Upside down tomatoes?

[drainey0]

any one ever try this?

[tomc]

if you want the leaves of tomato to break down pour soil-splashed water on them. THAT works every time.

[Lindsaylew82]

Once when I lived in PA I tried these. I made my own though, out of 2 5 gallon kiddie sand castle buckets. I cut holes in the bottom, an place a round of 1" foam cut to the size of the bottom. I cut a slit to the center or the circle, placed it around the stem of my plant, and then filled with dirt.

I had to literally water these things every single time I looked at them! Not happy plants. I did get a few really tiny cherry tomatoes before they succumbed fusarium, septoria, and blight, but they were stunted terribly.

It was an expensive project, took a lot of time to finish, a lot of effort on my part, with absolutely nothing to show for.

I dislike them very much.

THERE ARE some really AWESOME varieties that you can grow in 5 gallon hanging baskets though! Prolly 3 gallon if you get the really small varieties! Green sausage is one that I'm trialing in pots with lettuce and a cantaloupe. It stays small, and it likes to get all wispy and creeps along. Hates being tied to stakes!

[rainbowgardener]

Yes - it was a popular gimmick a few years ago. We haven't heard as much about them lately, for good reason -- they don't work!

To start with you can't have very much soil in them and be able to hang them. We usually recommend growing one tomato plant in a container AT LEAST five gallon bucket size, preferably more like twice that. The topsy-turvy's are more like two gallons.

Then the soil is right in the direct sun (right side up, it is more shaded by the plant, etc), so it gets very hot, tends to cook the roots, and need constant watering. The water with washed out soil runs down over the plants, which is very conducive to fungal diseases. Since water always flows down, the soil at the bottom is going to be the wettest and stay wet the longest. In upside down planter, that means the area right around the base of the stem stays wet all the time and can rot the stem. Branches break off.

Here's a thread we had about them from 2011, when they were more popular https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/vi ... hp?t=33025

If you just have to try it, use a dwarf variety cherry tomato. Those are the only ones that seem to have any success upside down.

[drainey0]

was thinking about trying it I saw som,one that did it but they put a plant on top and bottem thought it was cool and it looked like he got strong plants growing in them.

[rainbowgardener]

Feel free to try it and report back to us your results!

I'm sure it looked nice that way, but top and bottom plants means half as much soil for each and there already isn't enough soil.

Sometimes they just stuff the plants in there and take their picture real quick....