System, methods, and devices may control air flow, temperature, relative humidity, substrate temperature, substrate moisture, carbon dioxide concentration, photoperiod, irrigation, light intensity, spectrum, and vapor pressure deficit. The system may comprise water and air pumps, sensors, air and water distribution apparatus, lights, heaters, foggers, sensors, and electronic system control dedicated to control the environment on individual or multiple growing platforms. The present disclosure provides the ability to provide microclimate control to optimize the environment at the plant or shelf level to optimize plant yields and production resources. The present disclosure may utilize an open or closed plant production configuration depending on the desired plant outcome and plant species.

Potted plant riser assemblies are provided for preventing small, crawling insects from accessing cultivated plants. Embodiments of the potted plant riser assembly can include an outer wall structure that defines an outer ground boundary. The outer wall structure surrounds a capture trough, which surrounds a riser structure. The capture trough has insect capture material disposed therein. The riser structure includes an elevated platform on which to place (or integrate) a planter for cultivating a plant. The potted plant riser assembly also includes an eaves structure designed to permit entry of small, crawling insects into the capture trough, while also shielding the capture trough from entry of debris and from run-off of water, soil, and the like from the plant and planter.

A method and a system for growing plants on multilayer principle in mobile gutter farming is described, whereby, in the process of growing plants planted in cultivation gutters, said plants are conveyed in cultivation layers present on top of each other in a cultivation space in a longitudinal direction of the cultivation space in one or opposite directions. The cultivation gutters and the plants contained therein, are treated in the cultivation space by means of a processing arrangement in a cultivation layer-specific manner, whereby the cultivation gutters and the plants contained therein are first of all conveyed by motion elements in each cultivation layer of the cultivation space in the longitudinal direction of the cultivation space in opposite directions and are treated by processing elements in each cultivation layer of the cultivation space separately, in a manner substantially independent of the other cultivation layers.

Plant growth structures and components of plant growth structures. The plant growth structure components provide the ability to customize the plant growth structure to suit the needs of different types of plants. The plant growth structures also provide improved water flow to the plants and a high density of plants in a relatively small growing area.

A plant-growing tray for containing cylindrical stabilised media for growing plants comprises an array of flared columns, a lower end of the columns being wider than an upper end. The columns define an array of cells therebetween for containing cylindrical stabilised media, and a column comprises one or more contact edges defined by an intersection between a wall of the flared column and a virtual cylindrical surface in a cell, such that the contact edges are suitable for contacting a cylindrical stabilised medium positioned in the cell.

The present invention provides a smart plant cultivation device and a smart plant cultivation system which, by using an Internet of things (IoT) technology, can automatically configure a cultivation environment according to a variety of plants, automatically perform zoning control of a light source module, and monitor and record a cultivation process of a plant through a user device.

Systems and methods for vertical farming that reduce the deployment cost, operational costs of human labor, and overall use of energy intensive processes, such as lighting, heating and cooling, and ventilation, while increasing crop quality and yield. This reduction is achieved through a hybrid system that alternates natural light, temperature, and ventilation sources with system-controlled lighting, temperature, and ventilation means. The system includes a germination module that allows seeds to germinal on a horizontal substrate, a growth module that provides optimal growth conditions to the germinated seed on the substrate in a vertical position, and a dosing module that controls the micronutrient mixture supplied to the growing plants.

The invention concerns a tray (20) for cultivating a crop or a precursor thereof, particularly a strawberry plant cultivation tray, wherein the tray (20) comprises an upper wall (32) with a number of holders (42) for holding therein the crop or precursor thereof, wherein the holders (42) are formed by a number of longitudinally extending rows of cup-shaped recesses in the upper wall (32), herein the upper wall (32) also comprises a groove-like recess (33) arranged between adjacent rows of cup-shaped recesses (40) and extending in longitudinal direction (PI).

A vertical growing system includes a frame assembly extending above a base surface, the frame assembly includes a support grid defining a longitudinal axis. The system further includes a propagation tray having a chamber for holding a plant therein and a mounting tray. The mounting tray is removably attached to the frame assembly and includes an interior surface sized to receive at least a portion of the propagation tray therein. The system further includes a positioning member sized to extend from the interior surface of the mounting tray to the propagation tray when the propagation tray is received within the mounting tray. The positioning member is shaped to orient the chamber at a first oblique angle relative to the longitudinal axis of the support grid.

Disclosed herein are mineral-based composites that comprise gypsum, syngenite, brucite and a hydrated magnesium sulphate mineral, and which are adapted to degrade when buried. Also disclosed herein are mineral mixtures which can be used to produce the mineral-based composites, as well as products, such as plantable containers, formed from the mineral-based composites and which degrade when buried.