A plant cultivation system for a plant factory that cultivates plants. The plant factory has a building with roof and walls, which may be in the form of a greenhouse with a roof and windows that may be opened and closed. A plant factory using the plant cultivation system cultivates plants for harvest and/or sale. The plant factory plant utilizes a trolley conveyor for transport of plants in plant containers. The trolley conveyor uses straight runs of track connected by curved track portions. The straight runs of track of the trolley conveyor are spaced closely together with space only provided for passage of plant containers in a side by side fashion, as no room for workers is necessary. The plant containers take the plant containers to workers in a workshop for planting, cultivation, harvesting of plants or portions thereof, and packaging of plants or portions thereof for shipment. As a result, labor is minimized, and the productivity of the plant factory is increased.

A plant cultivation system for a plant factory that cultivates plants. The plant factory has a building with roof and walls, which may be in the form of a greenhouse with a roof and windows that may be opened and closed. A plant factory using the plant cultivation system cultivates plants for harvest and/or sale. The plant factory plant utilizes a trolley conveyor for transport of plants in plant containers. The trolley conveyor uses straight runs of track connected by curved track portions. The straight runs of track of the trolley conveyor are spaced closely together with space only provided for passage of plant containers in a side by side fashion, as no room for workers is necessary. The plant containers take the plant containers to workers in a workshop for planting, cultivation, harvesting of plants or portions thereof, and packaging of plants or portions thereof for shipment. As a result, labor is minimized, and the productivity of the plant factory is increased.

A trolley conveyor. The trolley conveyor includes: a tubular rail track having a slotted opening at the top. A trolley chain installed to move in the rail track. A hanger is provided for suspending therebelow objects to be transported. The hanger includes a connector at the upper end thereof which extends downward to toward the center of the trolley chain. The trolley chain includes vertical and horizontal rollers in chain units, with vertical rollers in one chain unit and horizontal rollers in an adjacent chain unit. The chain units are pivotally connected for up and down and side to side motion within the track. While the trolley chain moves, the connector avoids contact with the ends of the slot in the track. Thus, the trolley conveyor prevents the generation of noise and foreign substances. Also, the trolley conveyor prevents transfer of dirt, oil, and debris to an object being transported.

A method for producing a multi-purpose agricultural, horticultural and floristry tie includes collecting a plurality of textile selvages, sorting the plurality of textile selvages into desired groups according to predetermined criteria, forming a cord of specific, desired length by aggregating shorter or trimming longer lengths from the sorted plurality and winding the cord into a unit to be used as an agricultural, horticultural and floristry tie.

The thorn extractor apparatus has a frame, a roller, a screen that surrounds the roller and a screen roller, and a removably attachable collection bin for receiving the thorny seeds. The roller and screen work together to pick up and convey the thorny seeds to the removably attachable collection bin to be discarded.

One variation of a method for monitoring growth of plants within a facility includes: aggregating global ambient data recorded by a suite of fixed sensors, arranged proximal a grow area within the facility, at a first frequency during a grow period; extracting interim outcomes of a set of plants, occupying a module in the grow area, from module-level images recorded by a mover at a second frequency less than the first frequency while interfacing with the module during the period of time; dispatching the mover to autonomously deliver the module to a transfer station; extracting interim outcomes of the set of plants from plant-level images recorded by the transfer station while sequentially transferring plants out of the module at the conclusion of the grow period; and deriving relationships between ambient conditions, interim outcomes, and final outcomes from a corpus of plant records associated with plants grown in the facility.

One variation of a method for monitoring growth of plants within a facility includes: aggregating global ambient data recorded by a suite of fixed sensors, arranged proximal a grow area within the facility, at a first frequency during a grow period; extracting interim outcomes of a set of plants, occupying a module in the grow area, from module-level images recorded by a mover at a second frequency less than the first frequency while interfacing with the module during the period of time; dispatching the mover to autonomously deliver the module to a transfer station; extracting interim outcomes of the set of plants from plant-level images recorded by the transfer station while sequentially transferring plants out of the module at the conclusion of the grow period; and deriving relationships between ambient conditions, interim outcomes, and final outcomes from a corpus of plant records associated with plants grown in the facility.

A plant material trimmer (PMT) that cuts/separates plant leaf material from plant flower material. The PMT has a trimming assembly that includes a motor with a shaft. A propeller is attached to the motor shaft, above the motor. A twisted metal stand wire rope cutting element is attached to the propeller. An upward extending pin is located at each end of the propeller and the cutting element's ends interface with the pins. A trimming platform is located above the trimming assembly. The platform has multiple elliptical beveled slots extending therethrough. Above the platform is a conveyor assembly with a belt that rotates about two axles. A plurality of push panels are attached to the belt. A conveyor motor produces a forward movement of the belt and push panels which sweep across the platform. Wet or dry plant material is placed on the platform, and the push panels sweeping across the platform cause the plant material down through the slots. Upon exiting the slots the plant material is immediately cut by the rotating propeller and cutting element. The cut plant then falls into a mesh fabric bag located below.

The automated trimming of an untrimmed plant stem comprises a device for transporting an untrimmed plant stem to an imaging stage, using a camera to capture at least one image of the plant stem, sending the at least one image to a central processor which creates a trim map which constructs a pattern for moving a cutting armature along the plant stem, and trimming the plant stem by cutting structure of the cutting armature to change the untrimmed plant stem to a trimmed plant stem.

The automated trimming of an untrimmed plant stem comprises a device for transporting an untrimmed plant stem to an imaging stage, using a camera to capture at least one image of the plant stem, sending the at least one image to a central processor which creates a trim map which constructs a pattern for moving a cutting armature along the plant stem, and trimming the plant stem by cutting structure of the cutting armature to change the untrimmed plant stem to a trimmed plant stem.