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Duh_Vinci
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Topsy Turvy Experiment

I know all of you heard of the name... I've seen it on TV, Lowe's and Home Depot were sold out as soon as those arrived early this year. So I was a little curious. Didn't need one (kitty litter buckets work fine for me so far).

But I keep hearing at work, reading here and seeing neighbor's Topsy planter are not doing well at all... Curious, why not?

I was at CVS today, had $2 off coupon, saw one, bought one just for fun (if it fails, $7.99 is not a huge loss). I still have one somewhat forgotten plant left, so I'm going to try this and will document steps of this "magic tomato sack"

Plant - no clue, grown from seed sometime in mid/late march. Forgot to label it. So it could be Sweet 100, Early Gir or Celebrity.

[img]https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i230/duhvinci/2009_garden/Topsy/mistery_tomato_plant.jpg[/img]

It is now soaking overnight in Aggrene 4-3-3 fertilizer (2oz to 1Gal as suggested in instructions of the bottle)

[img]https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i230/duhvinci/2009_garden/Topsy/fertilizer.jpg[/img]

Tomorrow morning, I will mix the soil, have not decided on proportions yet, and will see what this thing does or does not. So wish plant a good life and plentiful harvest!

Regards,
D

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rainbowgardener
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keep us posted, I am curious. Reading what's been written here, some people say theirs are doing ok, but there've been several reports of tomatoes dying in them. Haven't tried it myself; I'm letting all the rest of you test it out for me. :)

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vintagejuls
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Location: Southern California / USDA Zone 10

Oh goody, a test, demo, research... love it. 8)

Looking forward to hearing and seeing the results. Thanks DV! :wink:

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Duh_Vinci
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I think it's going to be fun!

Got up early, after soaking in 4-3-3 overnight, I clipped bottom leafs off, so I can bury it deeper into the "sack"

[img]https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i230/duhvinci/2009_garden/Topsy/mistery_tomato_plant_trimmed.jpg[/img]

Soil: equal parts of compost, potting mix, peat moss and vermiculite

Fertilizer: As instructed in the brochure, 2 ounces of 4-3-3 fertilizer, 2 ounces of 0-12-0 bone meal and 1 ounce of 0-0-8 kelp/potash.

[img]https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i230/duhvinci/2009_garden/Topsy/fertilizers.jpg[/img]

Planted deep, and lined the bottom of the sack with a handfull of gravel for better drainage :

[img]https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i230/duhvinci/2009_garden/Topsy/2009_6_08_topsy1.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i230/duhvinci/2009_garden/Topsy/2009_6_08_topsy.jpg[/img]

Assembling topsy is not difficult, though very flimsy until filled with soil. Top trim does not sit properly once hung on the hook (metal hanging ring is fairly thin - it gets somewhat out of shape, so the top trim and the cover do not seat flush no matter what I tried)

So far, I personally prefer the bucket: Much sturdier, does not deform under weight, lid is more useful than the topsy. But... If you are not friendly with tools, I think topsy is fine right out of the box.

That's all for now.

Will take photos weekly to show the progress (or the lack of)

Regards,
D

amatuergardener
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Joined: Mon Jun 08, 2009 11:43 am
Location: St Louis, MO

I have started two plants in two different topsy turvy's. I planted a Lemon Boy about 5 weeks ago and it is already 5 feet tall and has 4 fruits on it. It also has about 25-30 more blooms on it. My other topsy turvy has a beefsteak in it and it was planted 3 weeks ago. It is now 3 1/2 feet tall right now with about 15-20 blooms on it but no fruit yet. I would recommend these to anybody as of right now.

frangypangy
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Joined: Tue Jun 09, 2009 5:55 pm
Location: South Florida

Hi there!

I have two plants in Topsy Turvys right now (tomato and pepper), and my pepper seems to be doing ok, but my tomato is not doing good AT ALL. I'm thinking that it could be possibly due to all of the rain, but I would think my pepper would be doing bad also if that were the case. I did not add gravel to the bottom as I do to my potted plants since the instructions did not state to do so, but I'm thinking that might have been a good idea. the stem on my tomato looks like it's rotting out from the sponge that holds the plant in place b/c it's constantly wet from it raining every day. I used a couple of wooden dowels to hold the sponge away from directly touching the stem to see if that might help, but I'm thinking it might be too late since its been about three weeks and it has hardly grown. :cry: The only thing I'm a little confused about is I thought it said on the instructions that it was IMPOSSIBLE to overwater w/ the topsy turvy, but I'm seeing that is definitely not the case. I'm still pretty new to gardening, so I'm still trying to figure all of this out... for the record though, my potted tomatoes and peppers seem to be doing much better than the Topsy Turvy ones.

I'm curious to see how yours turns out! good luck! :)

mayo
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Joined: Wed Jun 10, 2009 5:03 pm
Location: Reno

We tried the Topsy last year and it impressed us. The plant in it fruited faster and produced more. Flipping through the channels the other night we saw the Topsy Tree (six plant spots). Husband had to have it and is currently growing tomatoes, eggplant and bell peppers in it. As a bonus, we received the Topsy for strawberries (15 or 18 plant spots). We're hoping to get as good results as last year. Best of luck!

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rainbowgardener
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We had several people in the spring posting about their topsy turvy tomatoes. Now that it's summer, I haven't heard any more about it. I'm curious how all those topsy turvy tomatoes out there are doing. I'm letting you all do my experimenting for me. :) If it seems like it turns out well for you folks, I might try it next year....

keep us posted!

mayo
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Joined: Wed Jun 10, 2009 5:03 pm
Location: Reno

The plants in our Topsies are growing better than anything else in the veggie bed other than our zucchinis and horseradish. Due to this year's odd weather, many plants in the veggie beds either burnt up or didn't show at all.

Not overly impressed with the strawberry turvy as it does not have the foam that the regular topsies have and it doesn't seem to water as well. The strawberry turvy has plants all up and down the length as opposed to the regular one and the topsy tree.

GardenerGirl
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Joined: Mon Jun 01, 2009 1:04 pm
Location: Massachusetts, USA

My topsy tomato is faring very well for a container tomato, thus far. It's doing much better than any of my 6-gallon tomato pots, with one 3-inch green fruit and around 20 others smaller than that. My in-ground tomatoes are still doing better: I have 30+ green tomatoes on my hybrid tomato plant there and around a dozen on my brandywine, which I don't expect the same level of yield from as a rule.

I haven't actually gotten it through to harvesting anything yet, but my mid-season impression is that for container tomatoes, it's a definite success, but it's definitely a better version of a container tomato, not a replacement for an in-ground garden.

filmnet
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Joined: Thu Jun 11, 2009 2:49 pm
Location: USA

[img]https://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss256/filmnet1/topsy2plants.jpg[/img]

sweet thunder
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Posts: 210
Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2009 1:43 pm
Location: Eureka, CA

I have one topsy-turvy tomato this year and it's doing great. I can't accurately compare it to my other container tomatoes since they're all different varieties and I transplanted them at different times.

The topsy-turvy is a Sun Gold. It reached mature size faster than I expected, given my climate. It has loads of flowers and at least a dozen unripe fruits on it. No signs of trouble.

In the beginning I watered it less than the other container tomatoes (less soil exposed to air) but now that it's mature, I water it more (less soil volume).

I love not having to stake it, but watering it is a little less convenient than the others. All-in-all I'm pleased, but I don't see myself becoming an all topsy-turvy gardener.



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