RU2774369C1 - Method for increasing the resistance of pot plants to conditions of insufficient illumination - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: crop farming.

SUBSTANCE: method involves the use of: (a) soil suitable for a pot crop, (b) glucose, (c) zeolite-containing rotten stone. Prior to planting a pot crop, glucose in an amount of at least 1 g per liter and zeolite-containing rotten stone subjected to heat treatment in an amount of at least 20% are introduced into the soil at different levels of illumination of plants: insufficient – 150 lux, low – 100 lux, and extremely low – 50 lux.

EFFECT: method improves the indicators of plant growth in conditions of insufficient illumination.

7 cl, 10 tbl

Description

FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY TO WHICH THE INVENTION RELATES

The invention relates to the field of agriculture, more specifically to methods for growing potted plants.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

From a variety of sources known additives to improve certain properties of the soil. In particular, mixtures of complex composition containing sugar (sucrose, sorbitol or trehalose), zeolite and other components (mineral fertilizers, organic fertilizers, organic fillers, inorganic fillers, microorganisms, and/or complex organic substances such as vitamins and amino acids).

However, none of these sources investigated the effect of glucose or zeolite alone or in combination on plant growth under low light conditions.

US 2008250710 discloses a method for growing plants in low light conditions, in which citric, maleic, succinic, tartaric, acetic, lactic acid, etc. are introduced into the soil to increase the resistance of plants in such conditions. Also, the authors of US 2008250710 note that the effect can improve with the addition of sugars such as glucose, fructose, trehalose and sucrose.

The present invention is based on the fact that it was unexpectedly found that the application of zeolite-containing tripoli to the soil also improves plant growth in low light conditions, and this effect is enhanced by the additional introduction of glucose.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

Light is one of the most important environmental indicators for plant life. The main characteristics of light are its spectral composition, intensity, daily and seasonal dynamics.

The placement of indoor plants in artificial structures has objective limitations, which, in turn, leads to an uneven distribution of plants in the room. Phyto-overloaded zones are formed around light sources (windows, transparent roofs, etc.) and surfaces where the growth and development of a pot culture is difficult due to insufficient lighting.

At the same time, almost all indoor plants are photophilous; thrive best in light of more than 300 lux. Accordingly, illumination below 300 lux can be characterized as insufficient.

In relation to light, plants are usually divided into three main groups: photophilous, shade-tolerant and shade-indifferent.

Like all living organisms, plants have the ability to adapt to changing conditions. This ability varies from species to species. There are plants that adapt quite easily to sufficient or excess light, but there are also those that develop well only under strictly defined light parameters.

As a result of the adaptation of the plant to low light, its appearance changes somewhat. The leaves become dark green and slightly increase in size (linear leaves lengthen and become narrower), the stem internodes begin to stretch, which at the same time loses its strength. Then their growth gradually decreases, because. the production of photosynthesis products going to foreign bodies of the plant is sharply reduced. With a lack of light, many plants stop blooming.

The appearance of a bronze-yellow leaf color indicates a significant excess of light, which is harmful to plants. If appropriate measures are not taken, a burn may occur.

Important characteristics of the light regime are diurnal and seasonal dynamics. The length of the daylight hours varies throughout the year. In temperate latitudes, the shortest day is 8 hours, the longest is more than 16 hours.

Indoors, plants receive one-way light - from windows. Even on the same window, the lighting conditions are not the same. So, for example, the right side of a west-facing window receives more light than the left.

The amount of direct sunlight entering a room depends on the location of the windows. Most of the sun's rays penetrate into the so-called "lanterns" with three-sided lighting, then into the corner rooms with windows to the east and south or west.

The sun stays the longest on the south (open to the sun for 6-9 hours and let in maximum sunlight), then on the southeast and southwest windows; windows facing east are illuminated by the sun from morning to noon, western windows - only in the afternoon. North-facing windows let in an even, almost constant intensity of light throughout the day. In mid-latitude conditions, most of the day the plants are illuminated not by direct, but by diffused sunlight.

Many plants are very sensitive to changes in position relative to the light source. Therefore, permutations should be avoided.

Flowers and herbs reach for the light and turn their leaves towards it, as a result of which they take on a one-sided shape in the rooms. Evergreen ornamental deciduous plants, if they are gradually turned towards the light, grow evenly in all directions.

Shade-tolerant species include plants adapted to existence in low light conditions, where the light intensity is 0.25-0.5% of full daylight. These are mainly people from humid tropical regions.

One of the most common reasons for the slow death of fairly unpretentious houseplants is the lack of light. Under the lack of light is understood both the insufficient duration of daylight hours and the insufficient intensity of lighting. It should be noted that light is the only available source of energy for green plants, which ensures the performance of all the functions of their body. Therefore, illumination below the species-specific threshold inevitably leads to the death of the plant.

Naturally, the plant does not die immediately. First, the natural color of the leaves changes: young leaves grow paler and smaller than usual, variegated leaves lose their brightness of the pattern, variegated leaves turn green, lower leaves turn yellow. There is an ugly stretching of the shoots due to excessive elongation of the internodes, and flowering is much more scarce: fewer flowers are formed, and they are smaller in size. Then the plant stops growing, flowering does not occur at all, the lower leaves turn yellow, dry out and fall off. And only after that the plant finally dies. Young plants are the most sensitive to light deficiency.

Old specimens with a well-developed root system are more resistant to conditions of lack of light, since with a low level of photosynthesis they can use the nutrient reserves accumulated in the roots for some time. But with a constant lack of lighting for several months, they inevitably die.

Signs that a plant is chronically lacking in light may be different, but young shoots that form under these conditions are the first to suffer. Their leaf blades become pale in color, the internodes lengthen, and the size of the leaf blade decreases.

For some species, in low light, the appearance of juvenile leaves is characteristic. So, the well-known monstera deliciosa (Monstera deliciosa) at a young age forms heart-shaped whole-edged uncut leaves, over the years new leaves appear, more and more large, which become more and more bizarre. First, deep cuts appear along the edge of the plate, and then, when the leaves become even larger, they are decorated with closed holes along the central vein. With a chronic lack of light, monstera has small, simple shapes, leaves without holes, and it loses all its decorative effect.

Poor lighting causes poor or late flowering of indoor plants. So, if sunlight falls on pelargonium at least occasionally during the winter, then it blooms much earlier and blooms much more abundantly than plants standing in the back of the room or on the north window.

But most of all, cacti, lithops and other succulent plants (agaves, spurges, aloe, crassula, sedums) suffer from a chronic lack of light. Their stems are stretched, flowering stops, the plants lose their decorative effect, and eventually death occurs.

In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for improving the resistance of potted plants to low light conditions.

The technical result provided by the use of the invention is to improve the growth of plants in low light conditions.

This problem has been solved due to the fact that in the proposed method for improving the growth of a pot culture in conditions of insufficient natural light, which uses:

(a) soil suitable for pot culture,

(b) glucose,

(c) zeolite-containing tripoli, characterized in that it contains

before planting the potted culture, glucose is introduced into the soil in an amount of at least 1 g per liter and zeolite-containing tripoli in an amount of at least 20%, while the zeolite-containing tripoli is subjected to heat treatment before application.

As will be clear to the average specialist in this field of technology, the achievement of the technical result is ensured by stimulating plant growth with macro- and microelements located in zeolite-containing tripoli and stimulating plant survival in conditions of low glucose illumination.

In the following, the aforementioned device, described in general categories, is explained by way of example of some particularly preferred embodiments that provide additional advantages.

Insufficient illumination, in one of the preferred embodiments of the method described above, is an illumination of less than 300 lux.

Insufficient illumination, in one of the preferred embodiments of the method described above, is an illumination of less than 150 lux.

Insufficient illumination, in one of the preferred embodiments of the method described above, is an illumination of less than 50 lux.

The content of zeolite-containing tripoli in the soil after application, in one of the preferred embodiments of the method described above, is up to 100%, preferably up to 70%, even more preferably up to 50%.

More than 75% of the particles of zeolite-containing tripoli, in one of the preferred embodiments of the above described method, belong to a fraction of 5-7 mm and/or 7-10 mm.

The soil, in one of the preferred embodiments of the method described above, is a peat-based substrate.

The content of glucose, in one of the preferred embodiments of the above method, is 1-20 g per 1 liter of soil.

Glucose, in one of the preferred embodiments of the above method, is introduced into the soil in the form of an aqueous solution.

In one of the preferred embodiments of the above method, sources of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, calcium and sodium are additionally introduced into the soil.

The present invention can be applied when growing plants in low light conditions.

It must be understood that in this text the invention is characterized only by such features that are sufficient to solve the problem, implement the purpose and achieve the selected technical result; special mention of all the features and utility characteristics of the invention without exception is not required if specialists should know that products of the same kind have such features and utility characteristics and without them the main purpose is not realized; Moreover, it is not required to limit the generalized features to any specific options, if they should be known to specialists and (or) can be selected according to known rules.

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE INVENTION

The objects of research were two types of indoor plants: Rubbery Ficus (lat. Ficus elastica) and Hamedorea (lat. Chamaedorea).

For the study, soils with different contents of zeolite-containing tripoli were created and three lighting levels (50, 100, 150 lux) were modeled. The investigated levels of illumination are characterized as low, extremely low and extremely low.

In the course of the experiment, methods of vegetation observation and biometric measurements were used.

The studies were carried out indoors with air temperature plus 21-23°C, air humidity 62-85% for 2 months.

Characteristics of the studied plants

For the experiment, two types of indoor plants were purchased in the trading network: Hamedorea (Latin Chamaedorea) is a genus of flowering plants of the Palm family (Agesaceae). Widely distributed in the tropical rainforests of South and Central America. It is a low growing woody rhizome plant with numerous thin stems. Each stem has an average of 6-7 pinnate leaves. All types of hamedorea are dioecious plants.

Ficus elastica is a light-loving, shade-tolerant plant. Just like Hamedorea, this plant does not tolerate exposure to direct sunlight and calmly tolerates shading. The optimum growing temperature lies in the range from +22 to +25°C. All plants of the genus Ficus need high humidity, so plants must be sprayed in the heat.

A specially prepared zeolite-containing tripoli was used as the main soil. The source of origin is the Khotynets deposit. Zeolite-containing tripoli from the Khotynets deposit underwent thermal roasting (thermal modification), which made it possible to significantly improve the water-physical properties. Data from agrochemical studies are presented in Table 1.

In contrast to zeolites, which consist mainly of framework aluminosilicate minerals with sorption and ion-exchange properties, the zeolite-containing tripoli of the Khotynets deposit has a more complex mineral structure, since it also contains other rock-forming minerals that give it additional physical and reclamation functions that differ from natural and artificial ones. zeolites.

In addition to the zeolite itself (clinoptilolite), the zeolite-containing tripoli of the Khotynets deposit also contains, along with other minerals, an opal-cristobalite-tridymite (OCT) phase, which is a source of amorphous silicon easily absorbed by plants, which increases the level of plant resistance to any stresses, including to stresses associated with insufficient lighting of plants.

Particle size distribution data indicate fractional differentiation of zeolite-containing tripoli (Table 2).

Fractions of 10-7 mm and 7-5 mm predominate in the composition of zeolite-containing tripoli. The total share of these fractions was more than 75%. The chemical and physical properties of the substrate determine the water-air regime of the substrate against the background of high trophicity due to the presence of water-soluble forms of nutrients.

Experiment scheme

The growing experiment was carried out as follows.

We used two types of indoor plants (Ficus elastica and Hamedorea).

For vegetation experiments, soil with different ratios of zeolite-containing tripoli and peat substrate was used. The experiment was carried out at different levels of illumination: insufficient (150 lux), low (100 lux), and extremely low (50 lux).

To further study the effect of glucose, a soil containing 100% zeolite-containing tripolite with and without the addition of glucose was used.

All studies were carried out indoors with air temperature plus 21-23°C, air humidity 62-85%.

To study the effect of adding glucose to zeolite, it was introduced into the soil under conditions of constant mixing at the rate of 10 g per 1 liter of soil in the form of an aqueous solution.

The scheme of the experiment with the culture of Ficus elastica (lat. Ficus elastica) is presented in table No. 3.

The scheme of the experiment with the culture of Hamedorea (lat. Chamaedorea) was similar, presented in table 4.

The schemes of experiments according to tables 3 and 4 differ from each other in the composition of the substrates, the most experienced culture, as well as the level of illumination.

As part of vegetation observations of the course of growth, the parameters were taken into account in three terms. The first count was carried out at the beginning of the experiment, the second - a month after planting, the third - two months after planting.

The dynamics of the length of shoots, the number of leaves, the number of shoots of Ficus elastica and Hamedorea plants were taken into account (tables 5-9).

Research results

The data obtained indicate that all three studied levels of illumination have a different effect on the vegetation of plants, as well as the dynamics of the vegetation process.

It has been established that at 150 lux it is possible to maintain the processes of growth and development in indoor plants for a long period using soil from thermally treated zeolite-containing tripoli with added glucose solution.

At an illumination level of 100 lux, important factors in the vegetation of the studied plants are the physicochemical properties of the soil.

Growing plants at a light level of 50 lux is difficult and leads to a high loss of decorativeness, as well as death.

The best indicator in all parameters at a level of 150 lux on variants using zeolite-containing soil with glucose. The absence of an additive in the form of glucose in the substrate reduced the final values of the accounting indicators, however, they were higher than at lower illumination levels of 100 and 50 lux. The addition of glucose to the soil had a positive effect on maintaining the decorative qualities of the studied plants, but their effect is leveled at lower illumination.

The rating of the effectiveness of the studied factors on the Hamedorea plant in the vegetative experiment indicates that higher illumination is not a determining factor. The highest complex indicator of decorativeness was established for variants with the use of soil based on zeolite-containing tripoli with glucose.

Claims (12)

1. A method for improving the growth of a pot culture in conditions of insufficient natural light, which uses: (a) soil suitable for pot culture, (b) glucose, (c) zeolite-containing tripoli, characterized in that it before planting a potted culture, glucose is added to the soil in an amount of at least 1 g per liter and zeolite-containing tripoli, which is subjected to heat treatment, in an amount of at least 20%, at different levels of plant illumination: insufficient - 150 lux, low - 100 lux and extremely low - 50 lux. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the content of zeolite-containing tripoli in the soil after application is preferably up to 70%, even more preferably up to 50%. 3. The method according to p. 1, in which more than 75% of the particles of zeolite-containing tripol belong to the fraction 5-7 mm and/or 7-10 mm. 4. The method of claim 1 wherein the soil is a peat-based substrate. 5. The method according to p. 1, in which the glucose content is 1-20 g per 1 liter of soil. 6. The method according to p. 1, in which glucose is introduced into the soil in the form of an aqueous solution. 7. The method according to claim 1, in which sources of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, calcium and sodium are additionally introduced into the soil.