Do hanging tomato plants produce more than the average upright tomato plant?
thanks
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bonsai-connor
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but, but, but...the pictures show a perfect plant loaded with fruit that are all the same size and all ripe at the same time.
I was once at an outdoor pick your own hydroponics farm in Florida where they used vertical columns with automatic fertilizer injection at the top (think strawberry tower for tomatoes). The columns were rotated daily so plants on all sides could get equal sun. There were multiple tomato plants hanging down each one and producing nicely. Production with the hanging Topsey Turvey type things is just like any other containers and depends on the people tending them. I see them as a PITA setting up someway to hold a big heavy bag of soil + plant and then taking care of its water and nutrient needs.
That being said I think something with a small size and prostrate growing habit like Green Sausage (or some of the cascading cherrys) would make a nice hanging plant...probably easier than growing it in the ground and trying to stake/cage it up.
I was once at an outdoor pick your own hydroponics farm in Florida where they used vertical columns with automatic fertilizer injection at the top (think strawberry tower for tomatoes). The columns were rotated daily so plants on all sides could get equal sun. There were multiple tomato plants hanging down each one and producing nicely. Production with the hanging Topsey Turvey type things is just like any other containers and depends on the people tending them. I see them as a PITA setting up someway to hold a big heavy bag of soil + plant and then taking care of its water and nutrient needs.
That being said I think something with a small size and prostrate growing habit like Green Sausage (or some of the cascading cherrys) would make a nice hanging plant...probably easier than growing it in the ground and trying to stake/cage it up.
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rainbowgardener
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If you type topsy turvy tomato or upside down tomato into the Search the Forum key word box, you will find some discussions from last year about these. We heard some mixed reports with some people saying they did ok and some people saying they were a mess and didn't work very well at all. But I never saw anyone say, wow, these are great, did way better than the in ground tomatoes.
You have to be prepared to give it a lot of care -- it is a small amount of soil, smaller than we usually recommend for growing tomatoes in containers, the roots are up in the sun, and not shaded by the plant, so they can heat up/ dry out more. So they need VERY regular watering and fertilizing.
TZ is right that people generally report better results growing cherry tomatoes, patio tomatoes, or smaller determinate varieties in them, than trying to grow large, full size tomato plants.
You have to be prepared to give it a lot of care -- it is a small amount of soil, smaller than we usually recommend for growing tomatoes in containers, the roots are up in the sun, and not shaded by the plant, so they can heat up/ dry out more. So they need VERY regular watering and fertilizing.
TZ is right that people generally report better results growing cherry tomatoes, patio tomatoes, or smaller determinate varieties in them, than trying to grow large, full size tomato plants.