Patent ID: 7614182

Claim:
A method for separating a lump piece of a rosette plant, said method comprising: gripping said rosette plant and positioning said rosette plant parallel to a longitudinal axis of an elongated holder, which comprises a longitudinal opening at least along the longitudinal axis; introducing a lump piece of said rosette plant into the holder by way of said longitudinal opening; with a cutting element, cutting off the lump piece along a cutting plane parallel to the longitudinal axis, while closing the longitudinal opening, so that the introduced cut-off lump piece is enclosed in the holder, such that the holder encloses the introduced part of the lump piece, at least in combination with the cutting element, along a substantially complete circumference around the longitudinal axis of the holder, so that a sprout remains pointing in a direction remote from a growing medium; and removing the enclosed cut-off lump piece from the holder.