Upside down tomatoes

topic posted Fri, February 24, 2006 - 4:04 PM by  La Dame
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I saw a quick blip on the tv about growing tomatoes upside down out of a plastic bucket. And since I have a few buckets laying around gathering dust I thought I'd try it this year.

Has anyone tried it yet? It is supposed to cut down on bugs and pests since they can't slither right over and say hi to the plants.
posted by:
La Dame
SF Bay Area
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    Re: Upside down tomatoes

    Fri, February 24, 2006 - 7:22 PM
    So this is a hanging plant sort of thing? Tomatoes want deep roots so container gardening for tomatoes needs at least a 5 gallon bucket, which will be pretty heavy to support.
    • Re: Upside down tomatoes

      Fri, February 24, 2006 - 7:46 PM
      There is a product that is made for exactly this idea. Check it out.
      topsyturvys.com/index.html
      • Unsu...
         

        Re: Upside down tomatoes

        Sat, February 25, 2006 - 12:04 PM
        Ok, well I gotta say that's just crazy. Clever though. But seems to take a lot of resources to build such a thing. And the water is going towards the crown and not away from it, seems the roots would not be going as deep as they need to get good nutrients. Furthermore, I am feeling empathy with the plant and it is communicating to me. It is saying that it wants to grow TOWARD the light and it is trying but can not. And that makes it sad.
        • Re: Upside down tomatoes

          Wed, May 10, 2006 - 3:55 PM
          The cool thing is, the plants will still grow toward the light. WIthin a day after planting them, the leaves reversed themselves so they were facing the right way, and the stems have been spreading out and curving upward.

          I think the the roots are still getting nutrients because the water flows down to the roots and carries the nutrients with it. Pleants can absorb nutrients through the leaves, so it seems ok that the water is dripping on the leaves. Last I looked, the roots were growing upward through the container, so it seems they are still growing as deep as they need to be.
    • Re: Upside down tomatoes

      Sat, February 25, 2006 - 7:42 AM
      75 pounds is what this product says to allow support for. Sounds interesting. I'm trying to think where I could hang the thing.. hmmmnn..
      • Re: Upside down tomatoes

        Mon, February 27, 2006 - 9:36 AM
        I am thinking of reinforcing my shed and getting a couple hangers. I was just at osh asking how much weight it could support. I have a serious slug problem and thought this may be a solution. Aside from the fact that my tomatoes grow so much they break what ever support I put under them.

        I did just learn that you can get cacao shells from a nursery and slugs are supposed to not like it and it would be a organic way to get rid of them and have your garden smell like chocolate.
        • Re: Upside down tomatoes

          Sun, July 9, 2006 - 1:26 PM
          Yes, I used cocao shells this year and have really noticed a reduction in slugs and snails, and it does smell very nice. But, they are pretty expensive and break down quick, so you have to add to it pretty often. I like the quick breakdown because my soil is pretty poor, so it will build it up fast. They might also heat up the soil more because they are dark, I am not sure.
  • Re: Upside down tomatoes

    Mon, April 24, 2006 - 4:57 PM
    I planted my tomatoes in my upside down container a couple weeks ago.....and man oh man they are florishing! I already have a couple little tomatoes on the vine, and the vine is growing up toward the sky.....it is really amazing.......fun to watch and fun to grow
    • Re: Upside down tomatoes-Watering?

      Fri, May 5, 2006 - 8:05 AM
      IT plants or Inverted Tomato plants put out 4/23/2006 on the cheap. They are growing but I am concerned about how much water to use. Currently I am using about 1/2 plastic coffee can daily, but It seems to drain fairly quickly out the bottom hole. I also posted a pix on this site. Thanks for any comments.
      • Re: Upside down tomatoes-Watering?

        Fri, May 5, 2006 - 12:26 PM
        I planted my tomoatoes in the topysturvy container
        topsyturvys.com/index.html
        when you assemble it there are two foam discs that you place in the container as you are filling with soil....layering like a cake soil, disc, soil, disc and soil to top it all off........the disc help keep the soil moist and it works....I water daily, but I just put the water hose on almost drip and let it very slowly moisten the plant and when the water begans to drip out the bottom of the planter, I then tun the water off. It works well........I wonder if you put a foam disc inside your containers if it would help cut down with the water consumption? By the way your tomatoe plants already look great!
  • Re: Upside down tomatoes

    Wed, May 10, 2006 - 3:38 PM
    I tried this a couple weeks ago as an experiment and my two "guinea pigs" -- grape tomato plants -- seem to be fourishing quite nicely.

    Here's the cheapo DIY version I made with stuff around the house:

    Materials:
    small tomato plant (it needs to fit through the hole of the bottle)
    a large plastic juice bottle, gallon milk jug, or 2 litre soda bottle.
    strong string or wire (nylon string is good).
    a hook
    a paper towel
    black plastic
    duct tape
    larg-ish clear plastic bag
    potting soil

    Tools:
    x-acto knife
    scissors
    drill (if you are using a hook)
    long stick (about 1 foot)

    1. Install a hook where you want to plant to hang from. should be a sunny place at leat 4ft off the ground.
    2. Cut the bottom off the bottle with knife or scissors and poke 4 holes (for hanging string) about 3/4" from the edge of the bottom.
    3. Cut 2 lengths of string, about 2ft long, and securely tie each end of string through the holes.

    4. This is the tricky part: getting the plant through the hole.
    Take your tomato plan out of its container, or cut the container off around it if it seems stuck.
    Gently arrange all the leaves so they all pointing upward and gather them together.
    Wrap the plastic bag around the plant so that a corner of the bag forms a point at the top.
    feed the point of the bag through the mouth of the bottle, then tug on the bag while lightly pushing the root end. Keep pulling on the bag once the leaves are through to remove it.
    Try not to disturb the roots too much as you are doing this

    5. stuff a damp paper towel around the opening to prevent too much soil and water loss.
    6. fill the bottle with potting soil, taking care to pack around the root without leaving air pockets. Using a stick will help.
    7. hang.
    8. Wrap clear and translucent bottles with black plastic or some other light-blocking material to prevent algae growth.

    If anyone is interested, I can make illustrated diagrams.
    • Re: Upside down tomatoes

      Wed, May 10, 2006 - 4:39 PM
      This is cool. I had heard of doing tomatoes this way but not instructions. Thanx. I have lots of pop bottles with the bottoms cut off for the purpose of giving my zucs a head start (mini greenhouse) for our short season in Alberta. Potting soil is such a big expense, do you think this is enough soil? I've started some little patio tomatoes for the CSA. I think I'll use this on the s side of the house for those. Has anyone heard of the product Myke? It's micro organisms that already exist in the soil. If you add a handful to each hole it's supposed to increase growth. I used it last year on my tomatoes but didn't think to do 1/2 with and 1/2 w/o for test purposes. Will do this year.
      • Re: Upside down tomatoes

        Mon, May 29, 2006 - 9:05 AM
        A comment my greenhouse owner friends made was that on a hot day the pop bottles would require mondo watering. Any experience there?
        • Re: Upside down tomatoes

          Tue, May 30, 2006 - 10:26 AM
          yeah, i'm learning that one the hard way...

          The plant has gotten huge, and I've had to water it at least twice a day to keep it from wilting. The gallon jugs don't seem to be having the same problem.

          So my solution is to cut top and bottom off another soda bottle so it's just a plastic tube, put it on top of the first bottle and fill it with peat and perlite fortified soil and a good layer of mulch and wrap the whole thing in something light-colored so it doesn't absorb heat as much.

          It will probably look totally ghetto, but I'm determined to keep this plant alive -- it's been doing great so far.
          • Re: Upside down tomatoes

            Tue, May 30, 2006 - 2:06 PM
            ha. what a person will do for their plants, eh?
            • Re: Upside down tomatoes-discoveries

              Wed, May 31, 2006 - 11:13 AM
              Many challenges I have discovered: Partially used some cheap top soil and it sems to effect the plant growth rate and I may try to replace it; looks like watering a little-then a little again- then repeat until water comes out of bottle hole is the best method so far; tried to put the top on the containers but this seems to heat them up tooo much on a 92 degree day..no tops on containers now; all varieties growing...so far. I am now worried about using lawn thatch on top to retain water due to possible heat-up of soil.Thanks
              • Re: Upside down tomatoes-discoveries

                Wed, June 14, 2006 - 8:08 AM
                Tomatoes on the vine from the first one planted as shown in picture. thanks
                • Re: Upside down tomatoes-discoveries

                  Tue, July 4, 2006 - 11:51 AM
                  Hi,
                  Just joined, mainly because of the tomato topic. Living in N. Ontario makes vegetable gardening a challenge!
                  I bought an upside down tomato planter a couple of weeks ago and it is doing well. Almost all of the branches have turned up, as have the blossoms. Also, the branches (including one right at the spot where the stem comes out) are turning up.
                  Watering...you need to water quite often and I'm going to use the new miracle-grow hose feeder to fertilize ever week or so.
                  I've been googling and found a number of ways people have devised to make their own and plan to try one as I've 2 plants in the ground and figure the chippies will finish any tomatoes they bear.
                  Now, does anyone know how to keep chipmunks and squirrels out of the garden? I'm about to try curry powder...
                  Katherine
                  • This is the maximum depth. Additional responses will not be threaded.

                    Re: Upside down tomatoes-discoveries

                    Tue, July 4, 2006 - 10:45 PM
                    Don't know about chipmonks, but wanted to answer to the watering thing. Not in the pop bottle, upside-down planters, but in my pots, I've cut the bottoms off of smaller pop bottles (don't know the measurement in US, in Canada, it's about 750 mls) and stick the neck about 1 1/2" down into the soil. Every moring I fill these with water. It's been great for a few reasons, 1, the water goes straight to the roots of the plants, 2, the shrinking of potting soil and therefore the drizzle of water down the insides, and not watering at all, is completely avoided, 3, It doesn't seem to need as much watering and 4, the water from the watering can doesn't wash away the dirt from the roots anymore. I was thinking of using the gal milk jugs next year (I only experimented with 2 pop bottles this year) + the pop bottle watering system.
                    • Re: Upside down tomatoes-discoveries

                      Fri, July 28, 2006 - 10:12 AM
                      I am now using SAUVE sampoo plastic watering tubes. The top is about 1 3/4 inches into the soil with a 1/4 inch hole in the top and the bottom is 1/2 open for water and supports the upright position in the top of the inverted tomato container. They contain about 444ml of water and take about 1 full day to drain into the roots of the plant. It will be into the 90's this coming week. I usually water in the morning then fill the tubes in the late evening. My concern is too much water may prevent root growth. I also use the tubes to fertilize slowly and put calcium in to the water to try and prevent tomato rot on the bottom of the fruit. Thanks for the water bottle tip.
                      • Re: Upside down tomatoes-discoveries

                        Fri, July 28, 2006 - 10:22 AM
                        let me know if the bottle in a bottle trick effects your plants negatively. I can't figure out why 1/2 of my potted patio tomatoes are green and the other 1/2 are turning yellow. Maybe like you said, too much h2o to the roots.
                        • CHECKing with on the H20 level. I am putting chrushed TUMS calcium tablets into the water tubes to prevent bottom tomato rot; blossom-end rot on other sites. Have you ever heard of this?
                          The cause is suppose to be a deficiency of calcium in the soil and it occurs after rapid growth (maybe adding fertilizer), a prolonged dry spell or extended periods of rain.Thanks.

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