An automated farm includes a cloning room and an environmentally controlled nursery with a storage and retrieval system, child storage racks, and child conveyor trays. The automated farm has environmentally controlled grow rooms, environmentally controlled lighted and unlighted flower rooms, a trimming or pruning room, and a harvest room. The automated farm includes specialized parent plant pots with training devices, and tray and trellis systems with rotation plant holders and removable trellis combs. Plant tending robots are configured to clone, trim, prune, harvest, and maintain plants. The automated farm includes a transport mechanism configured to transport the child conveyor trays, the parent plant pots, and the tray and trellis systems between the cloning room, the nursery, the grow rooms, the flower rooms, the trimming or pruning room, and/or the harvest room. The automated farm also includes a farm control and data management system.

The present invention is for a potted plant support apparatus for use with a container, plant stake and net, cage or trellis support. The apparatus is adjustable to fit a height of a container and is mounted on an exterior of the container, wherein the apparatus holds a stake exterior to the container, and further wherein an optional clip may be affixed removably to the stake and an optional trellis may be affixed removably to the clip and configured to surround an area above and exterior to the container and to enclose and support a potted plant within the trellis. The apparatus comprises an upper stand and a lower stand which removably engage with each other by interlocking teeth, and may further comprise an optional lock to secure the upper stand and the lower stand to each other when removably engaged.

In one series of embodiments there is provided a bracing member for a plant support frame. In embodiments the bracing member comprises a body portion defining a perimeter; an opening provided within the body portion which is sized and dimensioned to receive a plant there through; and a plurality of radially oriented circumferential holes extending through the body portion. The holes being sized to accept a cooperating fastener for securing a support rod to the bracing member for forming the plant support frame. The different bracing members of a plant support frame are dimensioned for storage in a flat concentric arrangement whereby the circumferential holes of an inner bracing member align with the circumferential holes of an outer bracing member for receiving a locking pin there through for securing different bracing members together.

A trellis apparatus for supporting a growing plant includes a mesh operable to support and hold a growing portion of a plant when the plant is held by a portable container, and a frame operable to support and hold the mesh above the plant when the plant is held by the portable container. The mesh is sized and configured to not support and not hold a growing portion of another plant when the other plant is not held by the portable container. The mesh includes an array of passages, each passage defined by a section of a line that is configured to form the mesh, and at least one of the passages is sized to allow a growing portion of the plant held by the portable container to extend through the passage. The frame includes a stanchion operable to position and hold the mesh above the plant when the plant is held by the portable container, and a coupler operable to secure the stanchion to the container that holds the growing plant.

This invention is able to enhance growth of plants and increase plant production by increasing exposure to air and light and stressing the plant. The apparatus has at least one post and at least one crown attached thereto. At least one of the crowns has a plurality of spaces sized and configured to receive, stress and support branches of a plant to define user desired growing pattern of the plant. In one configuration, the spaces are interstitial between coils of a coiled member, such as a spring, that is attached to or part of the crown. The crown is surfaced with an abrasive material such as a sand or polymer grit thereby more effectively holding the plant in place and providing a means to abrade or stress the plant to stimulate a growth response which can be controlled over the internet by means of a cellular microcontroller.

Some embodiments relate to a kit for forming a plant support. The kit may comprise: a plurality of polymer ring strips, each formable into a respective ring; a plurality of polymer stake sleeves, each sleeve defining an elongate channel to receive a stake therethrough and each sleeve defining a plurality of slots sized to receive at least a portion of a respective ring strip therethrough, the slots being defined at spaced locations along a sleeve length of each sleeve; and a plurality of polymer stakes, each stake being sized to fit through the elongate channel and having a stake length greater than the sleeve length, wherein each stake has a first end and an opposite second end, and wherein a lengthwise rigidity of the stake is sufficient to cooperate with the sleeves and ring strips to form the plant support when the first ends of the stakes are submerged in soil along with at least a portion of the sleeves.

A raised border system includes a plurality of beams and a plurality of corner brackets that are configured to connect ends of the plurality of the beams to one another to form an enclosed inner area. Each corner bracket includes a first beam receiving slot that is open along a first side of the corner bracket and a second beam receiving slot that is open along a second side of the corner bracket and a first opening that is isolated from both the first beam receiving slot and the second beam receiving slot. The system includes a plurality of corner connectors that are coupled to and sit above the plurality of corner brackets. Each corner connector has an insert that is received within the first opening of one respective corner bracket. Each corner connector is configured to attach to an upper frame system.

A kit for providing stem, branch and foliage support for a planting. The kit includes a plurality of hoop shaped bodies, each exhibiting an open interior adapted to encircle and support the planting. A plurality of vertically elongated portions secured about a perimeter of each of said bodies and include upper and lower inter-engaging ends for stacking the bodies in vertically spaced apart and tiered defining fashion. A plurality of elongated ground engagement stakes each include a flattened and intermediate located planar surface adapted for embedding the stakes in combination with an upper located pair of finger graspable retrieval tabs adapted for retracting the stakes. Each of the stakes further include an upper end securing the lower inter-engaging ends of a lower most hoop shaped body.

A plant stake and display tag holder for use with a nursery container such as a pot or free-standing planter. The display tag is attached to the container and is accessible and visible to the consumer without obstruction from the container or plant contained therein. The bottom of the plant stake inserts into a slit in the rim portion of a nursery container and locks into place to hold the plant stake upright and securely in place. The display tag is held above the soil line and avoids the common problems associated with display tag holders inserted below the soil line.

A garden seed planter that displays a color for identifying the type of garden product that will be produced by a plant from a seed contained in a capsule of the garden seed planter. In a preferred lollipop form embodiment at least a portion of the garden seed planter capsule has a colored coating that is substantially the same color as the garden product produced by the plant to be grown from the seed, and there is a planter stake attached to the seed capsule having a portion that also displays substantially the same color as the garden product.