Growing Tomatoes Upside Down - Good Idea or Just a Fad?
You see all sorts of planters these days letting you start growing tomatoes upside down. They are advertised on TV and the TV shopping channels, and they are a best seller on Amazon much of the summer. Are they a good idea, or is the whole idea of growing tomatoes upside down just a fad? The commercials always make things look good. Lets look at the real world advantages and disadvantages of these upside down tomato planters.
Like all hanging planters, there are some real advantages to growing tomatoes in a hanging container, or any container garden for that matter. Some of these include:
- No need to stake the tomatoes - They simply hang down, and you might need to prune, but no tomato cages or stakes.
- Great air circulation - Improved pollination, and healthier plants because the air circulation is better than plants sprawling on the
- Grow almost anywhere - Works well on a patio or for growing tomatoes on an apartment balcony. If you don’t have a garden, this may be one of the few options you have available that won’t take up a lot of precious floor space.
- Early maturing plants - I’ve seen an upside down planter bear fruit more than 2 weeks earlier than the same plants put in the garden at the same time.
- Soil diseases - Since you are using soil that’s fresh (and maybe even a soilless mix) the problems with diseases in the soil are reduced.
Unique to upside down planters, you can grow much larger plants than the little patio types that will grow in an upright planter. The vines are not stressed by hanging over the side of the planter, and the soil bag or container is usually much larger so it will support a larger plant.
Actually many of these advantages apply to other vegetables like peppers, which are often better suited to growing in an upside down planter since the typical pepper plant is not as large as a tomato plant.
Disadvantages - Will they do everything it looks like on TV? The fact is with an 11 quart soil bag on a planter like the Topsy Turvy, the size of plant is going to be limited, and it will need a lot of water during the hottest days of the summer, which is made worse by the fact that the soil heats up more in the summer months.
Your chances for success are improved significantly if you stick with a tomato type for hanging planters, and probably determinate so it’s size will match the soil mass in the planter. The biggest source of complaints (aside from ordering problems) have to do with the amount of water needed and the plants not making it through the summer. Don’t believe the pictures, pick a tomato plant that fits the planter.
Weight - These planters filled with soil and water are pretty heavy. You need to fill and water it in place, it’s not fun hauling around that much weight with just the wire hanger cutting into your hand.
Buying Options - What are the options for growing tomatoes upside down? The most heavily advertised is the Topsy Turvy tomato planter. This collapsible bag holds about 11 quarts of soil, and can support a medium sized plant, and for the adventurous you can put another plant in the top and grow 2 plants. The original design had a water retention ring that helped reduce the need for watering daily, but it seems that’s been removed in the current product.
Gardeners Supply offers their version of this planter, the Gardeners revolution planter. If finding someplace to hang that much weight is not possible, there are a couple of free standing options. The Tomato Tree has a stand, and a bag with 3 plants hanging sideways from it, and the Upside Down Tomato Garden sits on a stand and can handle up to 4 upside down tomato plants.
Durability - In the harsh Texas sun, the Topsy Turvy seems to last about a year. Depending on your climate, it’s unlikely that you will see many years of use. But when you can find them for $10 or less, that’s not necessarily a big deal. The free standing planters seem to be more durable.
Buyer Beware - There are consistently problems reported here in the comments from users about customer service issues, primarily related to ordering and order fulfillment on one of the heavily advertised sites. One example, one place offers buy 1, get 1 free, and then charge about $8 each for shipping. We’d suggest that you order through a well known retailer like Amazon, Yardiac, or Gardeners Supply so you can easily cancel or modify your order if you want.
Filed under Container Gardening, Growing Tomatoes by John
Comments on Growing Tomatoes Upside Down - Good Idea or Just a Fad? »
V Turner @ 5:58 pm
We are going to try growing tomatoes and cayenne peppers upside down in planters this year, but we are using the plastic hanging planters (the kind that flowers are sold in). We have many of these left from annual hanging baskets bought in the past. In fact, Wal-Mart sells such a product this year (for $7.00, which includes tomato seeds and growing medium). We also sell them at Lowe’s for $9.98. All you have to do is line the bottom of the basket with a circle of landscape fabric (I’m going to use a basket type coffee filter) to cover the hole in the bottom so the soil won’t wash out. If there is a cross piece in the hole in the bottom of the basket, just cut it out so there is a round hole to insert the plant in. Fill basket with the growing medium of your choice. I am goint to plant a few marigolds on top of the soil in the basket (both for looks and, as everyone knows, marigolds keep insects away from the tomato plant. Hope this option will help those of us who don’t have the money to purchase all the pre-packaged “upside-down” planters. Just remember to keep your plant watered, every day unless it rains, and fertilized as recommended.
John @ 9:46 pm
My experience with the hanging planters that don’t have the tomatoes upside down is that the branches tend to be stressed right where they hang out of the basket and in high winds, etc that’s where they can be damaged. Also, the hanging planters tend to be smaller, so the problems that you see with any of these planters will tend to be a little worse simply because you have a smaller root system. But, other than that, they have many of the same advantages, (no staking, few weeds, grow anywhere, etc.).
As for the cost, you can find them for under $12 most of the time. The TV informercials tend to gouge you, I’ve seen them online at several places for under $12.
Marj @ 2:20 pm
I have absolutely nothing to attach the bag to for my upside-down tomatoes. I found some saw horse brackets ($2.99 a pair at Sears), then made an 8 foot tall saw horse out of four 2×4s and a 2×2. Worked like a charm. I have room on my frame for four planters. Gotta go plant my ‘maters. It’s only May 1 so they should get a good jump and I’m hoping to have tomatoes soon!
Cheryl Holmberg @ 8:12 pm
Marj, I need to see how your structure looks that you made with the saw horse brackets. Do you have a picture you can email me at cah1775@sbcglobal.net? I built a post structure but it falls over and I can’t figure out how to secure it without concrete in the ground and I want it movable. Thanks so much and I am so glad I found your idea!
Cheryl
Jack @ 2:50 pm
BUYER BEWARE! After falling for the late night TV ad for TOPSY TURVY hanging planters, I decided to surprise my wife and order one (or two if they REALLY gave you the second one free). Of course the first item they requested was my credit card (I should have hung up then) which I gave them, and proceeded to labor through a FULL ten minutes of sales pitches for everything they could possibly sell. After listening to most of their spiel, all of which I declined to accept, I hand up in frustration. Lo and behold, two weeks later, a charge for $80.59 turned up on my account. Not only had I NOT ordered anything, they had charged me for just about everything they had tried to sell me! I called to have the charge reversed and they told me the item(s) had already shipped (another bogus claim). They gave me a tracking number, which UPS said no information was available for, and yes, it’s been three, going on four weeks now and no reversal of charges, no delivery of items, etc. So…. BUYER BEWARE!
Judy @ 6:35 pm
My husband took a 4×4 post and notched out a section 2-inches long near the top to insert a 2×4 post, he drilled a hole in the middle of 2×4 and through the 4×4 post to put a bolt and washer now you can insert two heavy duty screw hooks towards the end of the 2×4 to hang your pots one on each end. dig a hole to place your post in the ground. Its great looking and does the job too!