upside down tomato planters?

[Jessiebean]

My boys and I are doing and experiment, we have planted two tomatoes of the same variety ( an open pollinated heirloom , naturally!) in containers, one is a cheap hanging pot and the other is an upside down tomato planter (also cheap... it's a theme around here) to see if either grows better.
I am unconvinced of the relative merits of the upside down one, it seems to me the water and nutrients will flow towards the bottom of the bag and the roots are expecting it to be at the top (now I am just confusing myself) so I was wondering if anyone had any theories on upside down tomato planter/bags and whether or not they are any good at all or just a sort of gimmick (they seem very American in concept to me).http://www.thegreenhead.com/2005/03/top ... flower.php mine is just like this (as seen on TV evidently)

[Durgan]

An absolute waste of time and effort, verging on stupidity, driven by the many sellers of containers. First of all the tomato wants to grow away from gravity meaning upwards. Secondly it is almost impossible to keep watered.

If it is necessary to grow in containers use a five gallon bucket and grow normally.

I did the experiment about five years ago. Most of the monkeys on the internet babbling nonsense only show pictures of vegetation, seldom is ever the fruit, which is the ultimate objective. This is similar to growing potatoes in tires or very highly hilled containers, as if potatoes grow along the stem like tomatoes, which they don't.

[wulf]

I tried it a few years ago, using 2l plastic drinks bottles (I know all about the cheap theme!). Results were not very impressive; I think what tomatoes really want is a good amount of soil to get rooted in and a decent amount of moisture. In a small hanging container you provide a small amount of growing medium, very exposed to the sun and so highly heated and prone to evaporation. Even your right-way-up hanging container will suffer from these challenges.

Tomatoes exhibit varying degrees of geotropism (the desire to grow up), depending on variety. I think the vine varieties are not too bothered - they will grow up strings and poles if provided, as this gives them good access to sunlight (heliotropism - growth influenced by light) but will also happily ramble across the ground if no support is found. The reason for gardeners giving them upward support is that it is much easier to harvest the fruit and the plants also require substantially less ground space to reach a good size. I suspect that if you grew tomatoes in good soil at the top of a sunny slope or wall, they would happily hang down.

Wulf

ps. I did also grow basil in the top side of my hanging containers - I realise now that this was even more competition for the tomatoes but those plants thrived, being happy with hot, dryish roots, limited soil and, above all, much better exposure to the sun than they would have got on the ground in the enclosed, north facing garden I was using at the time.

[Jessiebean]

I suspected as much but the boys love an experiment. Our tomato is definitely moving upwards, it is "J" shaped but none too healthy looking. I will give another week or so in the name of "science" and then I think I will make a tomato planter out of a bucket as suggested!:)

[Ellendra]

While the upside-down planters may not do too well compared to large pots or good old-fashioned ground planting, they do prove that tomatoes are less gravity-dependant than some plants, and thus would do well in space.

Not that that effects any of us :)

[Durgan]

While the upside-down planters may not do too well compared to large pots or good old-fashioned ground planting, they do prove that tomatoes are less gravity-dependant than some plants, and thus would do well in space.

Not that that effects any of us :)

Not quite. The plant vegetation in the upside position curls violently upwards as if it wants to go skywards. Gravity is the stimuli as far as I know.

[Ellendra]

I've done some experiments at home with them, they grow toward the light. Most of the time the light is above them, so they curl up. But the time I put the light sideways to the branch, it curled sideways. I'd love to set one up with the light in all directions and a sideways-rotating planter to negate the effects of gravity to see how they do, but right now that's more involved than I have time or space for.

For comparison, corn grows upward no matter which direction the light is in. Different plants seem to react to gravity and light in slightly different ways, that are only apparent when those factors are controlled.

(Sorry, I'm a science geek. It shows sometimes.)

[Durgan]

I've done some experiments at home with them, they grow toward the light. Most of the time the light is above them, so they curl up. But the time I put the light sideways to the branch, it curled sideways. I'd love to set one up with the light in all directions and a sideways-rotating planter to negate the effects of gravity to see how they do, but right now that's more involved than I have time or space for.

For comparison, corn grows upward no matter which direction the light is in. Different plants seem to react to gravity and light in slightly different ways, that are only apparent when those factors are controlled.

(Sorry, I'm a science geek. It shows sometimes.)

http://globalrumblings.blogspot.com/201 ... -down.html

There is a complex mechanism at work,between light and gravity,not clearly understood as yet. From my own limited observations, the three tomato plants that I grew upside-down in hanging five gallon long pails, the vegetation was getting sunlight from all directions, granted the most intense was from directly above the containers, which was not always available to the plant, due to the shadow created by the pail. The vegetation at the bottom of the pails was gnarled and tending to grow upwards. I supported the hanging vegetation with a net and the plant still wanted to grow upwards, and I did not subscribe this practice to light.

But I am just an old Saskatchewan sod buster with no formal education.

[Jessiebean]

Well I am sure I have no idea of such things but I have replanted the tomatoes in a big box instead, two days in and the J is now an S shaped plant and looking much healthier!

[Durgan]

Well I am sure I have no idea of such things but I have replanted the tomatoes in a big box instead, two days in and the J is now an S shaped plant and looking much healthier!

Nice not to follow the mindless mob. I always have great respect for the few sheep who will not follow the main flock through the gate into a new field. It is a thrill to see them veer off.

[Jessiebean]

I get the feeling you aren't a "mob follower" from way back!