Plant watering device

Claim 1

A plant watering and feeding device for automatically transferring moisture and nutrients to a growth medium contained in a pot having an aperture adjacent the bottom thereof, said device comprising: a. a water reservoir having a bottom wall and a side wall extending upwardly from said bottom wall; b. a porous pad disposed in said reservoir, said pad comprising a central portion, and generally planar upper and lower surfaces respectively disposed on either side of said central portion and parallel to each other, said central portion being impregnated with plant nutrients, said upper surface defining a generally planar exposed pot-supporting platform disposed above the normal water level in said reservoir, said lower surface being in operative communication with said water adjacent said bottom wall of said reservoir, said pad being capable of absorbing and retaining a quantity of water in excess of its own dry weight, and further being form retaining and dimension stable in both dry and wet conditions when said pot is placed upon said platform; c. an annular reinforcing ring surrounding said pad, the upper edge of said ring being generally coplanar with said upper surface of said pad, and the lower portion of said ring being provided with an apertured bottom plate which is generally coplanar and coextensive with said bottom surface of said pad, said lower portion of said ring having at least one aperture therein to provide flow communication between said reservoir and said pad lower surface, said pad fitting snugly within said ring such that said pad and said ring are insertable and removable from said device as a unit; d. and means centering said pad and said ring as a unit in said reservoir, said means disposed both radially and annularly of a vertical common central axis of said pad and said ring and bearing none of the vertical weight load of said pad, ring or pot and growth medium; said pad serving to absorb water from said reservoir so as to effect a substantially uniform wetting thereof, including its exposed upper platform, even though only a lower portion thereof is in flow communication with said water, by having water from said resevoir enter said pot by passing initially through said aperture and said pad lower surface, thence through said pad central portion and said nutrients, and, finally through said pad upper surface into said growth medium.