Patent ID: 7624534

Claim:
An adjustable length plant support comprising: a compressible, flexible strand having uppermost and lowermost ends, a pole of adjustable length for holding up said strand, and a plurality of connectors for attaching said strand to said pole; said flexible strand being sufficiently rigid to support said plant and having a generally circular cross section with a outer diameter of predetermined length; said pole comprising a plurality of tubular, separable sections, each of said sections having a coupling adjacent one of its ends joining such section to another of said sections, at least one of said connectors being secured to each of said pole sections; said connectors defining quick-release clamps having a circular opening of predetermined diameter therethrough, said predetermined diameter of said circular opening being approximately the same as said predetermined outer diameter of said flexible strand, said circular opening defining a pair of opposed, circular, open-ended clamp jaws, said clamp jaws being separated by a distance that is less than said predetermined length of said outer diameter of said strand, so that insertion of said flexible strand between a pair of clamp jaws compresses said flexible strand into a clamp and holds said flexible strand; said couplings that join said separable pole sections being located and arranged so that said connectors are separated and secured in vertical alignment along one side of said pole so that holding said flexible strand in successive vertically separated clamps attaches said flexible strand in a series of vertically separated and generally aligned loops spiraling around said pole; and the length of said plant support pole being determined by the number of coupled pole sections, said pole comprising a bottom section, a top section and at least one intermediate section, each of said sections comprising a resilient hollow plastic tube, and said couplings comprising interlocking means on each of said sections for joining and disconnecting said intermediate section to and from said bottom section and joining and disconnecting said top section to and from said intermediate section, said bottom pole section having a first receiver integral therewith, the lowermost end of said strand being inserted into said first receiver, a second receiver integral with said top pole section and located above the clamp on said top pole section, the uppermost end of said strand being inserted into said second receiver, said first and second receivers each comprising a pair of identical parallel arms projecting perpendicularly from its pole section, each pair of arms having aligned circular holes sized to enable insertion of an end of said strand.