upside down tomato planters

I tried two of these last year. I bought them from Gardener's Supply which I ususally find expensive but reliable. I was not happy with last year's results, but I am going to try hem one more year.

Two major problems:

1. weight - when you have filled the planter with the recommended amount of soil, the planter is very heavy. I had a couple of pretty study metal posts with two legs - they werenot enough - I had to wire then to the side of the house to keep them from tipping over. Probably the best solution would be to screw a large eye - screw into an overhanging beam.

2. opening for plant - living in Ma, I start tomatoes indoors, so the root ball is quite sizeable when I put them outside in the beginning of June. The root ball of tomato plant is supposed to be inserted in the bottom of the planter - but the hole in the bottom of the planter is extremely small. This year, I plan to cut the opening better and then tape it up once I have inserted the root ball.

My conclusion for now: don't bother with these planters unless you have no sunny space for tomatoes if you do not use planters.

Thanks for the info on your experience with these. I have not tried them because of the cost. I think some of these ideas work better on the drawing board than in actuality.

Karen

You can just take a 5 gallon bucket, drill a hole in the bottom, and hang it up somewhere. I have never heard of great success with these, just strictly with regards to getting a good crop of decent-tasting tomatoes. And that's what it's really all about. :)

I have never personally done this but my uncle (who by all means is lacking in a green thumb) wanted to try to upside down bucket method on tomato plants one year-I have never seen tomato plants so LARGE and FULL of fruit...it was ridiculous how many tomatoes those bucket plants created...I am not sure if Height was an issue but he had them hanging for his outside building from roof level in full sun. It worked great and I am looking forward to trying it this year.

the upside downplanter called topsy turvy didn't work for me. glendalekid ur right about
the topsy turvy upside down pots.wasn't worth the money i spent.

I'm going to try it this year, with a 2 liter bottle.

Here is a clay upside-down one that I use. This picture is from last year and that tomato didn't do too well. I'm trying again this year and the plant looks much better this time. I'll try to remember to report back later in the season.

Yes, this one was pricey but back then I had a job.....you know, made some real money and had enough left over to spend on fun stuff. [sigh - those were the days.....and only a little more than a year ago.....]

edited for grammer.

This message was edited Apr 11, 2009 6:45 AM

We did a DIY type topsy turvey last year, but found that the tomato plant kept curling upwards toward the sun anyway, and broke under its own weight. Now that I'm paying more attention to gardening in general, it occurred to me that we probably grew a vining tomato instead of a bush tomato so maybe that was why. LiseP

I suspect that the tomato plant grew upwards toward the sun because that's what plants do.

The commercial for the topsy turvy says that hanging it upside down helps the nutrients flow into the plant. Haaa! As if they can't get up there on their own!

I suspect you're right, indy_v, about the plant growing toward the sun because that's what plants do. I was just trying to give these topsy things the benefit of the doubt, I guess -- thinking that they must work for some people, some time.

I admit that when the plant started curling upwards, I hit my forehead in a V8-like moment, thinking "duh, I've known since kindergarten that plants grow toward the sun. Why did I think this would be a good idea?"

Eh, the novelty makes it fun, though. I'm sure people do actually get results with these. My neighbor made some of these upside-down planters and has them hanging on her balcony with tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers. I'm curious to see how it turns out.

I'm not sold on the upside down tomatto lpant idea. I have helped four people with them. First they buy too big of plant. It helps to put the plant in a plastic grocery bag and gently roll it back and forth like a rolling pin. Then gently push bag with plant in the hole. Then remove the bag. The next year we noticed the root system only grew up 1/3 of the bag hight. Thier plants did not produce as much crop as mine in 3 and 4 gallon buckets. Yes they were the same kind of plants but my plants were root bound at the end of season. Iput mine in the ground this year. Hey they are cute but i won the bet on who had the first ripe tomato. My plants grew faster and larger upright. We bought our plants same day, same potting mix, and used the same fertilizer.

Hi everyone

I just found this forum while looking for advice on beginner gardening :) This topic caught my eye right away because I had wanted to do this this year. I had seen the topsy turvy on TV, but I also saw this on how to make your own. http://www.seedsofknowledge.com/tomato2.html

It looks pretty easy and I have the perfect spot to hang them, from the beam on the lower half of my deck. The instructions above seem pretty easy and the author says they've been doing it for a few years. it also says they will grow up toward the sun until the plant gets bigger and bushier. As LiseP said, I think i will check the type of tomato plant before planting.

This looks like a great place! I'm brand new to gardening and have several sprouts soaking up some sun in a windowsill, so I am off to explore the rest of the forums to see what to do next. I'm a bit nervous and hope I don't kill the little plants I have created so far. My son and I have made it a project to do together. I've also been reading about Lasagna Gardening and think I will give that a try.

Hi everyone. I am doing the upside down tomato thing this year and things are looking pretty happy. It seems to be pretty straight foreward.....but he season is early yet. We will see.

Nice. They look much happier than my one scraggly upside down-er. Are they all cherry type tomatoes?

TY Mary....they are an indiduous (sp) celebrity hybred. Should make medium size fruit and hopefully the weight will not break the vines. I took two to a Retirement home yesterday and must say it was a real "Treet" to see the reaction from the older folks. These have been upside down for about 3 weeks and just yesterday the began setting fruit......we will see.

Keep us all posted on how the celebrity fruits do in the upside-down life. I'll bet the folks in the home are happy to have something so vibrant to watch grow!

I did the topsy turvey last year and I thought it was a good concept, but I got flower end rot on the couple tomatoes that grew. The tomato plant also got a weird disease I have never seen which I am thinking may have come from the nursery I bought the plants from. The one I grew upright didnt produce any at all.

I will give it one more shot but maybe grow a cucumber or zucchini plant? Have any of you done trailing plants in there?

This is a pic of the tomato disease, has anyone seen this?

oooo, that looks ugly. No idea what the problem is.

Regarding cukes and zucc's in a topsy turvy planter: i think the fruits will be too heavy and the vines will break. Growing UP to the light like that the fruit needs to be light-weight, like cherry tomatoes.

We grew one last year, I was not at all impressed, however, DH wanted to try again this year and one of the local stores had the bags on sale last fall and we "had" to get 3 more. I hope our garage does fall over from the weight of these blasted things!! LOL

Yo! This is my first entry. I tried to use my iguana's name for a username, but "lizard" and Murphy" were already taken. So, without thinking, I used the name that we call him, that he has truly earned. I didn't think how this would sound, but I've never been in a mental institution.

Now,my question. I use "Soil Moist" a lot since I forget to water my plants. Is it safe to use in soil for vegetables, which we, and our insane iguana, plan to eat?