Side by side conventional vs upside down

[John Staber]

I have 100 plants in the ground and 3 growing out of the bottom of 5 gallon buckets. The 3 growing out of the buckets are setting fruit and have grown twice the vegetative weight as the plants growing up out of the ground. May it also be noted that the ground plants are growing out of3 mil black plastic and are way ahead of the neighbors planted at the same time. I have used the black plastic for many years and always had good results. It will help beat late and early frosts and is impeccaable weed control, as well as moisture control. I may switch to hanging as many as possible next year...

[Lunacy]

You're doing good! I would love to see pics of your plants. With all my vast experience (first year gardener) I have decided that only certain varieties do well upside down, may I ask what types you are growing?

[rainbowgardener]

Good question lunacy... I've never tried the upside down, but from what I've seen posted here, cherry tomatoes and determinate varieties (I.e. smaller plants) tend to do better that way than full sized ones.

But I'm really glad to see an experienced gardener actually do the side by side experiment! Do keep us posted through the season how it works out! It's early in tomato season for most of us so far (just picked my first ripe tomatoes yesterday!)

[gixxerific]

Good to hear you are doing well in that fashion.

All of the hangers I have seen so far are much small than there in-ground counterparts though.

[John Staber]

My upside down are heirlooms, Cheerokee Purple, Brandywine, and German Johnson, I believe those are all indeterminates. I have a variety conventionally planted... Heirlooms to match the hangers, Romas, Yellow pear, Celebrity, Orange Jubilee, Beefsteaks, etc. They all started the same size. The hangers are in a mix of moisture control potting soil and compost, which may be the advantage over my soil. The stems on the hangers seem to be stronger than normally grown tomatos. I surmise due to the fight with gravity.

I'll post pics

[gixxerific]

What is your bed soil like, consist of?