Growing Tomatoes Upside Down

[Mikael]

Has any one tried growing Tomatoes in a 5 gallon bucket hanging, so that the tomatoe is growing upside down. Just wondering if it works pretty well or not. Mikael

[McCready]

There's always someone pissing against the wind. ;O)

No! Seriously. Why change from the good old standard method?

I always have more tomatoes, then I can eat, every year using pots placed on my greenhouse border.

[Rick]

Yeah - I did this last year and it worked great. I got more tomatos off the upside down plants than those in my greenhouse, which had a mildew problem. As to why, I could water them from the deck (easy) and pick them from the deck and ground. It gave me much more functional space to garden (I also did red, orange and yellow bell pepers and they did well too). The plants grew a lot faster. I started from seed early and had large transplants. The stems of the plants went all the way up in the bucket, so they were much deeper than in my garden, giving them more roots early on. The tomatos set faster and better. I think the dogs thundering back and forth on the deck kept the plants well shook and thus well polinated -LOL. There was no need to stake or cage the plants- they just hang down and keep going. The downside was keeping the soil at the right moisture content. The water tends to pour right through. I used black plastic garbage bags tied with twine to cover the tops and this worked fine. It was easy to remove the covers to water. This year I am modifying the buckets by placing a ring of material (haven't decided what yet- but something water proof and glued to the bucket- perhaps styrofoam glued with silicon cement?) around the hole in the bottom and extending up about an inch or two. This should create a reservoir of water in the bottom of the bucket that will wick up through the soil.

Watch out in the beginning that the plants do not turn up and go back into the bucket. After they have grown a bit they are two heavy to turn up and this is no longer a problem.

Have fun!

Rick

[Steve Calvin]

ok, I've never heard of this method. I'm "assuming" that you are talking about hanging the bucket upside-down with the plant growing toward the ground? If that's the case why not just cut a hole in the bottom of the bucket put the root end of the transplant through the whole, put dirt in the bucket and secure the seedling and then fill the bucket and hang as you normally would hang it (right side up)? That way the plant would have one heck of a time getting through the plastic to get back into the bucket. ;-)

If I had a place that was conducive to trying this, it'd give it shot. Unfortunately, that's not the case.

-- Steve

[Mikael]

Thanks, Rick. I think I will try this method this spring. Was just wondering if any one had success with this way of planting them Mikael

[James F. Mayer]

I'd think that the dirt would fall out.

[James F. Mayer]

Most of the time if I plant them green side down, I don't get any tomatoes.

[James F. Mayer]

I'd think that the dirt would fall out.

[Steve]

There we go! I knew someone would have the answer to that question. ;-)

James F. Mayer wrote:

[Amazin]

I've grown tomatoes in hanging baskets for a few years now. They'r great. There's one type called 'Tumbler' which, as the name suggests is ideal for this and produces a heavy crop of Cherry Tomatoes fo practically the whole summer.

Amazin

-- Amazin