In article ,
Rick wrote:

On Thu, 28 Feb 2008 13:15:58 -0800, Billy wrote:

In article
,
z wrote:

On Feb 26, 12:46*pm, "Val" wrote:
"Scott Hildenbrand" wrote in message

... Made out of what
looks
to be 2 or 3 litter pop bottles.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/program...n/photostream/

Those poor plants just don't look happy. Probably not going to be enough
soil to keep the plants going in the long haul. I'd think that the clear
plastic would cook the roots when the sun is in full on summer mode.

Made out of buckets
http://www.dailyherald.com/special/g...den/tomato.asp

The guy across the street has two 5 gallon white buckets hanging on his
balcony he grows tomatoes in. They always seem to do pretty well. He
grows
herbs in the top of the buckets.

Using those hanging baskets

*http://picasaweb.google.com/mrsnierh...ns/photo#51057...
loo
ks weird, I like the lobelia better Val


yeah, i agree; you're going to want way more dirt for optimum results.
the other part of the idea, hanging the tomatoes instead of leaving
them to sprawl is good, except that it's just as easy to tie them to a
trellis or something and grow up.

if i had a nice sunny hot patch of garden, i'd grow the tomatoes
there; if not, then in a larger bucket or garbage can full of dirt in
a sunny hot spot.

that said, maybe i'll try one of those hangy things, just to see.

i suppose one advantage is that you'd be protected from that bacterial
diseas that's in all the soil hereabouts.

I'm curious. As someone else mentioned, gardeners are normally cautioned
not to wet the leaves of the tomato plants. How do you avoid that, when
they are upside down?

I have been growing tomatoes "upside down" for the last 4 years. I also grow
them in containers and in the ground. I use 5 gal buckets, and use a slab of
foam rubber in the bottom where the hole is to retain dirt and help retain
water. I only fill the buckets about half with soil (2 gal or so)and that
seems to be fine. I do find that I have to water the tomatoes frequently if
it
is hot and dry. Water just streams down the plants, but they are up in the
breeze and dry rapidly. I find the smaller varieties do better, and grow
cherry, and Julian types, but have had good success with moderate sized
tomatoes. Most years the buckets out perform the other plants, and for the
last 3 years I have had tomatoes ripening right up until the second or 3rd
hard
freeze (I just throw a sheet over the plant which are hanging on the deck
rail
1 story above ground). My container and ground tomatoes succumb to fungus or
bacterial blights several weeks to a month or so earlier.

Thanks for the empirical information;-)
--

Billy

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