Upside down tomatoes

[the.fee.fairy]

Has anyone got any tips on these? i got 5 hanging basket fram thingies at a boot sale yesterday and i have plans to put tomatoes in upside down with basil on the top.

Any chance of them growing and cropping well? or should i be looking for another method? I want to try the upside down tomatoes (i have a few different types of tomato seeds, i was planning to put in some small viney tyes, and some gardeners delight).

Any hints/tips appreciated!

[wulf]

I did it last year - the basil did very well but the tomatoes were very disappointing compared to the ones that grew underneath the frame the normal way up (I think I got one tomato from five or six upside down plants!).

I think the problem may either have been not enough soil (certainly when competing with the basil or too much sun and stress for the roots (it was a hot summer and, although I kept things pretty well watered, the roots were much less protected than they would have been in the ground).

I have thought of some possible variations (eg. cover the outside of the clear plastic bottles I was using) but I might forget the upside down twist this year and just go for a hanging herb garden.

Wulf

ps. My avatar picture is just after I planted the tomatoes upside down last year!

[the.fee.fairy]

I was hoping you'd reply, i remembered your experiment last year.

Thanks for the help!

[Andy Hamilton]

Mine was a down and out failure, I didn't plant any basil in the top bit and the tomato plant grew to about 3 inches and that was it. I fed it, watered when needed and it got more sun that some of the plants that grew pretty well. Might have just tried with the runt of the litter though

[Kev]

Not sure if these will help but might be worth a read. The second link may be more usefull Cause you already have the hanging baskets.

http://www.minifarmhomestead.com/gardening/tomato.htm

http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/fv_tomato ... 80,00.html


Kev.

[Millymollymandy]

Hanging baskets won't be upside down, will they!

Do you mean the tumbling variety of tomato, that you plant the right way up but they dangle down?

I do think that tomatoes need more soil than they could get in a hanging basket. I grow them in giant pots about 16" high and about 14" across and the roots completely fill the space!

[the.fee.fairy]

Nope, i mean actually growing them upside down - growing the seedlingas to a decent size, then replanting them upside down in a hanging basket.

Some places i've read have said that they've had higher yields that way.

And i think it looks interesting and pretty. And i have so many tomato seeds, the plants are not all going to fit where i'm growing them, so i was going for a levels thing...

However, from the small poll on here, it seems that i might be better off just sticking them in the hanging basket the right way up!!

Or experimenting...

[wulf]

If you have surplus plants, some experimenting wouldn't hurt. If I were to try again, I think I would experiment with upside down plants in several places in the garden - mine may have got too much sun.

MMM's point about the amount of soil needed is also worth bearing in mind.

Meanwhile, I wonder if I could get some coriander growing upside down....

Wulf

[STHLMgreen]

I would give it a go. Mine did pretty well last year. They produced as well as the others... an important thing was pot size. I found that it didn't matter which way up I grew them, they needed a big pot. In the end I would say this is the most important factor for containers.

They were also on a 9th floor balcony that only got so-so sunlight and still did okay.

I grew Moneymaker tomatos, so I didn't use cherry tomatoes or a tumbling variety, which may work better.

I used parsley on top. (It worked well with the tomato sauce)

You should at least give it a go because it takes so little space.
We will definitely do it again this year.

here's a blog entry from then with pictures: http://growthings.blogspot.com/2006/07/ ... rials.html

[wulf]

Your pictures were useful - definitely a lot more earth than I had available in my 2l plastic bottle!

Wulf