Topsy turvy???

[Collector]

Has anyone tried those upside down tomato growers. We tried them this year and they didn't seem any better than planting the usual way except they hangup so take less deck or patio space. They did not seem to produce more like the box stated. I am sure this has been talked about already but am curious of your thoughts on these planters?

 

[vfem]

I am not one for it...

But I must laugh at my neighbor who bought 3 and all 3 plants are still going. She was shocked to find not one tomato all season. Funny thing, they've been dead and brown on her north facing front porch since July. Someone didn't tell her they were dead!

 

[hoodat]

They don't work for one reason. It is in a tomato plants genetic makeup to grow upward, not downward. They spend all of their energy fighting against gravity trying to grow above the roots, as nature intended. They have little energy left to make tomatos.

 

[schmije]

I wasn't impressed. We experimented with two of them on our porch (in addition to 34 regular tomato plants in the garden). They grew lots of green, but they had to be watered EVERY day, sometimes more than once. They were always dry, and of the few tomatoes that actually grew, we only picked two small ones. Then we went out of town for a long weekend, and they both shriveled up and died. The plants in my garden still look great and have produced more tomatoes than I know what to do with.

 

[Collector]

WE noticed alot of the things you all have stated also. The plants we planted right side up look healthier and out produced the upside down ones. My wife still likes them though and will plant them again next year. She is unwilling to admit that she has wasted 20$ on this deal; so be it.

 

[Ariel301]

I didn't like ours. The plant did not get very big, really did not produce, and the weight of the plant hanging that way caused it to keep breaking heavy branches off as soon as a few tomatoes would start to grow on them.

It also only worked for one season in the Arizona sun. The next year, when my mother in law wanted to try it again, she got it out of the shed and tried to put some fresh soil in, and the plastic outer covering ripped apart like paper.

I call it a waste of ten bucks!

 

[LVVCHAP]

I have tried them and like them, but I used my own version, a 2 gal. bucket with a hole cut in the bottom. Yes, they do not produce as well as a plant in the ground, but I had to cut mine because it was reaching the ground. I work at a retirement village and hang some around for the residents to enjoy. Some of those old timers think I am crazy for growing tomatoes this way. I wouldn't grow them this way for the harvest, but they do make a great novelty item. I have free been free ranging my chickens recently and they are enjoying the tomatoes they can reach.

 

[Ariel301]

Wow, yours looks really nice!

I bet it would be all right for growing some sort of an ornamental flower or vine that naturally trails like that.

 

[Collector]

I have tried them and like them, but I used my own version, a 2 gal. bucket with a hole cut in the bottom. Yes, they do not produce as well as a plant in the ground, but I had to cut mine because it was reaching the ground. I work at a retirement village and hang some around for the residents to enjoy. Some of those old timers think I am crazy for growing tomatoes this way. I wouldn't grow them this way for the harvest, but they do make a great novelty item. I have free been free ranging my chickens recently and they are enjoying the tomatoes they can reach.

http://www.theeasygarden.com/forum/uploads/6475_100_0535.jpg

Wow that looks great ours grew no more than18" long and look sick

 

[LVVCHAP]

Wow, yours looks really nice!

I bet it would be all right for growing some sort of an ornamental flower or vine that naturally trails like that.

I heard that cucumbers do really well. I might try some next year.