oldschoolvdub
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Location: Santa Maria, CA

Hanging Tomatoes

So I got this kit a while back and decided to mess with it. You have to grow the tomatoes from seed. Well I didn't really feel like waiting on this one, so I just planted a "Container" tomato on the top, and a "Big Boy" tomato on the bottom. The top plant started off well, but isn't really doing great right now. The bottom plant never took off. It has been the same size ever since I planted it.

I'm now wondering if I should be putting a different type of tomato in the bottom. And I don't know what would do good, or the best way to take care of it.

[img]https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3662/3403719450_62a20f6978_b.jpg[/img]

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vintagejuls
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Location: Southern California / USDA Zone 10

My friend and I were just talking about this on the phone. She wanted to try this style this year with one of her tomato plants but felt it would be too heavy for hanging and her to lift and reach to water, etc.

Here is a link I found www.upsidedowntomatoplant.com which provides instructions from a bucket you can buy.

In your situation, oldschoolvdub, the roots might be competing with each other. I would remove the top plant and replant somewhere else; and wait and see what the bottom plant does. 8)

Good luck. Keep us posted.

ps there is another thread about someone else growing toms in a 3liter coke bottle. :wink:

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rainbowgardener
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That looks like a very small planter for one tomato plant, much less two. I agree with planting out the top one somewhere else. But in that small a container, you will need to do a lot of watering and fertilizing. Also tomatoes like full sun. From the picture, the way your planter is shaped wider on the top, it looks like the container itself could be shading your bottom tomato plant. You will need to look at that, check that it is getting plenty of direct sun.

oldschoolvdub
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Joined: Fri Apr 03, 2009 11:46 am
Location: Santa Maria, CA

ok so I pulled out the top tomato and sure enough, the roots had completely taken over. And not only choked out the bottom plant, but also didn't have enough room to grow itself. So I now have it in a new pot, and have a new plant in the bottom of the other pot. And it's just a regular hot house tomato ( I think ). Thanks for the help.

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rainbowgardener
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If you don't like the bare dirt on top (what gardener can tolerate bare dirt :wink: ?), you could always plant something shallow rooted and ground cover-y, lamium, ajuga, etc....

oldschoolvdub
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Location: Santa Maria, CA

Awsome. That was my next question... I don't really like the look of the dirt, but then again it's pretty high up. And I'm more worried about starving the new plants roots. Do you think it would be a problem if I planted somehting on top with shallow roots?

kylie77
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Location: Kamloops, BC

I'm going to try the upsidedown thing too this year. I thought I'd put basil or something like that in the tops of the pots. I'm no expert, but thought it sounded ok.

oldschoolvdub
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Joined: Fri Apr 03, 2009 11:46 am
Location: Santa Maria, CA

thats not a bad idea at all. In fact I think I have some basil seeds. I also heard that cilantro is a good thing to grow around tomatoes.

kylie77
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Location: Kamloops, BC

Glad to help!



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