Plastic starter pot

A starter pot for plants has an aperture in the bottom wall. The aperture is spaced from the side walls of the pots and has an upturned lip around the periphery thereof so as to form an annular water reservoir space at the bottom of the pot and concealed from exterior view. A disc is enclosed within the pot and rests on the upturned lip to support soil in the pot and to prevent the soil from entering the water reservoir space. The disc has several notches formed in its periphery to permit water to drain from the soil into the water reservoir space. A continuous annular rim depends from the disc in overlapping engagement with at least a portion of the upturned lip to block the escape of water frm the reservoir space through the bottom of the pot. The disc is detached from the pot so that the disc can be pushed upwardly through the pot to remove a rooted plant therefrom without disturbing the root system of the plant.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates generally to starter pots for plants and, 
more particularly, to a starter pot that has certain improved structural 
features and yet can be efficiently manufactured at a relatively low cost 
by injection molding. 
It is a principal object of the present invention to provide an improved 
starter pot which facilitates removal of a rooted plant and the soil in 
which it is rooted without disturbing the root system. 
It is another object of the invention to provide an improved starter pot of 
the foregoing type which permits excess water to drain from the bottom of 
the potted soil into a liquid reservoir that is concealed from exterior 
view. In this connection, a related object of the invention is to provide 
such an improved starter pot which inhibits leakage of excess water from 
the pot even when the excess is greater than the capacity of the liquid 
reservoir. 
A further object of the invention is to provide an improved starter pot of 
the type described above which permits the excess water in the liquid 
reservoir to be re-captured by the potted soil as it dries. 
Yet another object of the invention is to provide such an improved starter 
pot which can be efficiently manufactured by injection molding.

While the invention will be described in connection with a certain 
preferred embodiment, it will be understood that it is not intended to 
limit the invention to that particular embodiment. On the contrary, it is 
intended to cover all alternatives, modifications and equivalents as may 
be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the 
appended claims. 
Turning now to the drawings, there is illustrated a starter pot which 
includes a cylindrical shell 10 forming the side walls of the pot and a 
bottom wall 11 formed as an integral part of the side walls. A relatively 
large aperture 12 is formed in the bottom wall 11 so that the bottom wall 
11 is actually in the form of an inturned flange at the lower end of the 
cylindrical shell 10. While the pot has been illustrated as having a 
straight, untapered cylindrical configuration, it will be understood that 
the invention is equally applicable to pots of many other possible 
cross-sectional configurations, including tapered cylinders, polygons, 
etc. 
In accordance with one important aspect of the present invention, an 
upturned lip is formed around the periphery of the aperture in the bottom 
wall of the pot so as to form an annular water reservoir space at the 
bottom of the pot and concealed from exterior view, and this water 
reservoir space is covered by a floating bottom member which extends 
across substantially the entire bottom of the pot to support soil within 
the pot and to prevent soil from entering the water reservoir space. Thus, 
in the illustrative embodiment, an upturned lip 13 is formed as an 
integral part of the bottom wall 11 and extends continuously around the 
entire periphery of the aperture 12 so as to form an annular water 
reservoir space 14 around the periphery of the bottom of the pot. The 
major portion of the water reservoir space 14 is covered by a disc 15 
which rests on the top edge of the lip 13. To permit water to drain into 
the reservoir space 14 from soil within the pot, a small clearance is 
provided between the outer periphery of the disc 15 and the inside walls 
of the cylindrical shell 10, and a plurality of notches 16 are also formed 
at spaced intervals around the periphery of the disc 15. It will be 
understood that these notches 16, as well as the clearance between the 
outer periphery of the disc 15 and the inside walls of the cylindrical 
shell 10, are sufficiently small that they do not permit any significant 
amount of soil to enter the water reservoir space 14. 
Thus, whenever the soil and/or plant within the pot is watered, excess 
water can drain downwardly into the reservoir space 14. The water then 
remains in this reservoir concealed from exterior view but available to be 
evaporated back into the soil as it dries. 
To inhibit the leakage of excess water through the bottom of the pot, e.g., 
when the reservoir space 14 becomes filled, a continuous annular rim 17 
depends from the disc 15 in overlapping engagement with the lip 13 to 
block the escape of water from the reservoir space 14. The depending rim 
17 may be formed as an integral part of the disc 15, e.g., by plastic 
molding, and is positioned to snugly engage the vertical surface of the 
lip 13 when the disc 15 is pressed down against the top edge of the lip 
13. Although the rim 17 is illustrated as engaging the radially inner 
surface of the lip 13, it will be understood that the rim 17 could be 
located to engage the radially outer surface of the lip 13 to provide the 
same sealing effect. 
When it is desired to remove a rooted plant from the pot, the disc 15 is 
pushed upwardly through the cylindrical shell 10 to telescope the plant 
and the plug of soil in which it is rooted out of the pot without 
distrubing the soil or the root system of the plant. Consequently, the 
process of removing the plant from the pot subjects the plant and its root 
system to very little "shock" effect. Since the top of the disc 15 is a 
smooth plastic surface, the soil plug containing the rooted plant can be 
easily removed therefrom after it has cleared the top edge of the 
cylindrical shell 10. Of course, the larger aperture 12 in the bottom wall 
of the pot provides convenient access to the lower surface of the disc 15, 
so that it can be easily pushed upwardly through the pot. 
As can be seen from the foregoing detailed description, the improved 
starter pot provided by this invention facilitates removal of a rooted 
plant and the soil in which it is rooted without disturbing the fragile 
root system of a young plant. The structure of the pot also permits excess 
water to drain from the bottom of the potted soil into the liquid 
reservoir that is concealed from the exterior of the pot to provide an 
aesthetically pleasing appearance. The overlapping engagement of the 
upturned lip 13 and the depending flange 17 inhibit leakage of excess 
water from the pot even when the excess is greater than the capacity of 
the liquid reservoir 14. Furthermore, the entire pot assembly can be 
efficiently manufactured by injection molding only two separate parts, so 
that it can be mass produced on a an economic basis.