GB2115697A

GB2115697A - Pesticidal devices

Info

Publication number: GB2115697A
Application number: GB08303603A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Raymond Bedder Walton
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1982-02-09
Filing date: 1983-02-09
Publication date: 1983-09-14
Also published as: GB8303603D0; GB2115697B

Abstract

A pesticidal or plant growth control device comprises a flexible water-permeable carrier of paper or other degradable material incorporating a pesticide to form a continuous barrier to slugs and like pests. The same principle may be applied to soil conditioning and plant nutrient agents incorporated in a carrier.

Description

SPECIFICATION Pesticidal devices This invention is concerned principally with pesticidal devices, but also relates to soil conditioning and treatment devices, and herbicidal devices for use in horticulture and the like.

It is known to employ poisoned and baited pellets for the control of garden pests such as slugs, and snails. A disadvantage of such pellets is that they are strictly localised in their effectiveness and do not form an effective barrier to the progress of slugs or snails. Moreover, the pellets can lose their effectiveness within a short time of being distributed on the ground, particularly in rainy weather conditions.

The present invention seeks to avoid the disadvantages associated with pelleted products by providing a pesticidal device which is in strip or sheet form.

Thus according to one aspect the invention provides a pesticidal device for horticultural or like use comprising a flexible water-permeable carrier of sheet, strip or filamentary form carrying a pesticide. The carrier sheet or strip may additionally be baited with a suitable food product, which may be poisoned, to attract the pests for which it is intended, for example slugs and snails.

Being in strip, sheet or filamentary form the carrier acts as a continuous barrier to slugs or snails. Moreover, the carrier sheet, strip or filament is potentially longer-lasting than pellets, and its presence affords a rapid visual check of the integrity of the barrier presented by the device.

The invention is not confined to pesticidal devices but is also applicable to fertilizers and soil conditioning agents generally. Thus according to another aspect the invention provides a plant growth or soil conditioning aid device comprising a flexible water-permeable carrier of sheet, strip or filamentary form carrying fertilizer plant nutrients or the like.

By providing a carrier sheet or strip with multiple impregnated or coated layers it is possible to design the device so that the fertilizer or plant nutrients are released gradually into the underlying soil over a period of time, as the device is exposed to rain.

In another aspect the invention provides a herbicide device for weed control in horticulture, comprising a flexible water-permeable carrier of sheet, strip of filamentary form carrying a herbicide or weed control agent.

Devices according to the present invention may take a number of different practical forms according to their intended mode of use. Thus the carrier preferably comprises a bio-degradabie and/or a light-degradable material. Some forms of plastics may be employed if made suitably permeable, for example by the provision of perforations, although paper, or paper-based material, is preferred.

In one embodiment of the invention the carrier comprises two or more layers of sheet or strip material with pesticide, fertilizer or herbicide sandwiched between the layers or incorporated in one or more of the layers. By this simple means it is ensured that the device is clean and safe to handle, and is not harmful to animals. To control the direction in which impregnants are released from the device one of the layers of the carrier may be impermeable and arranged so as to be outermost in use of the device. Such an embodiment could find practical application, for example, in controlling grass growth at the edge of a lawn. For this purpose the device would be located with its sheet or strip in a substantially vertical plane at the edge of the lawn, and with the impermeable layer outermost.Herbicide released into the ground from the permeable layer would have the effect of checking grass and weed growth at the edge of the lawn.

The carrier may be in the form of a flexible strip or tape which can be laid on ground adjoining growing plants to form a continuous physical barrier, for example when the invention is embodied in a pesticidal device. Alternatively, the carrier of the device may be in the form of a sheet with one or more apertures through which growing plants may pass, so that the sheet effectively surrounds the plants. Embodied in this form the device may be embodied as a soil conditioning and plant growth aid, and may also serve a pesticidal function.Thus a device according to the invention may, for example, have a carrier in the form of a sheet or mat with an apertured central area to accommodate growing plants, an outer peripheral zone incorporating pesticide, to form, in effect, a barrier, and an intermediate zone, between the peripheral zone and the central area, incorporating fertilizer, plant nutrients, or the like.

The carrier may be reinforced structurally by a flexible core element, particularly where the carrier is in the form of a tape or strip. The core element may comprise a thread, filament or the like extending longitudinally through the carrier strip or tape.

In a simple embodiment of the invention the carrier may be in the form of a double-layer strip or tape, or a tubular flat strip loaded with pesticide or other material, according to the intended use of the device. Alternatively, the invention may be embodied in a more complex form, in which the carrier comprises multiple layers of paper or other suitable permeable material with soil treatment agents, pesticides, or herbicides located between the layers.

When the invention is embodied as a pesticidal or herbicidal device it has been found in practice that the concentration of pesticide or herbicide distributed through the carrier can be significantly lower than that which is conventionally used in treated pellets, making the device easier and safer for handling and storage.

The invention will be further described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying purely diagrammatic drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a cutaway perspective view of a pesticidal device embodying the present invention; Figure 2 is a cutaway perspective view of a multipurpose device according to another embodiment of the invention, and Figure 3 is a perspective view, partly cutaway, of a plant growth control device according to another embodiment of the invention.

Figure 1 illustrates a pesticidal device according to the invention, comprising a flexible strip or tape 1 made up of two layers 2, 3, which are bonded together. The layers 2, 3, which may conveniently comprise porous paper tapes, may alternatively be formed by the flattened walls of a tubular strip. The tape or strip 1 is reinforced structurally by a core thread 4, for example of cotton, which projects from the free ends of the tape or strip 1 and which can be used for anchoring the strip in position.

The two layers 2, 3 making up the strip 1 are coated or impregnated with pesticide, which in this case is mixed with a suitable bait for the pests concerned, for example slugs. Thus a surface coating consisting of a mixture of a bait and a pesticide may be applied to one or both of the inwardly facing adjoining surfaces of the layers 2, 3 before the tape 1 is formed. The resulting tape or strip acts as a pesticidal device and can be laid along the surface of soil containing growing plants, alongside the plants, forming in effect a continuous barrier. The bait present in the carrier strip 1 attracts the pests to the strip, and the continuous extent of the strip ensures that no pests can reach the growing plants without encountering the poisoned strip.

By coating only the inside surfaces of the layers 2, 3 it is arranged that the laminated strip is safe to handle, its outer surfaces being poison-free.

In one method of manufacturing the device illustrated in Figure 1 a paper or other permeable strip of bio-degradable material is coated with a water based glue which has been mixed with a suitable bait material such as oat flour, potato flour or maize flour, to which a quantity of pesticide has been added. In a typical example 33.3% w/w of metaldehyde would be added as pesticide to the glue mixture. Alternatively methiocarb may be used as a pesticide in suitable concentration. A second paper strip is then superimposed on the coated strip to form the flexible carrier, with the pesticide and bait sandwiched between the two strip layers 2, 3 as previously described.

It may alternatively be found advantageous in practice to coat or impregnate one or more strips before bonding the strips together with untreated strips to form a composite or laminated pesticide barrier device.

The device illustrated in Figure 1 may alternatively be made by impregnating or coating the core thread 4 with the pesticide and then enclosing the impregnated or coated core thread between the layers 2, 3 of a carrier strip 1, or enclosing the thread in some other suitable elongate envelope of water-permeable strip material.

An alternative method of manufacture of the device illustrated in Figure 1 is to manufacture the carrier sheet or strip with the pesticide incorporated therein as an integral component of the material. A protective, water permeable, surface coating may be applied to the sheet or strip to afford clean and safe handling.

Alternative uses for a device of the kind illustrated in Figure 1 are as a plant growth or soil conditioning aid device, for which purpose the carrier strip 1 would be impregnated with a suitable fertilizer or plant nutrient material, and as a herbicides device, for which purpose the carrier strip 1 would be impregnated with a herbicidal or weed control agent. Multi-purpose devices are also envisaged, having a single composite carrier incorporating a number of different agents. For example, the carrier 1 may be in the form of a broad tape or strip carrying pesticide, herbicide and/or fertilizer at different positions across its width in longitudinally extending zones.

Alternatively, a single multi-purpose agent may be incorporated in the carrier.

Figure 2 illustrates an alternative embodiment of the invention in which a carrier 5 is made up of multiple cores 6, 7, 8 enclosed in respective layers 9, 10, 11 of paper or other suitable permeable bioand/or light-degradable material. The materials making up the core layers 6, 7 and 8 may, for example, comprise soil treatment agents, chemical fertilizers and/or enzymes which, when placed in the ground, gradually degrade to assist plant growth and nutrition over a period. The device can be embodied to provide for a continuous "programmed" release of plant nutrients into the ground during a growing season.

In dry weather conditions periodic watering may be necessary to achieve the desired release of plant nutrient.

The illustrated device 5 would be placed in or on the ground and may take the form of a flexible composite carrier, as illustrated, with a core thread 12, or may alternatively comprise a rigid or semirigid strip or rod for insertion into the ground. The rod would typically have a length of about 1 metre.

Figure 3 illustrates a further embodiment of the invention comprising a carrier sheet 1 3 of paper or other water-permeable material provided with holes 14 through which plants, for example, strawberries, may grow. The sheet 1 3 is made up of impregnated or coated layers 15, 1 6 through which reinforcing threads 17, 1 8 may pass. The impregnants or coatings may take the form of weed control chemicals (herbicides), pesticides, and fertilizer or plant nutrient material. For example, the peripheral regions of the sheet 1 3 may be impregnated or coated with pesticide to prevent access to the growing plants by pests such as slugs, while the region surrounding each hole 14 may be impregnated or coated with fertilizer or plant nutrients.

When the invention is embodied in the form of a sheet or mat as illustrated in Figure 3, it may conveniently be used to control weed growth by incorporating in the carrier sheet 13, for example by impregnation, a contact-type weed control chemical agent, which becomes inert upon contact with the soil. The weed control agent is initially held out of contact with the soil by the carrier sheet 13 or by a water-degradable bottom layer (not shown). As weed seedlings germinate and grow the sheet 13 will be raised out of contact with the soil, and moisture from the soil condensed on the sheet will degrade the sheet 13, or the bottom layer, sufficiently to allow the weed control agent to contact the growing weeds and kill them, the agent becoming inert upon subsequent contact with the soil.

For some horticultural applications one layer of the composite tape or sheet may be of impermeable sheet material, for example polyethylene sheeting, while the other layer is of paper or other permeable material.

Although the invention has been described with particular reference to flexible strips or sheets which can be placed along the surface of cultivated soil, the invention may also be embodied in the form of rigid or semi-rigid elements for use in localised treatment of soil, for example to supply nutrients.

The invention is also applicable beyond the horticultural field to the medical and veterinary fields. Thus a flexible carrier in sheet or strip form may be impregnated with antibiotics or antiseptic for application to wounds or other infected or potentially infected skin areas as a dressing.

Exudations from the underlying wound or infected area would release the impregnantfrom the flexible carrier into the bloodstream in a manner analogous to the release of soil conditioning agents into the ground when using the horticultural embodiments of the device as described above.

Claims

1. A pesticidal device for horticultural or like use comprising a flexible water-permeable carrier of sheet, strip or filamentary form incorporating or carrying a pesticide.

2. A device according to Claim 1, in which the carrier is baited with a food product.

3. A device according to Claim 1 or Claim 2, in which the pesticide is applied to the carrier as a coating or by impregnation.

4. A device according to Claim 1 or Claim 2, in which the carrier sheet or strip is made up of two or more layers with the pesticide sandwiched between the layers, or incorporated in one or more of the layers.

5. A device according to any of Claims 1 to 3, in which the carrier is in the form of a thread coated or impregnated with pesticide.

6. A device according to Claim 5, in which the thread is enclosed in an elongate envelope of water-permeable strip material.

7. A device according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the pesticide comprises metaldehyde or methiocarb.

8. A device for aiding plant growth or for soil conditioning, comprising a water-permeable carrier, sheet strip of filamentary form incorporating or carrying a fertilizer, plant nutrients or the like.

9. A herbicides device for weed control in horticulture, comprising a water-permeable carrier of sheet, strip or filamentary form incorporating or carrying a herbicide or weed control agent.

10. A device according to Claim 1, Claim 8 or Claim 9, in which the pesticide, fertilizer, herbicide or the like is incorporated as a component of the carrier material.

11. A device according to any of the preceding claims in which the carrier comprises a biodegradable material and/or a light-degradable material.

12. A device according to Claim 4, Claim 8 or Claim 9, in which the carrier comprises two or more layers of flexible sheet or strip material with a bait, fertilizer or herbicide sandwiched between the layers, or incorporated in one or more of the layers.

13. A device according to any one of the preceding claims, in which a reinforcing thread, filament or other flexible core element extends longitudinally through the carrier, the latter being of strip form.

14. A device according to any of Claims 1 to 11, in which the carrier comprises multiple layers of permeable material with different soil treatment agents between or incorporated in the layers.

1 5. A device according to Claim 4, Claim 12 or Claim 14, in which one of the layers of the device is impermeable and arranged so as to be outermost in use of the device.

1 6. A device according to any one of Claims 1 to 4, or 8 to 12, in which the carrier is in the form of a sheet having one or more apertures through which growing plants may pass.

1 7. A device according to Claim 16, in which the carrier sheet has an outer peripheral zone incorporating pesticide, and an intermediate zone or zones between the peripheral zone and the or each aperture, incorporating fertilizer, plant nutrients or the like.

18. A device according to Claim 16, in which the sheet incorporates a contact-type weed control agent which becomes inert upon contact with the soil, the control agent being initially held out of contact with the soil by the carrier sheet, or by a degradable bottom layer, which degrades sufficiently when the sheet is lifted off the ground by growing weeds to release the control agent.

19. A device according to Claim 8, in which the carrier is in the form of a rigid or semi-rigid strip of rod for insertion into the ground.

20. A device according to Claim 8 or Claim 11, in which the carrier comprises multiple cores enclosed in respective layers of bio-degradable and/or light-degradable material, the cores including soil treatment agents, fertilizing or nutrient materials which are released gradually into the ground as the layers degrade.

21. A pesticidal device, soil-condition device or herbicides device, substantially as herein described with reference to and as shown in Figure 1, Figure 2 or Figure 3 of the accompanying drawings.