Abstract:
A plant pot is provided comprising a first plant pot housing with an open bottom; a first plate member supported by the first plant housing at its open bottom, wherein the first plate member is separated from the plant pot during transplanting; and a second plate member nesting with the first plate member after the first plate member is separated from the plant pot, wherein the first and second plate members are supported by a second plant pot housing also having an open bottom to complete a sequence of transplanting.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     A. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to transplants in gardening. More particularly, the present invention relates to a plant pot free of replanting shocks through improved re-potting structure for household and plant shop uses. 
     B. Description of the Prior Art 
     Transplanting between pots or re-potting should be timely performed as the plant needs more room to grow in a bigger pot or when a plant buyer prefers to have a plant in a better pot, which is not necessarily bigger than the current container. 
     A commonly cited difficulty with transplanting is the physical weakness of the plants, which are threatened into harms or even plant deaths due to mishandling while their roots and soil are exposed during fumbling under inexperienced hands with frequently stubborn plant pots. Various pot structures to improve re-potting have been suggested and U.S. Pat. No. 4,232,482 describes that a drainage plate is removably supported in a transplant container to cover its bottom opening. The plate is pushed upwardly for displacing a volume of soil and a rooted plant through the open top end of the pot. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 4,027,429 suggests removing a rooted plant from its pot using a plate pushed upwardly through cylindrical shell of the pot. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 579,295 to Delzell shows a flowerpot having a two pot halves and a separable bottom, by which plant and soil may be carried to a transplanting place or into another pot where the soil is removed from the bottom. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 3,147,569 to Murguia provides flexible containers for nursery plants which may be repeatedly assembled and disassembled for compact shipping or storage and which may be easily removed from around the root ball of a plant for transplanting. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 3,362,105 to Steiger provides a flowerpot liner locked in the pot wrapping the soil and plant. For transplanting, the liner is unlocked to release the soil and plant and eventually removed therefrom before being transferred to a larger pot. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 3,432,027 to Mueller is directed to a dispensing container assembly of a push-up type for raising ice cream or the like having its bottom surface temporarily sealed until it is punctured by a push stick to position the desert at a convenient height to eat. 
     There have been known solutions to transplanting by incorporating an open pot member and a separate bottom for resting in the pot member. However, in application to living fragile plants they fail to offer an uninterrupted and sophisticated protection of the plant during re-potting by leaving the plant and soil completely exposed to atmosphere for different durations of time. In other words, upon departing from their supporting bottom members of old pots and before relocating to a new location the plants are supposed to be grasped by hands at any parts thereof and any moment of time to diminish the benefits anticipated by the respective structural improvements of the pots. 
     In view of the shortcomings of prior arts, an object of the present invention is to provide a safer plant pot structure that reduces any anticipated physical impacts upon bare plants before and after the transplanting while eliminating human mishandlings of the plant. 
     Another object of the present invention is to provide an inexpensively simple but flawless plant repot system. 
     Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a very easy pot to perform transplant as quickly and often as necessary in commercial nurseries without harming the plants. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     A plant pot according to the present invention comprises a first pot housing with cylindrical sidewalls converging downwardly and opened at its top and bottom for surrounding a plant; a first plate member held against the interior of the side walls of the first pot housing near the open bottom for supporting the plant, wherein the first plate member is separable from the first pot housing along with the plant during transplanting; and a second plate member nesting with the first plate member after the first plate member is separated from the first pot housing, wherein the second plate member is adaptable to fit in a fresh pot housing of the same structure as the first pot housing in the same or higher scale. 
     The plate members of different sizes are optimized for re-potting. Each plate becomes a bottom closure of the pot housing and has an upper side attached semi-permanently to the planted soil and a lower side seated within the pot housing or nested with a second bigger repot plate seated in its second bigger pot housing with an automatic centering thanks to the frusto-conical shape of the plate member. The automatic centering means keeps the plant straight while filling with new dirt to accommodate the larger pot. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is an exploded perspective view, partly in section, of a plant pot according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective view with a vertical section of the center of the plant pot of  FIG. 1 , having only one plate before transplanting. 
         FIG. 3  is a view showing a first process of transplanting after the plant and soil are withdrawn from the first container and ready for a second larger pot. 
         FIG. 4  is a perspective view with a vertical section of the center of the second plant pot with two plates nested at the bottom of the planted soil, which is the configuration after one transplant. 
         FIG. 5  is a perspective view with a vertical section of the center of a third plant pot with three nested plates at the bottom of the planted soil, which is the configuration after two transplants. 
         FIG. 6  is a perspective view with a vertical section of the center of the plant pot of  FIG. 1  with the planted soil removed and with two nested plates after transplanting. 
       Similar reference numbers denote corresponding features throughout the attached drawings. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       FIG. 1  shows a pot  10  according to an embodiment of the present invention. To illustrate a unique re-potting operation permitted by the pot  10 , it is shown under a first of a series of transplant events. So, the pot  10  may be hypothetically a second pot that replaces an outgrown first pot, which is basically identical in structure to the pot  10 . 
     The pot  10  is comprised of sidewalls  11  having an open top  12  and a bottom end  13 , which is opened in a reduced diameter. The pot  10  may be made of common material used to form currently available plant pots such as clay, plastic, wood, metal and combination of these. 
     The bottom side  13  is terminated by a neck  14 , which is connected through a shoulder  15  to the sidewalls  11 . The shoulder  15  faces upwardly to provide an engaging surface to hold the soil  17  in the pot  10 . 
     The sidewalls  11  may be rounded in cross section or multi-faceted such as four-sided, hexagonal, pentagonal, etc. Also, the sidewalls  11  may be conical so that the top  12  opens wider than the bottom side  13  to facilitate planting and removal of a plant  16  with the soil  17  when it is pushed at its bottom out of the pot  10  at another transplant event in the future. 
     A first stackable plate or plate  18  covers the bottom of the soil  17  and has become an integral part thereof after it has been derived from the earlier pot assembly. 
     A second stackable plate  20  is provided to sit on the shoulder  15  of the pot  10 . Both plates  18 ,  20  may be formed of selected one of the materials available for making the pot  10 . It is contemplated that once the plate  18  engages the planted soil  17 , they are gradually transfixed to each other over a number of watering activities followed by repetitive dries. Though not shown in the drawings, the upper surface of the plate  18  facing the soil  17  may be formed with various embossing patterns to enhance the natural bonding with the conforming soil  17 . According to the present invention, the plate  18  may hold onto the soil  17  and plant  16  through its life, and importantly, during every transplants unless it is necessary to shave off excessively grown root. 
     In contrast, the bottom surface of the plate  18  is shaped to allow nesting with plate  20 , the fresh bigger plate that pairs with the bigger pot  10 . Dimensional increment between pots may be 5 to 6 cm in diameter. In order to drain water naturally from the soil  17  and facilitate nesting between pots, the plate  20  has frusto-conical sidewalls  21  that merge into a flat bottom  22 . At the center of the flat bottom  22  is formed an opening  23  to pass water flowing down to the atmosphere as shown in vertical section in  FIG. 2 . Similar opening  23  is also formed in the center of the plate  18 . 
     The plate  18  has an annular right-angled edge  24  at its bottom side facing outwardly while the plate  20  has a matching corner  25  at the junction of the sidewalls  21  and bottom  22  so that two plates  18 ,  20  may be press fitted together automatically due to the weight of the soil unto the plates  18 ,  20  against the shoulder  15 . Though, throughout the drawings the plates  18 ,  20  are shown with clearances between them to clearly distinguish one from the adjacent other in the stack. Alternatively, the plates  18 ,  20  may be formed with matching patterns of prominences and depressions at the opposites surfaces to mate them together. 
     It is well known to use an oversized plate or saucer (not shown for simplicity) for holding the water drained to protect furniture or other facilities from staining as well as for reserving some evaporative water back to the plant  16 . In some cases where a floor to lay the pot  10  is irregular, using the saucer also prevents any pressures upon the soil plug  17  forcing the same off the pot  10 . 
     To allow for a free flow of water, the flat bottom  22  of the lower plate  20  is positioned above the level of the bottom edge  13  of the neck  14 , which may have several notches  26  communicating the interior of the neck  14  to its exterior. 
     In operation of the inventive pot at re-potting sessions as shown in  FIG. 3 , the planted soil  17  having the underlying plate  18  may be laid on the new plate  20 , which may be supported by an upright stand  2  for mounting the new pot  10  after the soil  17  has been lifted out of the sidewalls  11  of an outgrown pot  1 . The stand  2  in a simpler form may be a cut length of a supported plastic pipe with a smaller diameter than that of the neck  14  of the pot  11 . Any makeshift post such as a log will work as well. For occasional re-potting of light plants, two hands are sufficient to achieve the best transplanting results according to the present invention. 
     If a re-potting is to simply replace a damaged or unsightly pot, old plate  18  preferably remains to eliminate unnecessary exposure of the plant  16 . When the transplanting is performed to accommodate the growth of the plant  16 , the plate  20  of a larger size is brought under the plate  18  of the soil  17  so that they are nested with each other and automatically aligned about a common center thanks to the frusto-conical sidewalls  21  of both plates  18 ,  20 . While keeping the soil  17  intact at its bottom by touching only the plate  18  and in turn the plate  20 , they are encased by the sidewalls  11  of the pot  10  from below. As the soil  17  is held up on the stand  2  the sidewalls  11  may be lifted until the sidewalls  21  bear against the shoulder  15  of the pot  10 . 
     A second re-potting from the pot  10  to an even bigger pot  100  may be done through the same process described above with an addition of third plate  30  located between the shoulder  15  of the pot  100  and the bottom plate  20  of the soil  17 . Successively larger pots can be used according to plant growth. 
     By turning the otherwise vulnerable bottom surface of the soil  17  into a well clad handling center using nested plate re-potting a plant will be no more a major life threatening event to the plant  16  according to the present invention. The present invention provides automatic centering between the plates so that the plant will transplant straight, and not tip over to any particular side. The surface of the plate can be rough allowing roots to grow against the surface of the plate so that the plate retains the bottom of the plant root structure. 
     Therefore, while the presently preferred form of the plant pot has been shown and described, and several modifications thereof, persons skilled in this art will readily appreciate that various additional changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, as defined and differentiated by the following claims. It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the sole embodiment describe above, but encompasses any and all embodiments within the scope of the following claims. For example, the structure can be easily modified to accommodate square pots and square plates or oval plates. 
     Call Out List Of Elements 
     
         
           1 ,  10 ,  100 : Plant Pot 
           2 : Stand 
           11 : Sidewalls 
           12 : Open Top 
           13 : Bottom End 
           14 : Neck 
           15 : Shoulder 
           16 : Plant 
           17 : Soil 
           18 : First plate 
           20 : Second plate 
           21 : Frusto-conical Sidewalls 
           22 : Flat Bottom 
           23 : Opening 
           24 : Right-angled Edge 
           25 : Corner 
           26 : Notch 
           30 : Third plate