Device and method for filling seedling pots with soil

Abstract

In conventional soil filling devices, the soil is compacted by vertical vibration, and the soil is randomly filled into the seedling pad without any consideration of the size distribution of the crushed pieces of soil filled into the seedling pots, and attention is paid only to filling efficiently. [Solution] The mixed pulverized fragments that freely fall from the mulch supply tray and maintain a constant balance ratio are repeatedly and violently collided with both side walls of the seedling pots by a horizontal reciprocating vibration device that applies horizontal vibrations, compacting and tightly filling the mulch. In this case, the mixed pulverized fragments that are violently vibrated in the horizontal direction (lateral direction) perpendicular to the direction of gravity are less likely to separate into large, medium and small sizes than when filled with vertical vibrations.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a technique for filling culture soil into seedling pots for plant cultivation, and to a culture soil filling device and method that improves breathability, drainage, and water retention compared to conventional methods and realizes an ideal culture soil structure within the seedling pot. This application is a related application to Japanese Patent Application No. 2022-165929 (Name of invention: Seedling raising and planting method that is entirely optimized for the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals)) by the same applicant and inventor. [Background technology]

[0002] The applicant, Suzuka Seedling Cooperative, operates a nursery business for flower and garden tree seedlings and for planting at planting sites in Suzuka City, Mie Prefecture, a major center for nurseries and other products. At nursery sites, seedlings are typically planted in small nursery pots, and then grouped together and raised in pot trays. The soil filling device of the present invention is used to fill nursery pots with soil, a preliminary step in the nursery process. Seedling pots include (i) standard plastic pots with bottoms, as shown in Figure 1(A), (ii) biodegradable cylindrical bottomless pots (used in the aforementioned Japanese Patent Application No. 2022-165929 filed by the present applicant), (iii) inverted trapezoidal polypropylene nonwoven fabric pots, and even standard ceramic pots (not shown). A predetermined number of these pots are stored in a pot tray such as that shown in Figure 1(B), and the potting soil is then filled into the nursery pots.

[0003] A wide variety of growing media is commonly used in many nursery sites. One typical example is made from a mixture of raw materials, such as akadama soil, bark compost, and coco peat. Bark compost is a plant-based compost made by crushing, fermenting, and aging felled trees. The size of the fragments varies greatly. Coco peat (coconut shell soil) is an organic growing medium made from finely crushed coconut shells. The surface of coconut shells is porous, with countless tiny holes, allowing it to store large amounts of air and moisture. Like bark compost, the size of the fragments varies greatly. Therefore, the fragment sizes of growing media made from these mixed raw materials are naturally a very diverse mixture of fragments, and these raw materials are used as a whole while maintaining a certain balance.

[0004] The problem with many conventional soil filling devices is that the core technical concept of the invention is to efficiently fill seedling pots with soil, which is a mixture of randomly-sized and very diverse fragments, without any consideration of the size of the fragments of the soil being filled into the seedling pots. That is, as shown in Figure 2(A), soil is simply filled into each seedling pot by free fall from the soil supply tray without any consideration of the soil structure inside the seedling pots. In this case, the mixed soil material filled from the soil supply tray has no bias in the distribution of soil fragment sizes, and large, medium, and small fragments are filled with a consistent balance. However, because the soil filled into the seedling pots is only what has freely fallen from the upper soil supply tray, it is not compacted sufficiently to be used as seedling soil, resulting in a loosely packed soil. Therefore, even if seedlings were planted in this loosely packed soil, it was difficult to hold the seedlings in place, and in the end, the soil had to be re-compacted by hand when planting the seedlings.

[0005] To address the aforementioned problem of insufficient compaction when soil is filled solely through free fall, numerous applications have been filed for a soil filling device equipped with a vibrator that vertically vibrates a pot tray containing numerous seedling pots. One such application, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-37937 (see Figure 6), discloses a configuration in which a pot tray (reference symbol T) containing multiple seedling pots (reference symbol P) is vibrated while moving up and down. However, this method of vertical vibration has the following problems. Specifically, in conventional soil filling devices that compact soil through vertical vibration, as shown in Figure 2(B), the crushed pieces filled into the seedling pots are unevenly stacked according to size, resulting in a mille-feuille-like (multi-layered) structure in the vertical direction, significantly impairing drainage and breathability within the seedling pots. In other words, vertical vibration causes separation of large, medium, and small sized crushed pieces. This problem occurs when small crushed pieces tend to accumulate near the bottom of the seedling pot, followed by medium crushed pieces above them, and then large crushed pieces tend to remain at the top of the seedling pot. This is thought to be because small crushed pieces tend to fall through the gaps between the crushed pieces more easily than large and medium crushed pieces due to vertical vibration. This phenomenon is called the Brazil nut effect, and it occurs when a mixture of powders and granules of different sizes is shaken, with the largest particles rising to the surface. For example, when shaking a mixture of nuts, the largest pieces are often Brazil nuts, hence the name. To ensure proper drainage and ventilation, the ideal fragment size distribution (soil structure) is for the mixture of crushed fragments, such as Akadama soil, bark compost, and coco peat, to be layered vertically in a "balanced, dense, and uniform" manner, at least similar to the culture soil before filling, from the bottom to the top of the seedling pot as shown in Figure 2(C), or, in the best case, in a dense layering order of "large fragments - medium fragments - small fragments" from the bottom to the top of the seedling pot as shown in Figure 2(D). However, unlike these fragment size distributions, the up-and-down vibrations tend to reverse the distribution, resulting in a layering of "small fragments - medium fragments - large fragments," as shown in Figure 2(B). This reversal of the fragment size distribution creates a new problem: drainage and ventilation from the bottom of the seedling pot are significantly reduced.However, in any of the conventional culture soil filling devices, there is no description that originally addresses the problem of the above-mentioned uneven mille-feuille layering (multi-layered structure) of crushed pieces, and the crushed piece size distribution (culture soil structure) was not even a central issue in the technical idea of ​​the invention. Other cited examples of culture soil filling devices that involve vibrating seedling pots in the up-and-down direction (vertical direction) include Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 7-274732, 3119094, 2003-116361, and 07-016025, but none of these cited examples disclose any problem with the crushed piece size distribution of the culture soil filled in the seedling pots. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0006] [Patent Document 1] JP 8-37937 [Patent Document 2] Patent Publication No. 7-274732 [Patent Document 3] Mito 3119094 [Patent Document 4] Patent Publication No. 2003-116361 [Patent Document 5] Patent Publication No. 07-016025 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0007] The problem to be solved is that conventional soil filling devices, which compact the soil by vertical vibration, randomly fill the seedling pads with soil without any consideration for the size distribution of the crushed fragments of the soil being filled into the seedling pots, and attention is paid solely to efficient filling. Furthermore, vertical vibration causes the crushed fragments of the soil to form uneven mille-feuille layers (multi-layered structures) in the vertical direction, and many small fragments that have poor drainage fall and fill the bottom of the seedling pots, significantly impairing drainage and breathability. In other words, vertical vibration creates a horizontal mille-feuille-like compacted layer, resulting in the problem of cutting off the water passage. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] In the first embodiment of the present invention, we use horizontal (lateral) vibration instead of vertical (vertical) vibration to uniformly fill seedling pots with a uniform distribution of soil fragment sizes, thereby forming appropriate vertical channels and promoting root establishment and stabilizing plant growth. Specifically, a miscellaneous fragment mixture falls freely from a soil supply tray, and a horizontal reciprocating vibrator applies horizontal vibration to the soil, maintaining a constant balance ratio. This causes the soil to repeatedly collide with both sides of the seedling pot, compacting and packing it tightly. Unlike vertical (vertical) vibration, which is subject to gravity, this method is less likely to produce the Brazil nut effect. Horizontal (lateral) vibration, which is perpendicular to the direction of gravity, reduces the likelihood of large, medium, and small fragment separation in a miscellaneous fragment mixture compared to vertical (vertical) vibration. Therefore, the miscellaneous crushed pieces of culture soil that are filled remain "balanced and uniform" vertically, just like the culture soil before filling, so it is difficult for the mille-feuille layered (multi-layered) structure to become uneven in the vertical direction (vertical direction) within the seedling pot. Therefore, compared to compaction using vertical vibration, this method has the advantage of ensuring good vertical drainage and ventilation within the seedling pot.

[0009] In this case, "balanced and uniform" must be understood to mean "uniform enough that the vertical vibrations do not cause the comminuted fragments of the culture soil to become uneven in the vertical direction, like a mille-feuille layer (multi-layered structure)." The applicant's search did not yield any hits for prior art culture soil filling devices that utilize horizontal (lateral) vibrations, which is the central technical concept of the present invention. Even if there are references disclosing such a configuration, those references do not inherently have the motivational purpose of "filling the seedling pot with a uniform distribution of the size of the comminuted fragments of culture soil in the vertical direction (vertical direction)," as in the present invention, nor do they disclose the effect of "ensuring vertical drainage and breathability." Therefore, the mere identity of the configuration, "horizontal (lateral) vibration," cannot be said to be the same technical concept as the present invention. In other words, even if there is a prior art with the same purpose, structure, and effect as the claimed invention, unless the specific purpose and effect are completely disclosed, it is deemed that "the cited reference does not address the problem in question, and a person skilled in the art would not be motivated to adopt that structure," and the inventive step of the claimed invention should not necessarily be denied. A concrete example of affirming inventive step for this reason is the "Cross-linked Acrylic Resin Particles" case (Tokyo High Court / Request for Revocation of Decision) (Reiwa 2 (Gyo-Ke) No. 10043). Furthermore, it should be noted that the Tokyo High Court's October 12, 1989, judgment (Showa 63 (Gyo-Ke) No. 107) (the so-called "Concrete Product Manufacturing Method" case) also recognized that "even if the structure is the same, the inventive step is not denied when the purpose and effect are different."

[0010] The second embodiment focuses on the order of fragment size in which the culture medium is filled into the seedling pots to further improve drainage and breathability. In other words, in this second embodiment, the culture medium filled into the culture medium supply tray in the first embodiment is pre-sorted into, for example, large, medium, and small fragments using a culture medium sorter. Each seedling pot is filled with large fragments at the bottom, medium fragments above that, and small fragments at the top. This is the opposite of the first embodiment, which had a uniform culture medium with no fragment size distribution in the vertical direction (vertical direction) of the seedling pot. Therefore, the bottom of the pot is filled with large fragments, for example, ensuring better drainage and breathability. Note that the term "large fragments" used above means "predominantly large fragments," since the culture medium itself is composed of fragments of various sizes. It should be understood that medium and small fragments are naturally mixed in with the large fragments to a certain extent. [Effects of the Invention]

[0011] 1) Ensuring vertical (vertical) water channels and breathability In the first embodiment, the seedling pot is filled uniformly in the vertical direction (lengthwise) with no bias in the size distribution of the culture soil fragments, thereby ensuring water flow paths (water channels) and improving drainage and breathability, thereby making it possible to prevent root rot. 2) Achieving uniform soil fragment size distribution By packing a mixture of raw materials such as Akadama soil, bark compost, and coco peat into the pot so that the size distribution of the ground soil particles is uniform and without bias, it is possible to create a physical structure that allows for good drainage. 3) Improved drainage and breathability In the second embodiment, large crushed pieces are filled from the bottom of the seedling pot, then medium crushed pieces are filled above that, and small crushed pieces are filled at the very top, thereby further improving drainage and breathability from the bottom of the seedling pot. 4) The side walls of the seedling pot are less likely to wrinkle In both the first and second embodiments, when pots made of a material with thin side walls, such as degradable cylindrical bottomless pots or inverted trapezoidal polypropylene nonwoven fabric pots, are forcefully filled with culture soil, the culture soil being filled from above can be prevented from pushing down on the thin side walls, causing wrinkles (bending) and making it impossible to fill the pot with enough culture soil. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0012] [Figure 1] Figure 1(A) shows photographs of typical seedling pots: (i) a typical plastic pot with a bottom, (ii) a biodegradable cylindrical bottomless pot used in the applicant's Japanese Patent Application No. 2022-165929, and (iii) an inverted trapezoidal polypropylene nonwoven fabric pot. (B) shows a typical pot / tray. [Figure 2] (A) is an image diagram showing the state of the culture soil filling in a seedling pot filled loosely with culture soil by gravity according to a conventional example, (B) is an image diagram showing the state of the culture soil filling in a seedling pot filled with culture soil by vertical vibration according to a conventional example, (C) is an image diagram showing the state of the culture soil filling in a seedling pot filled with culture soil in an ideal "balanced, dense, and uniform" manner according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and (D) is an image diagram showing the state of the culture soil filling in a seedling pot filled with culture soil in an ideal "dense and layered in the order of large, medium, and small crushed pieces" according to the second embodiment. [Figure 3] FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of a soil filling device 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is an image diagram showing how the seedling pots are successively filled with culture soil by vibration in the horizontal direction (lateral direction). [Figure 5] FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of a soil filling device 1A according to a second embodiment in which a soil selecting section 30 is added to the soil filling device 1 according to the first embodiment. [Figure 6] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a conventional hilling soil filling device that utilizes vibration in the up-and-down direction (longitudinal direction). [Figure 7] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a conventional paddy (husk) sorting machine. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0013] (First Example) FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of a soil filling device 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention. This soil filling device 1 is composed of a horizontally reciprocating sliding section 10 and a soil filling section 20 placed on top of it. This horizontally reciprocating sliding section 10 is composed of a horizontally reciprocating sliding unit 11 that moves laterally and a horizontally reciprocating sliding base 12 that moves in conjunction with the horizontally reciprocating sliding unit 11. The horizontally reciprocating sliding unit 11 and the horizontally reciprocating sliding base 12 are not significantly different from conventional technologies, and are elemental technologies that are no different from numerous previously disclosed configurations. For example, the horizontally reciprocating sliding unit 11 may be configured using a reciprocating sliding mechanism using a rotating camshaft and cam, or electromagnetic vibration, as disclosed in countless other documents.

[0014] Figure 4 is a diagram illustrating the process of horizontal (lateral) vibrations sequentially filling seedling pots with soil. As shown in this diagram, soil falls freely from the soil supply tray 24, which is reciprocated horizontally by the horizontal reciprocating slider 10, and impacts violently against the left and right side walls of the seedling pot 22, compacting and packing the soil tightly. Unlike the vertical (vertical) vibrations of the conventional example, small fragments in the freely falling mixed soil of large, medium, and small fragments slip through the gaps between the large and medium fragments and fall downward under gravity. Instead, they are tightly packed against the left and right side walls, maintaining the ratio of large, medium, and small fragments among the mixed fragments. This allows the mixed soil of large, medium, and small fragments to be uniformly and densely packed vertically in a balanced manner, without causing the Brazil nut effect. Of course, the amplitude and impact strength required for the mixed soil of large, medium, and small fragments to impact the side walls will vary depending on the humidity of the soil and the material of the seedling pot. In this regard, the amplitude and impact strength required to ensure good drainage and breathability without causing the mixed-size fragments in the seedling pot to become unevenly layered (multi-layered) in the vertical direction is an important issue. While the applicant does not have specific numerical data, they can be qualitatively defined as "amplitude and impact strength sufficient to prevent the filled culture soil from becoming unevenly layered (multi-layered) in the vertical direction." In other words, with a given amplitude and impact strength in the horizontal direction, the mixed-size fragments in the seedling pot repeatedly and violently collide with both side walls of the pot. Unlike vertical vibration, even small fragments in particular collide violently with both side walls before they can slip through the gaps between the fragments and fall downward due to gravity, maintaining the culture soil in the seedling pot in a "balanced and uniform" state, just like the soil before it was filled. Even if there is no specific numerical data on amplitude width and impact strength, it is self-evident from experience to anyone skilled in the art who fills the soil what amplitude width and impact strength are actually required, and since this is a design matter, further detailed explanation will be omitted.

[0015] Next, we will outline the soil filling unit 20 placed on the horizontally reciprocating slider 10. This soil filling unit 20 is not significantly different from a conventional soil filling unit (device) from a patent perspective, and is composed of a pot tray 21 divided into the required number of pots, a plurality of seedling pots 22 to be filled with soil, a perforation plate 23 for planting holes with optional perforation pieces 23A for drilling holes for planting seedlings, and a soil supply tray 24 with a plurality of filling holes 24A corresponding to the seedling pots. These are stacked together using a fixing means (not shown), and the horizontally reciprocating slider 10 repeatedly slides back and forth horizontally (sideways) while soil is being poured into the top soil supply tray 24. As already explained in Figure 3, the culture soil sequentially introduced through the filling hole 24A by horizontal (lateral) reciprocating sliding strikes both side walls of the seedling pot, filling the seedling pot uniformly and densely without bias in the culture soil fragment size distribution, as shown in Figure 2(C). The culture soil is compacted and tightly packed within the seedling pot while ensuring a vertical water passage (waterway). In particular, when filling the biodegradable cylindrical bottomless pot 22B used in the related invention of the present application, Patent Application No. 2022-165929 (Name of Invention: Seedling Raising and Planting Method Overall Optimized for SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals)), because there is no bottom, the filled culture soil is easily removed by vertical (vertical) vibration in the conventional example. However, because the vibration in the horizontal (lateral) direction is used in the present invention, such problems are relatively small, and the culture soil filling operation can be stably compacted within the seedling pot. Furthermore, the biodegradable cylindrical bottomless pot 22B is made of a relatively thin material, which means that when the potting soil is filled from above, the added soil strikes the top edge of the pot and bends. This problem is particularly pronounced with the up-and-down (vertical) vibrations used in the conventional example. In contrast, the horizontal (side-to-side) vibrations used in the present invention have the advantage of being less prone to bending of the top edge. In actual potting soil filling work, after the seedling pot is sufficiently filled with soil, a slight vertical impact is applied to the top of the filled soil (such as by tapping with a brush) to finally sink the soil, stabilizing it without destroying its structure and ensuring vertical water and air channels, improving drainage and breathability.

[0016] (Second Example) As shown in FIG. 5, the culture soil filling device 1A of the second embodiment further includes a culture soil sorting unit 30 that pre-sorts the culture soil into the culture soil supply tray 24 of the culture soil filling device 1 of the first embodiment by size, e.g., large, medium, and small fragments. This improvement focuses on the order of fragment size in which the culture soil should be filled into the seedling pots to improve drainage. Each seedling pot may be stacked with large fragments at the bottom, medium fragments above that, and small fragments at the top. The order in which the culture soil is stacked by size is arbitrary and may be selected depending on the type of seedling being raised. In this second embodiment, in stark contrast to the first embodiment, in which the soil is uniform and has no bias in the size distribution of the soil fragments, a bias in the vertical soil distribution is intentionally created, and for example, soil made of large crushed fragments of soil by size is intentionally layered and filled at the very bottom, thereby ensuring even better drainage and breathability.

[0017] Numerous sorting methods have been disclosed for separating culture soil, which is composed of fragments of a wide variety of sizes, into large, medium, and small fragments. These include devices that use rotating meshes with different mesh sizes and devices that use a blower to separate fragments based on their weight. A typical sorting method is the rice sorter disclosed in JP 2018-118185. This reference uses a low-tech method in which large fragments are separated using a rotating mesh (reference number 7; cylindrical sorting wire mesh), medium fragments (reference number M; refined rice) fall by gravity, and small fragments (reference number T; small and medium-sized impurities) are blown away by a blower. Numerous other methods for separating large, medium, and small fragments have already been disclosed. Therefore, the culture soil sorting unit 30 of the present invention may be configured to utilize any of these methods as appropriate to separate large, medium, and small fragments. Therefore, the specific selection means to be used in the soil selection section 30 is a design matter, and a detailed explanation will be omitted.

[0018] The culture soil sorted by size (large, medium, small, etc.) in advance by the culture soil sorting section 30 is sequentially fed into the culture soil supply tray 24 via a feed path (not shown) and layered, for example, one-third at a time, starting from the bottom of the seedling pot. This results in the bottom of the seedling pot being filled first with large fragments, followed by medium fragments, and finally small fragments at the top. Of course, the order in which these fragments of different sizes are filled can be selected as appropriate depending on the type of seedling being grown. This improves drainage within the seedling pot, thereby preventing root rot and excessive evaporation, a fact that is self-evident to those skilled in the art through years of experience. [Industrial Applicability]

[0019] In this way, the culture soil filling device 1, 1A of the present invention combines uniform filling by lateral amplitude with stabilization by limited vertical impact using a brush, etc., making it possible to fundamentally solve the problem of conventional technology in that small crushed pieces caused by vertical (vertical) vibration tend to fall through the gaps between large and medium crushed pieces and accumulate at the bottom of the seedling pot, and the resulting deterioration of drainage and ventilation. Furthermore, this new culture soil filling device 1, 1A can greatly contribute to optimizing the cultivation environment by promoting plant root establishment, improving drainage, and preventing root rot, and can be a highly practical technology. [Explanation of symbols]

[0020] 1, 1A soil filling device 10 Horizontal reciprocating sliding section 11 Horizontal reciprocating sliding unit 12 Horizontal reciprocating slide 20 Cultivating soil filling section 21 Pot Tray 22 Seedling Pot 23 Perforation plate for planting holes 23A Perforated piece 24 soil supply tray 24A filling hole 30 Cultivation soil selection department

Claims

1. A device for filling culture soil into a seedling pot, which ensures vertical water channels and breathability by filling the culture soil so that there is no bias in the distribution of crushed fragment sizes of the culture soil in the vertical direction inside the seedling pot, thereby promoting root growth and stabilizing growth of plants; a horizontally reciprocating sliding portion 10 that reciprocates in the horizontal direction; The soil filling device is composed of a plurality of seedling pots 22 to be filled with soil stored in a pot tray 21, a soil supply tray 24 having a plurality of filling holes 24A at upper positions corresponding to the seedling pots, and a soil filling unit 20 that is interlocked with the reciprocating sliding movement of the horizontal reciprocating sliding unit 10. While the culture soil is being poured into the culture soil supply tray 24, the multiple seedling pots 22 to be filled with the culture soil are repeatedly slid back and forth horizontally (sideways) using the reciprocating sliding part 10, so that the culture soil is sequentially filled into the seedling pots 22 through the filling holes 24A, and the sequentially filled culture soil is collided with both side walls of the seedling pots 22 with "an amplitude width and impact strength that do not cause the filled culture soil to become uneven in a mille-feuille layer (multi-layered) pattern," and the culture soil is tightly and uniformly filled vertically in a balanced manner so that there is no bias in the size distribution of the crushed fragments of the culture soil within the seedling pots, thereby compacting and filling the culture soil while ensuring a vertical water flow path (water channel) and breathability. This is characterized by the culture soil filling device 1.

2. A device for filling culture soil into a seedling pot that intentionally forms a bias in the distribution of culture soil by crushed pieces of culture soil according to size in the vertical direction (vertical direction) in the seedling pot, thereby ensuring vertical water channels and breathability, promoting root growth of plants and stabilizing growth. a horizontally reciprocating sliding portion 10 that reciprocates in the horizontal direction; A soil filling unit 20 is composed of a plurality of seedling pots 22 to be filled with soil stored in a pot tray 21, and a soil supply tray 24 having a plurality of filling holes 24A at upper positions corresponding to the seedling pots, and is interlocked with the reciprocating sliding movement of the horizontal reciprocating sliding unit 10; and a soil sorting section 30 that pre-sorts the soil to be supplied to the soil filling section 20 according to the size of each crushed piece, for example, large crushed pieces, medium crushed pieces, and small crushed pieces, and supplies the pre-sorted crushed piece soil according to size to the soil supply tray 24. The soil filling device 1A is characterized in that the soil filling device 1A sequentially loads crushed fragments of soil into the seedling pots 22 by repeatedly sliding the crushed fragments of soil by size back and forth horizontally (horizontally) using the reciprocating sliding unit 10, and sequentially layers the crushed fragments of soil into the seedling pots 22 through the filling holes 24A. The crushed fragments of soil that have been sequentially filled in layers are collided with both side walls of the seedling pots 22 with an amplitude and impact strength that are sufficient to prevent the filled soil from becoming uneven in a mille-feuille layer (multi-layered) pattern, and the soil is packed tightly and uniformly in the vertical direction without any bias in the crushed fragments of soil within the size-classified soil in the seedling pots. By sequentially filling the crushed fragments of soil by size, the soil is packed in layers to intentionally form a bias in the vertical soil distribution, thereby ensuring vertical water flow paths (water channels) and breathability.

3. A soil filling device 1A for compacting and filling soil in a seedling pot as described in claim 2, characterized in that the distribution of crushed soil by size is unevenly distributed from the bottom to the top of the seedling pot 22 in the order of large crushed pieces, medium crushed pieces, and small crushed pieces.

4. In this method of filling culture soil into a seedling pot, the culture soil is filled so that there is no bias in the distribution of culture soil fragment sizes in the vertical direction (lengthwise) inside the seedling pot, thereby ensuring vertical water channels and breathability, thereby promoting root growth of plants and stabilizing growth. A filling step of filling the seedling pots with the culture soil while feeding the culture soil into a culture soil supply tray and sliding the plurality of seedling pots to be filled with the culture soil back and forth in a horizontal direction (lateral direction); The method is composed of a step of closely packing the culture soil into the seedling pot, by impacting the culture soil successively against both side walls of the seedling pot with "an amplitude width and impact strength that do not cause the filled culture soil to become uneven in a mille-feuille layer (multi-layered) pattern," and packing the culture soil evenly and densely in the vertical direction in a balanced manner without biasing the crushed culture soil pieces within the seedling pot. This method of filling soil in a seedling pot is characterized by compacting and filling the soil in the pot while ensuring a vertical water passage (waterway) and breathability.

5. A method for filling a seedling pot with soil to intentionally form a bias in the vertical distribution of soil by using crushed soil of different sizes in the vertical direction (vertical direction) of the seedling pot, thereby ensuring vertical water channels and breathability, and promoting root growth of plants and stabilizing growth. A soil sorting step in which the soil is pre-sorted into various fragment sizes, such as large fragments, medium fragments, and small fragments; A filling step in which the size-classified soil, which has been pre-sorted by crushed fragment size, is poured into a soil supply tray in any order, and the seedling pots to be filled with the soil are moved back and forth horizontally (laterally), while the size-classified soil is sequentially filled into the seedling pots; The size-classified soil is then collided with both side walls of the seedling pot with an amplitude and impact strength that do not cause the filled soil to become uneven in a mille-feuille layer (multi-layered) pattern, so that the size-classified soil is packed evenly and densely in the vertical direction without any bias in the crushed soil fragments in the size-classified soil in the seedling pot, and the crushed size-classified soil is packed in layers so as to intentionally form a bias in the vertical soil distribution. This method of filling soil in a seedling pot is characterized by compacting and filling the soil in the pot while ensuring a vertical water passage (waterway) and breathability.

Images