Inverted tomatoes?
 

I recently read an ad for containers used to plant tomatoes. Thing is
you plant them upside down.
The pots are inverted and you hang them.. They say it eliminates the
need for staking the plant up and they get more sun. Has anyone ever
planted tomatoes upside down? If so did it actually work? I sounds
like an interesting concept. I'd like to try it but I am a bit
hesitant to try it with many plants in case it doesn't work.

In article ,
luriko wrote:

I recently read an ad for containers used to plant tomatoes. Thing is
you plant them upside down.
The pots are inverted and you hang them.. They say it eliminates the
need for staking the plant up and they get more sun. Has anyone ever
planted tomatoes upside down? If so did it actually work? I sounds
like an interesting concept. I'd like to try it but I am a bit
hesitant to try it with many plants in case it doesn't work.

I saw those planting bags for sale in some seed catalogs this
winter, so I started extra tomato seeds. Am going to try to hang
some big, black plastic (nursery) pots and plant the 'maters
to come through the big, center drain hole in the pots.

The fun part about gardening is experimenting with new ideas and
plants every year : )

Jan
USDA Zone 3, Alaska

--
The way to a man's heart is between the fourth and the fifth rib.

Christ Almighty, Flora, why don't you go back to you-know-where and
leave these fine people alone? You know as much about tomatoes as
Dennis Harris knows about cruises.

In article . com,
"Betty Harris" wrote:

Christ Almighty, Flora, why don't you go back to you-know-where and
leave these fine people alone? You know as much about tomatoes as
Dennis Harris knows about cruises.


Ah, a stalker.

Crawl back under your rock, troll.

--
The way to a man's heart is between the fourth and the fifth rib.

In article says...
I recently read an ad for containers used to plant tomatoes. Thing is
you plant them upside down.
The pots are inverted and you hang them.. They say it eliminates the
need for staking the plant up and they get more sun. Has anyone ever
planted tomatoes upside down? If so did it actually work? I sounds
like an interesting concept. I'd like to try it but I am a bit
hesitant to try it with many plants in case it doesn't work.

Other than creating a novelty item, why would anyone want to do this? If
I understand this concept correctly, that the plant grows upside down,
gravity may indeed keep the main stalk growing straight down (whether
that's true or not I don't know because I thought a stalk will tend to
want to grow up and thus loop around), and assuming that is true, how can
one assume that the branches of a tomato plant won't break or succumb to
gravity because it's upside down instead of right side up? I would
assume either way you would want to provide support for the lateral
branches.

I also doubt this is easier than right side up growing. Assuming it is
true that you do save on staking the plant, you still have to build a
structure that holds very heavy bags of dirt 6 or 8 feet high, tomato
plants can grow that big. I would think that building a structure like
that would be a lot more complicated than just staking the stalk and in
either case you might end up building a cage anyway to support the
branches.

You don't have to spend money on fancy containers to try this. I am
using 1 gal ice cream buckets for patio tomato plants. For regular size
plants use 5 gal buckets. Fill bucket with soil, put lid on and turn
upside down. Drill or cut 2 - 2 1/2" dia hole in center of bottom.
Plant tomatoe plant in this hole. After a few days turn bucket right
side up, remove lid and hang.

Plants will turn and grow up towards the sunlight. I have a picture of
one of mine at:http://community.webshots.com/user/vmwood

Marv-Montezuma, IA
http://community.webshots.com/user/vmwood


luriko wrote:
I recently read an ad for containers used to plant tomatoes. Thing is
you plant them upside down.
The pots are inverted and you hang them.. They say it eliminates the
need for staking the plant up and they get more sun. Has anyone ever
planted tomatoes upside down? If so did it actually work? I sounds
like an interesting concept. I'd like to try it but I am a bit
hesitant to try it with many plants in case it doesn't work.

In article says...
You don't have to spend money on fancy containers to try this. I am
using 1 gal ice cream buckets for patio tomato plants. For regular size
plants use 5 gal buckets. Fill bucket with soil, put lid on and turn
upside down. Drill or cut 2 - 2 1/2" dia hole in center of bottom.
Plant tomatoe plant in this hole. After a few days turn bucket right
side up, remove lid and hang.

This is interesting. I was under the assumption that 5 gallon buckets
were too small of a container to grow tomatoes yet they seem pretty
robust in your picture. Does growing upside down allow for the use of
smaller containers or does your plant still not produce as much fruit had
it been placed in a much larger container?

De reet van je moeder heeft haar eigen vakbond.

"VMWOOD" wrote:

You don't have to spend money on fancy containers to try this. I am
using 1 gal ice cream buckets for patio tomato plants. For regular size
plants use 5 gal buckets. Fill bucket with soil, put lid on and turn
upside down. Drill or cut 2 - 2 1/2" dia hole in center of bottom.
Plant tomatoe plant in this hole. After a few days turn bucket right
side up, remove lid and hang.

Plants will turn and grow up towards the sunlight. I have a picture of
one of mine at:http://community.webshots.com/user/vmwood

Marv-Montezuma, IA
http://community.webshots.com/user/vmwood

Your photo (last photo on last page of Greenhouse album) actually
shows the opposite of the advertisements. The ads for these things
typically shows the tomato plant hanging downward, not turning up and
growin up the outside of the upside down container. Your method looks
even more prone to disaster than growing the regular way that nature
does it. Chances are the plant that is sold is a variety that is bred
more for hanging baskets, so it will droop down easily. If your
plants even get too many fruit on them the weight will pull them down
and put a lot of stress on the upturned stems. You'll may need to tie
the stems to the hanging chains/ropes of the pot for support or risk
damaging the stems. Although in a greenhouse you don't ahve to have as
hardy stems as you would outside.


luriko wrote:
I recently read an ad for containers used to plant tomatoes. Thing is
you plant them upside down.
The pots are inverted and you hang them.. They say it eliminates the
need for staking the plant up and they get more sun. Has anyone ever
planted tomatoes upside down? If so did it actually work? I sounds
like an interesting concept. I'd like to try it but I am a bit
hesitant to try it with many plants in case it doesn't work.



DiGiTAL ViNYL (no email)
Zone 6b/7, Westchester Co, NY, 1 mile off L.I.Sound
3rd year gardener
http://photos.yahoo.com/ph/royalfrazier/

Betty Harris wrote:

De reet van je moeder heeft haar eigen vakbond.

This is Dutch and the literal translation is:
"The reet of your mother has its own trade union."

reet?

I suspect it means either "You're mother is a prostitute"
or "You're an S.O.B."

luriko wrote:

I recently read an ad for containers used to plant tomatoes. Thing is
you plant them upside down.
The pots are inverted and you hang them.. They say it eliminates the
need for staking the plant up and they get more sun. Has anyone ever
planted tomatoes upside down? If so did it actually work? I sounds
like an interesting concept. I'd like to try it but I am a bit
hesitant to try it with many plants in case it doesn't work.

Just a gimmick really. How does putting the pot ABOVE the plant give
it more sun? Doesn't the pot become a overhang/umbrella , therefore
creating a shadow to now block more sun?

Many plants automatically grow and turn upward towards the sun. Most
tomato species do this. A hanging baskt variety would be more limp,
although they also tend to be more of the cherry-sized tomatoes. Even
on hanging plants, the ends constantly upturn towards the sun. I'd bet
that the variety in the upside down is a hanging basket version. But I
really see no benefit whatsoever to upside down planting. Take the
money you'd spend on this and buy a simple, effective and resusable
cage and you won't have to worry about pinching out or staking and
tying.

DiGiTAL ViNYL (no email)
Zone 6b/7, Westchester Co, NY, 1 mile off L.I.Sound
3rd year gardener
http://photos.yahoo.com/ph/royalfrazier/

Think the only real advantage is for those who don'tt have a lot of
garden space for tomatoes..A lot of tomatoes can be grown in a very
small area this way.

Don't know whether it's bad or good but a lot of the fun for me is
trying new flowers & plants and new ways of growing them.

If what was good enough for grandpa is good enough for you then you
probably shouldn't try it. LOL

Marv-Montezuma, IA
http://community.webshots.com/user/vmwood

VMWOOD wrote:
Think the only real advantage is for those who don'tt have a lot of
garden space for tomatoes.

Or any garden space at all.

If they're in an apartment, and floorspace on the patio (or deck) is already
at a premium, or the floor is shady, but something hanging could be in more
sun, this is a possible solution.

If nothing else, it'll be a conversation piece if they entertain out there.

Gardening, even vegetable gardening, isn't always about maximizing yields,
or increasing efficiency for the masses.

--
Warren H.

==========
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response -- unless you count my dog who desperately wants
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