On Feb 28, 12:07 pm, z wrote:
On Feb 26, 6:40 pm, Jangchub wrote:



On Tue, 26 Feb 2008 13:18:12 -0500, Bill R
wrote:

SteveB wrote:

I have seen on TV these upside down tomato containers. They look like, and
probably are simple bags that let you grow tomatos in a hanging position
upside down.

I have raised tomatos in Louisiana for about six years, so am familiar with
a lot of the basics. I now live in Utah, and although it is quite a
different climate here, some of the basics apply.

Has anyone ever tried these? Do they work? Could one build some of the
same thing out of say, burlap bags, as I believe they would probably last
only one season anyway?

Or just grow them the right way?

Steve

Steve,

The ones that they sell are EXTREMELY overpriced (usually about $10 per
bag). If you want to try to grow upside down tomatoes you can make your
own up side down containers. One year I took some three liter soft
drink bottles and cut off the bottoms, poked some hole near the bottom,
used some twine for hangers and planted a tomato plant in each one. The
ones that did the best were the smaller type plants (determinate). They
were all hung in a nice sunny area of the garden and all produced a good
crop. Comparing them to the same type of plant that were grown in the
ground the only advantage that I saw was that the upside down ones
produced tomatoes a few days earlier than the "in ground" tomatoes. The
BIG disadvantage that I found was that the 3 liter containers had to be
watered daily (if it didn't rain).

I might give them a try again this year because the grand kids seen them
on TV and expressed an interest in trying them. I've been looking
around for a cheap alternative to the bags that they sell but I think
three liter bottles are as cheap as you can get.

If you have five gallon buckets, poke holes all along the bottom and
sides and hang those upside down with the tomato plants in them.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Might just plant the tomatoes regular side up, and just stand on my
head when i garden them.

LOL
this is the best comment of the day!
Emilie
Nor Cal
76 deg F. today !!

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

Impeach Pelosi, Bush & Cheney to the Hague
http://rachelcorriefoundation.org/site/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movemen...George_W._Bush

In article ,
Scott Hildenbrand wrote:

Using those hanging baskets
http://picasaweb.google.com/mrsnierh...51057979601284
60578

Hm. I've got one of those out front that I've never used for anything.
Might be worth a try. :-)

Wonder if I can try it with a pre-grown bedding plant? I've always just
bought bedding tomatoes. Never tried them from seeds...
--
Peace, Om
Remove underscore to validate gmails.

"Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have
come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first."
-- Mark Twain

In article ,
"SteveB" meagain@rockvilleUSA wrote:

I saw these things at last week's garden show. They are reinforced plastic
bags. So why do you want to use them, just want to dink around with
something new, growing area restraints, want to be the first in your
neighborhood or have you never been able to grow a decent tomato plant and
are desperate to try anything?

Val

Val


Huh? Please reread my post when you are sober.

Steve

lol!
--
Peace, Om
Remove underscore to validate gmails.

"Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have
come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first."
-- Mark Twain

In article ,
Scott Hildenbrand wrote:

Yeah.. I think the best DIY bet would be those 5 gallon buckets.. I had
several I cleaned and kept when I sealed the driveway at the old house.

Seems like the bigger the container the better the plants do, which is
no surprise.

Does anyone have any experience growing these?
I'd just planned on container gardening this year to save on water
costs, (water costs make it cheaper to buy at the store rather than
garden anymore! At least here...) but if one gets a better yield from
these, I may try it.
--
Peace, Om
Remove underscore to validate gmails.

"Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have
come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first."
-- Mark Twain

I tried them, when I got tired of my hanging baskets of strawberries.

I tried 2 kinds of tomatoes, Early Girl and one other which I've forgotten.
We don't have a good tomato climate--too cool. They did about the same as
plants in the ground, a little smaller. BUT on one kind (and, I'm sorry, I
don't remember which) almost every fruit rotted before it ripened because of
water dripping on it; watering was from a tiny sprinkler stuck in the top of
the hanging container.

We used small plants from the nursery, in potting soil with a time release
fertilizer. As soon as they started growing they realized they were upside
down, and turned up. Eventually the weight of it all pulled them down, but
it was not graceful. Same thing with the petunias I tried in them the
following year.

The whole setup was interesting, but unattractive.
--

Visit www.insectgraphics.com for all your insect gift needs

"Omelet" wrote in message
news
In article ,
Scott Hildenbrand wrote:

Yeah.. I think the best DIY bet would be those 5 gallon buckets.. I had
several I cleaned and kept when I sealed the driveway at the old house.

Seems like the bigger the container the better the plants do, which is
no surprise.

Does anyone have any experience growing these?
I'd just planned on container gardening this year to save on water
costs, (water costs make it cheaper to buy at the store rather than
garden anymore! At least here...) but if one gets a better yield from
these, I may try it.
--
Peace, Om
Remove underscore to validate gmails.

"Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have
come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first."
-- Mark Twain

In article ,
"tuckermor" wrote:

I tried them, when I got tired of my hanging baskets of strawberries.

I tried 2 kinds of tomatoes, Early Girl and one other which I've forgotten.
We don't have a good tomato climate--too cool. They did about the same as
plants in the ground, a little smaller. BUT on one kind (and, I'm sorry, I
don't remember which) almost every fruit rotted before it ripened because of
water dripping on it; watering was from a tiny sprinkler stuck in the top of
the hanging container.

We used small plants from the nursery, in potting soil with a time release
fertilizer. As soon as they started growing they realized they were upside
down, and turned up. Eventually the weight of it all pulled them down, but
it was not graceful. Same thing with the petunias I tried in them the
following year.

The whole setup was interesting, but unattractive.
--

My problem would be having someplace to hang them. g

I'm thinking of topping the soil with sphagnum to also cut back on
watering.
--
Peace, Om
Remove underscore to validate gmails.

"Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have
come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first."
-- Mark Twain

I just remembered--we once tried them with cucumbers. They did pretty well,
but just grew straight down. Once again, not very attractive, but lots of
cukes.

--

Visit www.insectgraphics.com for all your insect gift needs
"Omelet" wrote in message
news
In article ,
"tuckermor" wrote:

I tried them, when I got tired of my hanging baskets of strawberries.

I tried 2 kinds of tomatoes, Early Girl and one other which I've
forgotten.
We don't have a good tomato climate--too cool. They did about the same as
plants in the ground, a little smaller. BUT on one kind (and, I'm sorry,
I
don't remember which) almost every fruit rotted before it ripened because
of
water dripping on it; watering was from a tiny sprinkler stuck in the top
of
the hanging container.

We used small plants from the nursery, in potting soil with a time
release
fertilizer. As soon as they started growing they realized they were
upside
down, and turned up. Eventually the weight of it all pulled them down,
but
it was not graceful. Same thing with the petunias I tried in them the
following year.

The whole setup was interesting, but unattractive.
--

My problem would be having someplace to hang them. g

I'm thinking of topping the soil with sphagnum to also cut back on
watering.
--
Peace, Om
Remove underscore to validate gmails.

"Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have
come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first."
-- Mark Twain