A method and system of improving the growth of plants belonging to the family Solanaceae by providing a plant nutrient solution about the plant roots and a gas mixture circulating about the plant shoot; by selecting the gas mixture and plant nutrient solution temperature independently of the other; and providing a plant nutrient solution to gas mixture temperature differential of approximately at least approximately 10° F. during different phases of plant development. The method and system improves plant development to improve a desired plant organ for industrial, scientific, and medical purposes. A method of improving the growth and development of Solanaceae plants by providing a shoot-to-root temperature differential to treat or prevent infection by a plant pathogen and/or infestation by pests.

An example plant monitoring system can include sensors connected to a horticultural monitor. The sensors can measure the soil, the environment, individual plant characteristics, etc. At least one horticultural monitor can send sensor data to a local beacon. The local beacon can then receive the data and send it to cloud resources which can process the data. The cloud resources can determine the health of the plant and monitor its development. A user can track this health and development using an interaction device.

A noninvasive method of source-sink regulation in rice belongs to the technical field of rice production. In this method, the source-sink relationship is regulated by a rice sterile line and its identical type of maintaining line being subjected to mixed-planting and insulated pollination, or sowing and transplanting at different times and insulated pollination, so as to construct rice plant samples with gradient difference of source-sink levels. The present invention is a kind of native, natural noninvasive method of source-sink regulation, which could broaden the traditional thinking of source-sink theoretical research, especially overcome the deficiency in conventional methods such as leaf-cutting, spikelet-thinning that lead to physical injury or physiological interference. The method provides a brand new approach and solution for thoroughly investigating source-sink relationship in rice, wheat, maize and other crops, and will play an important role in enriching crop source-sink theory and also promoting the development of the related disciplines.

A system for growing plants in an urban setting is provided. The system includes a container. The container is made of a watertight material. The container includes a base and a sidewall extending from the base forming a receptacle within. The present invention further includes a cell layer. The cell layer includes a horizontal base and a plurality of vertical extending cell walls forming a plurality of water cells therebetween. A porous layer covers the cell layer. The porous layer includes a plurality of pores permitting molecules the size of water and smaller to pass through. The cell layer covered with the porous layer are disposed within the receptacle. The cell layer is then covered with soil.

This disclosure sets forth systems and techniques that trace plant provenance and determine a likelihood of plant spoilage within a plant growth operation. Particularly, a plant health monitoring system may monitor and record plant growth data of one or more individual plants during a plant life cycle from germination through to harvest. The plant growth data may include data relating to environmental conditions that surround the individual plants, and plant-specific data drawn from time-lapse images captured during the plant life cycle. A plant grower may use the time-lapse image data to identify changes in plant structure that indicate the degree of health of an individual plant, or the encompassing batch of plants. Further, a plant grower may use the plant growth data to generate one or more financial instruments that may be distributed to one or more financial institutions as support for securing capital to fund the plant growth operation.

This disclosure sets forth systems and techniques that trace plant provenance and determine a likelihood of plant spoilage within a plant growth operation. Particularly, a plant health monitoring system may monitor and record plant growth data of one or more individual plants during a plant life cycle from germination through to harvest. The plant growth data may include data relating to environmental conditions that surround the individual plants, and plant-specific data drawn from time-lapse images captured during the plant life cycle. A plant grower may use the time-lapse image data to identify changes in plant structure that indicate the degree of health of an individual plant, or the encompassing batch of plants. Further, a plant grower may use the plant growth data to generate one or more financial instruments that may be distributed to one or more financial institutions as support for securing capital to fund the plant growth operation.

A method of producing thymoquinone and/or thymohydroquinone in Monarda by growing Monarda with elevated levels of carvacrol and/or thymol in the fresh plant tissue and vigorous growth, harvesting the Monarda, leaving the Monarda to senensce in the presence of oxygen and extracting the thymoquinone and/or thymohydroquinone from the senesced tissue.

The invention relates to a device for treating soil with electromagnetic radiation, comprising: a magnetron antenna (9) for generating microwave radiation with a relatively high frequency; a wave guide (16) connected to the output of the magnetron antenna (9); downward directed tubular members (18, 19) connected to the wave guide (16); a manifold (17) arranged between the two tubular members (18, 19) and the wave guide (16); a tuner unit (26) arranged on the wave guide (16); and cooling means (22, 22′, 22″) for cooling the electromagnetic radiation reflected by the soil. The invention also relates to a cable (24) provided with a single high-voltage cable and one or more low-voltage cables and/or a number of optical cables which are arranged in a shared cable. The invention finally relates to a method for disinfecting soil, wherein a magnetron (9) placed on a vehicle is moved over the soil, wherein the radiation reflected by the soil is minimized by tuning the wave guide (16) connected to the magnetron (9), and wherein the minimized reflected radiation is absorbed by a water load which is connected to one or two water tanks (22′, 22″) which are placed on the vehicle and which hold the temperature of the water within predetermined limits.

It is new in the art to mechanically expose Phragmites to continual rain water internal intrusion and retention. Man-made water reservoirs made from the Phragmites living stalk is a new mechanical removal method. Rapid destruction in one season of entire clones occurs with simply one or two cuttings and is effective in any season. Maintaining minimum ⅓ of stalk height leaves the ground shaded and water-logged continually inhibiting seedling growth and causing Phragmites destruction without soil disturbance. Phragmites coding does not have a repair system to overcome mid-section stalk cutting collecting water. It fails to send out new rhizomes as it sends new suckers from the top ligule instead. A second sucker is easily removed below the ligule and the stalk fails to support it's life and dies. Increased insect and fungal activity from the man-made water-logging Phragmites stalk reservoir further reduces Phragmites function and suppresses seedling growth.

System and method for quantifying qualitative turf conditions as they relate to turf performance and health. In an embodiment, data is collected about turf condition using a turf analysis device. The data collected aboute the conditions may be used to generate condition-based turf stress indexes that may be used to genasrte an overall a Turf Performance Indicator (TPI). Such collections are calculated through a unique quantitative mathematical equation resulting in a measurable quotient that is used to assess overall turf performance qualities on a relative scale over time. Using an integrated Global Positioning System (GPS), the TPI measurements can be used to identify overall property conditions and zone specific conditions within that property. Such analysis is viewed with visual analysis methods using a cloud based system.