nurturing said plants in said starter tray long enough for said plants to develop entangled roots with an interplant root entanglement that at least partially consolidates the starter soil; dislodging as a unit in the outward direction relative to said floor and said side walls of said starter tray said starter soil with said entangled roots, said dislodging being performed before said plurality of plants have fully matured but after said entangled roots have reached the floor of the starter tray and have consolidated the starter soil to allow dislodging by a single person without crumbling of said starter soil and said entangled roots; and transplanting said starter soil with said entangled roots by lowering as a unit down into a transplant site without the starter tray.