METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CUTTING AND ROOTING A CUTTING

Abstract: The invention concerns a method for cutting a cutting and a method for rooting a cutting. In addition, the invention concerns apparatuses for use in the methods. Cutting of the cutting takes place by placing a stalk from an existing, already grown plant in a station in e.g. a round table and then move the station in the round table past knives so that the parts of the stalk situated outside the station are cut off. Rooting the cutting occurs by moving the station over e.g. a pot with soil and thereafter to displace a drift downward against the cutting for pressing the cutting out of the station and down into the soil in the pot.

Description: METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CUTTING AND ROOTING A CUTTING. Background of the invention The present invention concerns a method for making a cutting for growing a new plant, where the cutting is cut off a stalk of an existing plant, and a method for rooting a cutting, where the cutting is moved towards and partly through a surface in a growing medium. The invention also concerns apparatuses for use in the methods. Cutting cuttings for new plants, e.g. in market gardens, presently occurs manually. Stalks from existing plant are used for cutting new cuttings. New cuttings often consist of a section of stalk constituting a main stalk in the existing plant and a side stalk with a leaf extending out from main stalk. The cutting is e.g. about 2-5 cm long an with a single leaf stalk with leaf. After a number of cuttings have been cut off the stalk on an existing plant, the lower end of the stalk is manually rooted in a growing medium like soil. The cutting is rooted so deeply that the cutting is located sufficiently firm in the soil in order to stand upright and to be able to form new roots from the cutting, but in such a way that the leaf stalk with leaf is above the soil in which the cutting is rooted. It is very time-consuming and costly in wages to cut cuttings and to root cuttings in the above way. Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide methods and apparatuses for use in the methods, and which are capable of performing cutting of stalks from existing plants for making cuttings and capable of subsequently rooting the cuttings in a growing medium. The object of cutting cuttings is achieved by a method being peculiar in that the stalk of the existing plant is placed in a station in a plate with knives provided at each side of the station, and that the knives and the plate are mutually displaced so that a cutting edge on the knives is passed by the station in the plate, and that the parts of the stalk extending outward relative to the sides of the station and located outside the station are thereby cut off from a remaining part of the stalk located inside the station. Automating the cutting as mentioned above implies that it is possible both to do without the workers previously employed with cutting cuttings off stalks and to make possible cutting a greater number of the stalks within a given period of time. The cutting of the cuttings also become more uniform as the cutting takes place automatically. An apparatus for use in the method for cutting cuttings is peculiar in that the apparatus comprises a plane plate provided with at least one station with a height h for placing and retaining a stalk and knives with each their cutting edge at each side of the station, and that the plate and the knives are mutually displaceable so that the station and the knives may be displaced past each other. By providing possibility of placing a stalk in a station and by moving the station past a knife, or conversely to move the knife past the station, it is both simple and quick to cut cuttings off the stalk. Preferably, there will be provided a knife at both sides of the station in such a way that the stalk is cut both above and below the station, whereby remaining in the station there is a cutting with a height h corresponding to the height of the station. The purpose of rooting the cuttings is achieved with a method being peculiar in that the cutting is moved from a plate with a station in which the cutting is situated and to the growing medium by passing a drift downward toward the station and down through the station. Rooting the cuttings by a drift displacing the cutting down into the growing medium it is furthermore possible to do without the manual working force previously employed with rooting the cutting in the growing medium. The cuttings may furthermore by automatic rooting be rooted with greater speed than by manual rooting. An apparatus for use by the method for rooting cuttings is peculiar in that the appara- tus comprises a plate with at least one station and a drift, that the drift is displaceable and has a cross sectional area largely corresponding to a cross sectional area for the cutting, and that the drift is intended to be displaced along a longitudinal axis down- ward against and through the station so that a cutting situated the station is displaced out of the station. When the drift has a cross sectional area that largely correspond to the cross section of the cuttings, it is possible, if desired, to root cuttings in the same growing medium within close distance. This is only very difficult by manual rooting where between the rooted cuttings there has to be space for the fingers of the person rooting the cuttings. Description of the drawing The invention will then be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawing, where Fig. 1 is a plane view from the side of an apparatus for use in the method, Fig. 2 is a plane view from above of an apparatus for use in the method, Fig. 3 is a section seen from the side through a part of the apparatus for combined cutting and rooting cuttings for plants, Fig. 4 is plane view from above of the part concerned of the apparatus, and Fig. 5 is a plane view from above of an embodiment of a station and a knife for cutting a cutting for a plant, and Fig. 6 is a plane view from the side of the embodiment of the station and the knife for cutting a cutting for a plant. Figs. 1 and 2 shows an apparatus capable of both performing cutting according to the method according to the invention of cuttings and performing rooting according to the invention of cuttings in pots with soil. The apparatus comprises a first conveyor belt 1 forming inlet for the apparatus for trays 3 with pots 4 for the cuttings, and a second conveyor belt 2 forming outlet from the apparatus for the trays with the pots with the cuttings after the cuttings have been cut and rooted. Between the first conveyor belt 1 and the second conveyor belt 2 there is an xy-table 5 capable of being moved in a horizontal plane between the two conveyor belts 1,2. Before rooting the cuttings, the trays 3 with pots 4 are conducted into the apparatus and toward the xy-table 5 by means of the first conveyor belt 1. Then the pots 4 are supplied with cuttings by the trays 3 with the pots 4 on the xy-table 5 being moved from side to side and forwards and backwards under a rooting unit (see Fig. 3) for suc- cessive rooting cuttings in the pots 5. When all the pots 5 are provided with a number of cuttings, the trays 3 with pots 4 are moved out on the second conveyor belt 2 and out of the apparatus. Figs. 3 and 4 show a combined cutting and rooting device constituting a part of the apparatus. The device has a carrying element 6 extending longitudinally of the apparatus and perpendicularly to the plane of the paper in Fig. 3. Upon the carrying element 6 there is fastened a motor 7. The motor 7 is provided with a mitre gear 8. A shaft 9 from the mitre gear 8 extends downwards from the mitre gear 8 through the carrying element 6 and down to a round table 10 fastened to the end of the shaft 9, and which via the mitre gear 8 and the shaft 9 is intended for being rotated by the motor 7. Along the edge, the round table 10 is provided with a number of stations 1 1 , in the shown embodiment provided with eight stations (see Fig. 4) for placing and retaining stalks 12 and for retaining cuttings 13 formed of the stalks 12. The stations 1 1 for placing and retaining stalks 12 and cuttings 13, respectively, consist of three holes 14.15,16. In one of the holes 14.15,16 the stalk 12 is intended for being placed and retained during cutting, and in one of the same holes 14,15,16 a cutting 13 formed after cutting the stalk 12 is intended to be retained. The holes 14.15.16 (see also Fig. 5) have different diameter (see Fig. 5) in order that stalks 12 and cuttings 13 with different diameter can be retained in the station 1 1. Each of the holes are provided with slit 17,18,19 (see Figs. 5 and 6) facing outward from the station 1 1. A fixed plate 20 is fastened to the carrying element 6. The fixed plate 20 extends horizontally and is provided at its rim with a retainer 21 for an upper knife 22 and a lower knife 23 which constitute a cutting unit (see Fig. 5). Furthermore, to the plate there is fastened a retainer 24 for a rooting unit for rooting the cuttings. The rooting unit comprises a drift 25 and a piston 26. Both the drift 25 and the piston 26 are intended to be displaced downward toward the pots 4 which are disposed in the tray 3 and filled with soil as growing medium and which are to accommodate a certain number of cuttings. The drift 25 and the piston 26 are displaced downward by means of pneumatic cylin- ders 27,28 fastened to the retainer 24 on the fixed plate 20. The drift 25 and the piston 26 extend through guides 29,30 in order that the drift 25 and the piston 26 are moved vertically downward. The piston 26 is intended for initially making a depression in the soil in the pot 4, and the drift 25 is intended for subsequently displacing the cutting from one of the holes 14,15,16 in the station 1 1 down into the depression and further down into the pot 4. The combined cutting and rooting device functions in the following way. A stalk 12 from an existing, already grown plant is placed between the lips 14 at one of the eight stations 1 1 (see Fig. 1). The stalk 12 will then have a section (not shown) located in one of the holes 14,15,16, and will have sections 31 extending outside the hole concerned 14,15,16 upward and downward from the section in the hole 14,15,16. Placing the stalk is performed manually by an operator situated opposite to the round table (see Fig. 2). Alternatively, placing of the stalk could be performed automatically. After the stalk 12 from the existing plant is placed in one of the holes 14,15,16. the round table 10 is rotated, and compared to the illustration in Fig. 4. the round table 10 is rotated counterclockwise. Immediately after the round table 10 has begun to rotating, the stalk 12 is passed by the upper knife 22 and the lower knife 23 constituting the cutting unit. In the shown embodiment (see Fig. 5) the upper knife 22 and the lower knife 23 abut on an upper side 32 and under side 33, respectively, of the round table 10. When the stalk 12 is passed by the upper knife 22 and the lower knife 23. the stalk 12 will be cut off in such a way that a section of the stalk 12 only corresponding to a height h of the station 1 1 remains between the lips 14. By placing the stalk 12 in one of the holes 14,15,16, the stalk 12 is preferably placed so that along the section of the stalk 12 situated in the hole 14,15,16 itself is a side stalk with a leaf projecting out through the slit 17,18,19 along the hole in question. The section of the stalk 12 situated in the hole and the leaf projecting out through the slit constitute a cutting 13. When the stalk 12 has been cut off by the upper knife 22 and the lower knife 23 in order to form the cutting 13, the round table 10 is further rotated so that the cutting 13 formed is situated under the rooting unit. Simultaneously, the xy-table 5 is displaced so that a pot 4 with soil is placed under the cutting 13. The xy-table 5 and thus also the pot 4 with soil are initially displaced a little to the right as seen in the plane of the paper in Fig. 3. The piston 26 is then moved downwards to form a depression in the soil in the pot. The piston 26 is provided with a stopper 34 that abut on the soil surface in the pot 4. The stopper 34 ensures that the depression gets a uniform depth independent of possible lesser differences in level of the soil surface in different pots. When the depression is formed in the soil surface by means of the piston 26, the xy- table 5 and thus also the pot 4 with soil are displaced to the left so that the depression just formed in the soil surface is situated immediately below the cutting 13 which is located in one of the holes 14,15,16. The drift 25 is then displaced downward toward the hole 14,15,16 concerned and through the hole, whereby the drift 25 presses the cutting 13, which is then passed downward and out of the location in the hole and down into the soil in the pot 4. The cutting 13 is passed down into the soil in the place where the depression is formed initially by the piston 26. The depression is formed to ensure that the cutting is moved correctly down into the soil in the pot. For certain types of plants the initial formation of the depression could possibly be done without. When the cutting is placed in the soil in the pot, a new station in the round table can be moved to the position under the rooting unit, and a new cutting may be placed in the pot, either in the same pot or in another pot. Initially the soil in the pot, as described above, is provided with a new depression to the new cutting. Fig. 5 shows a station 1 1 and the retainer 21 together with the upper knife 22. where the station is situated immediately in front of the knives 22.23. The station 1 1 is, as mentioned before, provided with three holes 14,15,16, and each hole is provided with a slit 17,18,19. The holes 14.15,16 have different diameter dl.d2,d3. The slit 17 in the hole 14 with the least diameter dl has the least width bl, and the slit 19 in the hole 16 with greatest diameter d3 has the greatest width b3. The slits are intended for that a side stalk with a leaf from the stalk and the cutting, respectively, extending perpendicularly to the plane of the paper in the hole may extend laterally outward through the slit largely in parallel with the plane of the paper. The station 1 1 may be of plastic, of rubber, or of metal. As alternative to three holes with different diameters and with slits with different width it will be possible to form fewer or more holes with or without slits. Additionally, Fig. 6 shows the station 1 1 and the upper knife 22 and the lower knife 23, but where the station 1 1 is now situated immediately between the knives 22,23. In the embodiment shown, the knives consist of blades, like blades for a hobby knife. The blades 22,23 are retained on blade retainers 35,36, each provided with a hole 37 for holding the blades 22,23 to the blade retainers 35,36 by means of a screw bolt or other fastening means (not shown). In the shown embodiment, the blades 22, 23 extend to the left and downward toward the upper side 32 and the under side 33, respec- tively, of the station 1 1. It will be possible to use other kinds of knives that may be stationary as in the shown embodiment, or may be rotating or oscillating. The stalk 12. which in the shown embodiment is placed in the hole 16 (see Fig. 5) and with a side stalk with leaf extending out from the corresponding slit 19, is moved for- ward toward the blades 22.23 constituting the knives by the disc 10 rotating in the direction of the arrow as shown. When the stalk 13 passes the upper blade 22 and the lower blade 23, the sections 31 of the stalk 12 extending above and below the station are cut off. The remaining part of the stalk extending in the hole 16 (see Fig. 5) and the side stalk with the leaf extending out through the slit 19 then constitute the cutting 13 (not shown) which is still retained in the hole and which is passed on past the blades 22,23. In an alternative embodiment, only the upper knife may be provided. This may be the case if the stalk, when placed in one of the holes in the station before cutting, is placed with a lower end against a stop immediately below the station. Hereby there will be no part of the stalk extending downward from the station, but only a part of the stalk extending inside one of the holes in the station and a part of the stalk extending upward from the station. On the Figures there is shown a specific embodiment of an apparatus according to the invention for use in the method according to the invention. It will be possible to con- struct other apparatuses using the methods according to the invention, but where the single elements have other design or function in another way. Instead of cutting and cutting takes place by means of round table with a number of stations, cutting and cutting could take place by a translational movement on a belt with a number of stations or by means of another way of advancing the cuttings. The number of stations and means for forming the depression and for performing real cutting could also be different. Furthermore, as example in the description there is used containers in the form of pots with soil as growing medium, but it will be possible to use other growing media in other kinds of containers, or to use growing media having sufficient stability so that they do not have to be contained in pots or the like.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. A method for making a cutting for growing a new plant, where the cutting is cut off a stalk (12) of an existing plant, characterised in that the stalk (12) of the exist- ing plant is placed in a station (11) in a plate (10) with knives provided at each side (32,33) of the station (11), and that the knives (22,23) and the plate (10) are mutually displaced so that a cutting edge on the knives (22,23) is passed by the station (11) in the plate (10), and that the parts (31) of the stalk (12) extending outward relative to the sides (32,33) of the station (11) and located outside the station (11) are thereby cut off from a remaining part of the stalk located inside the station (11). 2. A method according to claim 1, characterised in that the plate (10) and the knives (22,23) are mutually displaced by the plate (10) being displaceable and the knives (22,23) being fixed, and that the plate (10) is displaced relative to the knives (22,23) in such a way that the station (11) is moved forward against and past the cutting edge of the knives (22,23). 3. A method according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the stations (11) are formed at an edge of the plate (10) so that the station (11) has an opening in the edge of the plate (10), that the stalk (12) from the existing plant is placed in the station (11) so that at least parts of the stalk (12) are situated in the station (11), and at least one leaf on the stalk projects outwards from the station (11). 4. A method for rooting a cutting (13), where the cutting (13) is moved towards and partly through a surface in a growing medium, characterised in that the cutting (13) is moved from a station (11) in a plate in which the cutting (13) is situated and to the growing medium by passing a drift (20) downward toward the station (11) and down through the station (11). 5. An apparatus for use in performing the method according to any of the claims 1- 3, characterised in that the apparatus comprises a plane plate ( 10) provided with at least one station (11) with a height h for placing and retaining a stalk (12) and knives (22,23) with each their cutting edge at each side (32.33) of the station (11), and that the plate (10) and the knives (22,23) are mutually displaceable so that the station (11) and the knives (22.23) may be displaced past each other. 6. An apparatus according to claim 5, characterised in that the station (11) is formed at an edge of the plate (10) and as a number of holes (14,15,16) extending through the station and intended for accommodating a stalk (12) from an existing plant. 7. An apparatus according to claim 6, characterised in that the holes (14,15,16) each are provided with slits (17,18,19) extending in parallel with the length of the holes through the station (11), that the slits (17,18,19) face outwards from the holes, and that the slits are intended for laterally directed stalks to extend from the main stalk and out from the hole concerned. 8. An apparatus according to claims 5, 6 or 7, characterised in that the plate (10) is circular, that the plate (10) is displaceable and the knives (22,23) are fixed, and that the plate (10) is rotatable about an axis (9) extending through a center of the plate (10). 9. An apparatus for use in the method according to claim 4, characterised in that the apparatus comprises a plate (10) with at least one station and a drift (25), that the drift (25) is displaceable and has a cross sectional area largely corresponding to a cross sectional area for the cutting (13), and that the drift (25) is intended to be dis- placed along a longitudinal axis downward against and through the station (11) so that a cutting (13) situated the station (11) is displaced out of the station (11). 10. An apparatus for use in the method according to claim 4. characterised in that the apparatus comprises a piston (26), that the piston is displaceable and has a cross sectional area largely corresponding to a cross sectional area of the cutting (13), and that the piston (26) is intend intended to be displaced along a longitudinal axis 11 downward against and through the surface of a growing medium so that there is formed a depression in the growing medium intended for receiving a cutting (13).

Inventors: JOERGENSEN JENS, JOERGENSEN, JENS
Applicants: JOERGENSEN JENS, SKJOLDVANG A S, JOERGENSEN, JENS, SKJOLDVANG A/S
Application year: 2000
Main classification: A01G3
IPC codes: A01G3, A01G9