US 12,419,230 B1
Porous ceramic member with nano silver coating for filtering a plant growth medium and method of application
Hsi-Chuan Chen, Morrisville, NC (US)
Filed by Orchid Gene, LLC, Morrisville, NC (US)
Filed on Oct. 14, 2020, as Appl. No. 17/070,800.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/914,964, filed on Oct. 14, 2019.
Int. Cl. A01G 24/40 (2018.01)
CPC A01G 24/40 (2018.02) 4 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of growing plants, comprising:
coating porous ceramic material with nanoparticles, the porous ceramic material having a plurality of pores and one or more cavities, the one or more cavities being enclosed by all sides except a top thereof by the porous ceramic material;
placing the porous ceramic material coated with nanoparticles into a plant containment unit;
placing a liquid plant growth medium into the plant containment unit, thereby the plant growth medium contacts an outer surface of the porous ceramic material coated with nanoparticles;
placing one or more plants into the one or more cavities of the porous ceramic material;
absorbing the plant growth medium into the pores of the porous ceramic material coated with nanoparticles, thereby causing the plant growth medium to be exposed to the nanoparticles;
filtering the plant growth medium from the outer surface of the porous ceramic material through the porous ceramic material coated with nanoparticles, thereby removing contaminants from the plant growth medium and enriching the plant growth medium with growth inducing content by exposure to the nanoparticles;
releasing the plant growth medium, filtered and enriched with the growth inducing content, from the pores into the one or more cavities, thereby contacting root systems of the one or more plants; and
wherein the nanoparticles comprise silver, magnesium, and carbon.