JPH0795897B2 - Storage carrier for active substance using plant cultivation base material - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

This invention relates to granules of expanded clay or lightly fired ceramic material in an amount of 20-100%.
The present invention relates to a plant cultivation base material and its application.

[0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Substance metabolism by plants is essentially carried out in the following processes: catabolism (respiration), assimilation (photosynthesis), nutrient metabolism, water supply and divergence. Optimal growth of plants requires environmental support (climate, light, etc.) as well as solid support and continuous and adequate nutrition and hydration from the growing substrate. Therefore, the composition and structure of the cultivation substrate are essential factors for growth.

Plants need water not only as a starting compound for photosynthesis, but also as an important reaction partner in metabolism. Therefore, the water content of plants is high, and in higher plants, the water content is more than 90% of the life forms. In plants, water is constantly flowing and is constantly evaporating to the top of the plants. This water loss must be adjusted by ingesting a corresponding amount of water. Plants can naturally utilize the entire surface for water intake. However, rooted plants get water from the cultivated soil.

Minerals and some organic matter are also taken in the form of aqueous solutions, so that nutrient uptake is largely in the form of water binding. In addition to carbon, oxygen and hydrogen, which are extracted from CO ₂ and H ₂ O and incorporated into organic molecules during photosynthesis, plants also require other elements for their metabolism. That is, nitrogen, sulfur and phosphorus as non-metals,
And the metals potassium, calcium and magnesium. In addition, most plants also have additional trace elements: iron, manganese, zinc, copper, for normal development.
It also requires boron, molybdenum, cobalt, and chlorine and silicon, and optionally sodium and potassium. Almost all of these elements are considered essential and, when deficient, cause typical deficiency symptoms. For many plants, none of the essential elements in the ground are sufficient. Moreover, the amounts should be present in a favorable ratio to one another. In addition, the binding form between nutrients and cultivation base material and the availability of the nutrients are important variables in supplying nutrients to plants.

Therefore, the healthy development of plants depends largely on the physical and chemical properties of the cultivation substrate. Important physical parameters include soil volume, exchange capacity of the cultivation substrate depending on the mineralogy composition, grain size and structure of the cultivation substrate,
And the stability of the cultivation substrate structure, which is affected by various factors. The content of organic substances such as growth hormone, humin, obstacle substances, and resistance substances, and the content of the above-mentioned essential elements from inorganic substances are decisive chemical parameters of the cultivation base material.

Previously, a large number of different soil mixtures were used as plant cultivation substrates to meet the different needs of different plants. In the last decade, several standard soil and peat cultivation substrates have been put into practical use that can effectively manage water and nutrient supplementation. Furthermore, especially in indoor plant cultivation, hydroponics has recently become more and more popular, in which nutrients must be provided in solution in a form that can be utilized by the plant to a cultivation base consisting of mostly expanded clay granules. I have to.

[0007]

Such a cultivation base material is prepared by calcining a suitable clay at a very high temperature. At that time, the material expands due to internal gas generation,
That is, irregular bubbles and pores (voids) are formed.
This impairs an important parameter as a plant cultivation base material.

In view of the above, the object of the present invention is to provide clearly improved physical and chemical properties over the prior art which can be simply and effectively adapted to the requirements of the respective plant. It is to provide a method for producing the provided plant cultivation base material.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides 20-100 granules of expanded clay or low temperature fired ceramic material.
%, A storage carrier for active substances, such as nutrients, fertilizers and / or insecticides, using a plant cultivation base containing 100% of said granules, said granules being treated with an active substance solution, followed by first hardening and then water and / or Alternatively, it is characterized in that it is coated with a solution which dissolves within a predetermined time under the action of root fluid, and the solution is composed of water glass which has been previously reacted with lime, chalk or gypsum.

Preferably, the plant cultivation base material is 45 to 80 parts by weight of clay, 0 to 50 parts by weight of calcite, quartz sand, dolomite, feldspar, refractory clay, and sepiolite as an additive, 15 to
30 parts by weight of water, 0.01-0.03 parts by weight of liquefacti
on agent) as well as 0.001 to 0.01 parts by weight of a surfactant, and foamed under pressure (1 to 10 bar) through compressed air in a dispersing device known per se at a temperature of room temperature to 95 ° C. If necessary, in order to prepare a highly viscous, thixotropic, self-stabilizing effervescent suspension, a substance that counteracts the lysing agent (counter-reacting to the lysing agent) is added, and then If so, mold the foamed mixture into a clay molded product,
Dry at a temperature of 200 ℃, crush the dried clay molded product if necessary, sieve the crushed product, return the fine pieces to the raw material mixture, and finally, the clay molded product or crushed product of the selected particle size The clay molded product is heated to 60 ° C.
It is adjusted by a method of firing at a temperature of 0 to 1500 ° C., preferably 700 to 800 ° C.

The essential characteristics of such a method are described in West German Patent No.
As described in DE-PS3414965, there is preferably used 0.01 to 0.03 parts by weight of the solubilizer and the firing temperature is preferably limited to a maximum of 1000 ° C. To further explain the preferred method for producing the plant cultivation substrate according to the present invention, reference is made to the above-mentioned West German patent.

In a further preferred method for producing the plant cultivation base material used in the present invention, the foaming of the raw material is carried out under an overpressure of at least 0.3 bar (ie under a pressure of about 1.3 bar), the pressure being applied from the nozzle. Hold until coming out.

Molding and grinding of clay moldings can also be carried out by periodically breaking the extruded strands of the foam mixture.

In the present invention, the particle size is from 1 to
Granule diameters in the range of 5 mm can also be selected.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention the granules are
15-30% by weight, preferably 25% by weight, is 1
Particles with a diameter of ~ 2 mm, 40-70% by weight, preferably
60% by weight are particles with a diameter of 2-4 mm and 5-20% by weight, preferably 15% by weight are particles with a diameter of 4-5 mm.

Furthermore, in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the diameter of pores (voids) of the granule is less than 1 mm.

Furthermore, the present invention proposes to use the plant granules according to the present invention as a material for hydroponics.

Furthermore, the present invention proposes to use the plant cultivation base material according to the present invention as corrosive soil for flower beds.

In the present invention, the plant cultivation substrate is used as a storage carrier for nutrients, fertilizers, and / or insecticides.

At this time, the active ingredient solution is sprayed onto the porous ceramic material.

Furthermore, the sprayed porous ceramic material is overcoated with a liquid which initially hardens but which dissolves within a predetermined period by the action of water and / or root solution.

Water glass solutions of various compositions are used as the topcoat solution. This water glass is previously reacted with lime, chalk or gypsum.

The present invention further proposes to use the plant-cultivating substrate according to the invention as a long-term buffer for overacidified soil.

In that case, preferably, a substance such as chalk, dolomite or the like which forms an alkaline silicate upon firing is added to the raw material mixture.

The present invention further proposes to use the plant cultivation base material according to the present invention as a bottom floor of an aquarium.

Granules made of foamed clay or ceramic material,
Particularly, by using the granules produced by the method as described in the above-mentioned West German Patent DE-PS3414965 according to the present invention, a completely new plant cultivation base material can be obtained. The material referred to below as "expanded clay granules" can be used both as a hydroponics material and as an additive to corrosive soil for flower beds. In the latter case,
It can be mixed with corrosive soil for flower beds or removed in layers.

The above-mentioned essential elements necessary for plant cultivation are present in the raw materials, and the products are prepared in a form that can be used by plants. For plants that require other conditions (for example, in the case of a flowering plant, where additional phosphorus is required for flower formation), the formulation is supplemented with appropriate additives, or Use the equivalent clay. Thereby, an optimal product can be prepared according to each application.

Due to the particle size configuration of the expanded clay granules according to the present invention, optimum liquid transfer or liquid exchange is performed within the granules, and sufficient air permeability is provided to enable necessary gas exchange. Granular spread gravel is obtained. Both of these are prerequisites for optimal plant cultivation.

By providing pores with a size in the range of less than 1 mm, plants can push the root tips into the granules and ingest the substance from the pores via the root hairs.

At this time, by setting the size of the pores to less than 1 mm, only the fine tips of the roots of the plant can enter the granules. If the pores are large, the thicker part of the root will enter the granules,
The porous structure of the granules can be destroyed. In fact, it is sufficient for only the root tips to enter to ingest the required substance through the pores. Further, in order to maintain the high stability of the granule, it is preferable that the pores are small, and if the pores are large, the stability of the granule will be impaired.

Thus, the high intrinsic stability of this material results in an aggregate structure in which optimum air exchange (oxygen supplementation) is achieved over a very long period of time, which is very important for plant cultivation. This is also a good example of disease prevention.

Due to the homogeneous, in particular optimally adjustable material structure and the capillary forces of the abovementioned methods, the liquid there is always evenly distributed in one unit, so that it is the same everywhere. Will be available as As a result, it is possible to prevent excessive supply or shortage of liquid. Therefore, it is possible to avoid the concentration of nutrients, which is toxic to plants due to local drying, which can hardly be prevented by the conventional corrosive soil for flower beds.
Also, the uniform void structure increases the stability of this material and allows the required substances to be evenly distributed from the granules to the plant.

Furthermore, when the expanded clay granules according to the invention are used as storage carriers, long-term buffers or bottom floors for aquariums, their advantages likewise derive from the homogeneous structure of this material and its capillary force. , Therefore, the substances essential for each purpose can be freely used and adjusted.

Particularly preferred is the production of the granules for plant cultivation substrates according to the invention essentially as described above by the process essentially as described in DE-PS 3414965. Because this method does not use any solidifying agents or binders such as cement, these additives are substances which are not desirable for the new fields of use of this material, such as calcium, phosphorus, etc. Because it may include. The raw material mixture should be at least 0.3
Foaming is carried out under the overpressure of the bar (ie under a pressure of about 1.3 bar), this pressure having to be maintained until it exits the nozzle as the foamed material is moved under pressure. As soon as the pressure drops, the free parts of the water decrease and the migration of the material will destroy the pore structure.

As already mentioned, West German patent DE-PS34149
Instead of shaping the foam mixture into a clay molding, drying and grinding, the method proposed in No. 65 can also be modified to periodically break the extruded strands of the foam mixture. This allows the granules to be manufactured directly without the need for subsequent grinding.

[0036]

EXAMPLES The present invention will now be described in more detail with reference to examples.

500 Kg brick clay, 200 l water, 400
Kg diatomaceous earth, and 80 g sodium polyphosphate,
100 g of sodium dodecyl sulfonate, 5 kg of recovered foamed clay pieces were put in a mixer and stirred vigorously at about 5 bar for about 5 minutes to foam, and the resulting thixotropic clay suspension was placed in a molding machine. Put it into a cylinder dryer with a diameter of 1 cm. The foamed clay material is dried for 5 minutes by a cylindrical dryer which has been heated to 200 ° C. in advance and then sent to a roll crusher. With this roll crusher, the dried foam clay material is crushed, and then the finely divided foam clay material is sieved with a sieving device, and the particles with a particle size of 2.5 to 4 mm are sent to a firing furnace.
Particles with a particle size less than 2.5 mm are returned to the raw material mixture. The dried expanded clay granules for calcination are introduced into a continuous furnace heated to 1450 ° C. where they are calcined with a residence time of 4 minutes. The calcined ceramic product is processed into granules ready for use as a plant cultivation substrate. At that time, the pH value is 7.2 and the water absorption capacity is about
130% by weight, the internal surface area is about 180 m ² / g and the diameter of the pores is 0.8 mm.

The embodiments of the present invention will be described below item by item.

1) A plant cultivation substrate comprising 20-100% granules of expanded clay or lightly fired ceramic material.

2) Granules, 45-80 parts by weight of clay, 0-50
Parts by weight of calcite, quartz sand, dolomite, feldspar, refractory clay, sepiolite as flux, 15-30 parts by weight of water, 0.01
~ 0.03 parts by weight of solubilizer as well as 0.001 to 0.01 parts by weight of surfactant are mixed in a disperser known per se under pressure (1-10 bar) with compressed air at room temperature to 95 ° C. In order to foam and, if necessary, a highly clay, thixotropic, self-stabilizing foam suspension, a substance which counteracts the solubilizer is added, after which the foam is, if necessary, The mixture is molded into a clay molded product, the molded product is dried at a temperature of room temperature to 200 ° C, the dried clay molded product is crushed if necessary, the crushed product is sieved, and the fine pieces are the raw material mixture. Finally, the clay molded product with the selected particle size or the crushed clay molded product is heated to 600-1500 ° C.
A plant cultivation base material according to embodiment 1, which is prepared by a method of firing at a production temperature of a clay molded product preferably between 700 and 800 ° C.

3) The plant cultivation base material according to the embodiment 1 or 2, wherein the foaming of the raw material is carried out at an overpressure of at least 0.3 bar, and the pressure is maintained until it comes out of the nozzle.

4) The plant cultivation base material according to any one of Embodiments 1 to 3, wherein the molding and crushing of the clay molded article are carried out by periodically interrupting the extrusion of the foamed mixture.

5) The plant cultivation base material according to any one of Embodiments 1 to 4, wherein a particle diameter in the range of 1 to 5 mm is selected as the particle diameter.

6) The granules have a particle size of 15 to 30% by weight, preferably 25% by weight having a diameter of 1 to 2 mm, and 40 to 70% by weight, preferably 60% by weight of 2 to 4 mm. The plant cultivation base material according to the embodiment 5, wherein 5 to 20% by weight, preferably 15% by weight of particles having a diameter is composed of particles having a diameter of 4 to 5 mm.

7) The plant cultivation base material according to any one of Embodiments 1 to 6, wherein the granule has a pore diameter of less than 1 mm.

8) Use of the plant cultivation base material according to any one of Embodiments 1 to 7 as a material for hydroponics.

9) Use of the plant cultivation base material according to any one of Embodiments 1 to 7 as corrosive soil for flower beds.

10) Use of the plant cultivation base material according to any one of Embodiments 1 to 7 as a storage carrier for nutrients, fertilizers, and / or insecticides.

11) Use according to embodiment 10, characterized in that the active ingredient solution is sprayed onto the porous ceramic material.

12) An embodiment characterized in that the sprayed porous ceramic material is overcoated with a liquid which initially hardens but which is dissolved by the action of water and / or root solution within a predetermined period of time. Use as described in 11.

13) Use according to embodiment 12, characterized in that as the topcoat solution, water glass solutions of different composition are used.

14) Embodiment characterized in that the water glass has been previously reacted with lime, chalk or gypsum.
Use as described in 13.

15) Use of the plant cultivation base material according to any one of Embodiments 1 to 7 as a long-term buffer for overly acidified soil.

16) Use according to embodiment 15, characterized in that substances such as chalk, dolomite, etc. which form an alkaline silicate on firing are added to the raw material mixture.

17) Use of the plant cultivation base material according to any one of Embodiments 1 to 7 as floor covering for an aquarium.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Zenpeak, Klaus Federal Republic of Germany Dee 2810 Felden / Aller Kornbull-Menweg 4

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. Granules of ceramic material fired at low temperature
A storage carrier for active substances, such as nutrients, fertilizers and / or insecticides, using a plant cultivation base containing 20-100%, wherein the ceramic material is treated with an active substance solution, followed by first hardening and then A storage carrier, characterized in that it is coated with a solution which dissolves within a predetermined time under the action of water and / or root fluid, said solution consisting of water glass which has previously been reacted with lime, chalk or gypsum. 2. A carrier for storing active substances such as nutrients, fertilizers and / or insecticides, which uses a plant cultivation substrate containing 20 to 100% of expanded clay granules, wherein the expanded clay is Treated with a solution of the active substance, which is subsequently coated with a solution which first hardens and then dissolves under the action of water and / or root fluid in a given time, said solution having previously reacted with lime, chalk or gypsum. A storage carrier, characterized in that it consists of impregnated water glass. 3. Storage carrier according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the granules have a diameter in the range 1-5 mm. 4. The storage carrier according to claim 3, wherein the granules have the following particle size distribution. 15-30% by weight is 1-2 mm in diameter; 40-70% by weight is 2-4 mm in diameter; 5-20% by weight is 4-5 mm in diameter. 5. The storage carrier according to claim 4, wherein the granules have the following particle size distribution. 25% by weight
Has a diameter of 1-2 mm; 60% by weight has a diameter of 2-4 mm; 15% by weight has a diameter
4-5 mm. 6. Storage carrier according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the diameter of the pores of the granules is less than 1 mm.