Update on my Upside-Down Tomatoes

At last we have been harvesting delicious tomatoes from both of our upside down tomato planters. The Topsy Turvy Planter is still doing the best.

 

As the tomatoes ripen, the plant is looking worse. Some of the leaves are yellowing or turning brown. I don't know if this is due to uneven watering or a nutrient deficiency in the soil. For the soil in both planters, I used about half organic potting soil and half coir (coconut fiber). I saw how the coir worked so well retaining water for the worm bin that I thought it would do well in the planters. The only problem is that I don't know if that is cutting down on the nutrition going to the plant.

To remedy this next year, I plan to add Tomatoes Alive organic fertilizer to the planters. Tomatoes Alive has been successful for me in the past but what will make it even better for the topsy turvy is that Gardens Alive is giving away a pound of tomatoes alive plus when you buy a Topsy Turvy II from them.

I don't know if Topsy Turvy II is any different from my Topsy Turvy, but I want to buy at least one more of them for next year, so I might as well get it with the Tomatoes Alive from Gardens Alive.

If I use their internet coupon -$20 Off $40 purchase, I can get three for the price of two! Or maybe I'll just get two and buy something else small to qualify for the $20 off. I love everything they have. If you have never browsed the Gardens Alive!site, I strongly encourage you to. They have a lot for the organic garden. Back to this year - The tomatoes are looking good from our hanging planters.

 

The overall plant doesn't look as good as it does on the Topsy Turvy advertisement, but does anything ever look as good as the ad? I think next year I will prune of the lower branch side shoots (which are actually higher since it is upside down). This would help the overall upside-down tomato appearance.

In conclusion, When I wrote my first post Do Upside Down Tomato Planters Work?, I thought that they were more of a novelty than a real planter. Now that I have tried a couple different ways, I think that the Topsy Turvy is a solid product. It is probably still better to plant tomatoes directly in the ground, but if you don't have room or if you just want some gardening fun, give the Topsy Turvy a try. If you want to know more of the pros and cons of growing with planters, I wrote a more in-depth post on this subject at Simple Green Frugal Co-op.

Next season, I am going to try strawberries and cucumbers in one too. How can I already be talking about next year's tomatoes when there is still so much harvest and then the Fall garden to tend to this year? I don't know. I guess its an obsession. :)

The Topsy Turvy Does Work!

Before this year's growing season even began, I posed the question "Do Upside Down Tomato Planters Work?" There has been a great deal of discussion about this lately, especially about the Topsy-Turvy Upside Down Planter.

I decided to conduct an experiment this year and bought a Topsy Turvy and another upside down tomato planter that was really just a hanging basket with a whole in the bottom. They are hanging side-by-side on my deck.

The tomatoes in both planters are growing well, but the Topsy Turvy plant is thriving! It is performing as well or better than the main tomatoes in the garden.

The Topsy Turvy's plant is much larger than the one in the other planter, and there are more tomatoes forming. I think this has to do with the volume of soil that the roots have.

 

 

The other planter is working and I would think it was doing well if I didn't have the Topsy Turvy to compare it to.

So my answer to my previous post's question of whether you can really grow tomatoes upside down is YES. However, it is still easier to grow tomatoes in the ground. Upside Down tomatoes have to be cared for in the same way that any container grown vegetables do. You must use a light soil mix like potting soil mixed with coir or peat moss. You also have to keep up with the watering without over-watering. Tomatoes like deep watering every few days. It is okay if they almost dry out in between waterings. I think most peoples biggest mistake with container-grown tomatoes is watering too much. Tomato plants don't like constant "wet feet". Too much water leads to rotting fruits and fungal disease.

With proper watering though, growing tomatoes in hanging containers is a great way to go. I plan on getting a few more Topsy Turvy Upside-Down Tomato Planters for next year!

Here is one last picture of my hanging tomatoes with my daughter next to them to show how big the plant is.

I can't wait to see how big it gets and how it looks with ripe tomatoes on it. I will post again when that time comes! What about you? Is there anyone else who has had success with the Topsy Turvy or any other upside-down planter? I think the majority of talk about these planters is about how they haven't worked out. I would love to hear from you if you have found success. Thanks!

Do Upside Down Tomato Planters Work?

About fifteen years ago, we moved into our first small house. It had a nice little car-port complete with multiple hooks for hanging plants. The whole neighborhood was the same style house and there were so many beautiful flower arrangements hanging from the end of each carport. We followed suit and hung a few baskets of petunias.

I wasn't very excited about it until I saw a house with more than just hanging flowers. They had a hanging strawberry basketand a hanging container full of herbs. That got me thinking about other edibles you could grow in hanging pots, and before long I had a hanging basket of lettuce. Tomatoes were too big to grow in a hanging pot, but I managed to grow one out of the bottom. It worked pretty well and I was able to grow marigolds in the top part.

I never considered using anything other than a traditional hanging basket, but now there are containers on the market that are designed specifically to grow tomatoes from the bottom. I first saw these a couple years ago but resisted the temptation to buy one... until now!

I now have my very own Topsy Turvy Upside-Down Tomato Planter- as seen on TV even. I don't watch much TV and have never seen any commercials for this product. My daughters laughed when I showed them my new Topsy Turvy Tomato planter. They said, "That will go well in your Tomato Playground. It's like the one on the commericial". I guess it really is seen on TV. Some people are drawn to the "As seen on TV" slogan but I usually shy away from products with that claim. So what do I have with my Topsy Turvy Upside Down Tomato Planter (other than a mouthful title)? Will it work? I think it should work fine. It will be a pretty cool novelty addition to my container garden section this year.

It will be great, according to all that is written on the box. Here is the list of positives they cite:

Grow delicious & Juicy Tomatoes all Season Long

Hangs on Deck, Balcony or Patio (I would add Car-port)

Eliminates Weeding, Caging and Staking

Can Grow Organic Too! (Always)

Also grows other vegetables including Green Bell Peppers, Zucchini, Cucumbers, Eggplant, and more!

How it works:

Uses gravity as a vertical growing advantage

Vertical grow bag heats the plant like a greenhouse so the root system explodes

Gravity pulls the water and nutrients directly to the roots

It features:

Swivel top for easy turning

Simple to set up and maintain

Uses ordinary potting soil

Great for growing your own organic vegetables

UV-resistant, durable materials to last for years

I didn't make all of that up. It is what is written on the back of the box.

The Topsy Turvy isn't the only upside down tomato planter on the market. Look at this funny, but pretty cool Hot Pepper Vertical Grow Bag:

It seems that I am late to this vegetable hanging party. The more research I did, the more I found. The Topsy Tervy people also make a big stand up system called The Upside-down Tomato Garden. Check this out:

That is really cool - and you can grow flowers in the top part like I did so many years ago with my home-made upside down tomato planter.

So what's the verdict with these upside down grow bags? I would love to hear from those of you who have tride them before. Do they work? Do they work better than a "normal" patio container? Did you have fun with them, or were they a hassle to deal with? I will be answering all of these questions this season as I experiment with my Topsy Turvy Tomato bag. I think I will also try to make some home-made upside down tomato planters just for fun.

What do you think? Are they worth a try?