A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Tomatoes

Before I join, I read all the achieves under this topic. The thread on upside down tomatoes got my attention. Three weeks ago I made two using two gallon buckets.

Just wanted to report that both are doing great. Last weekend the wind blew 30 mph for two days. Roughed up the leaves a little, but other wise no damage.

One is a cluster cherry tomato plant and it has little tomatoes. The other is a big boy and is flowering but no tomatoes yet.

Just thought I would report what is happening.

Duke

thats great. i have been wanting to try that. did you make the planters yourself? if so, how did you do it? pictures?

No pictures I need to charge up the digital camera battery.

I made the planters. Went to Home Depot purchased two, two gallon buckets with lids and two tomato plants in a 5" containers.

Washed the bucket and used a 3/4" bit to cut four holes to make a clover leaf hole in the bucket bottom and lid.

Supported the bucket on two 2 by 4 boards and lowered the tomato through the hole in the bottom.

Placed a coffee filter between the bottom of the bucket and the tomato plant.

I then filled the bucket with organic peat and put on the lid. I hung one plant from a tree. the other form a support in the back yard. Both are doing fine.

Duke

Take some pictures Duke and keep us updated. The one great thing about that method is not having to stake or cage the plants.

wonderful. yes, if you could take pictures that would be great. im glad to hear it is working as well as i had hoped. this spring i will be making some as soon as it is warm enough outside for a tomato plant. i want to make a 5 gallon one so i can grow indeterminate plants. keep us updated

I know Njoynit did some..
She's got a picture somewhere's in her
album..
I'll see if she can swing by for you guys..
*remind me*

http://community.webshots.com/photo/124864125/1124896773028573123IJgjwe

This is a 4 gallon donut iceing container.

I used coffee filters as well to help hold it in more.
They did seem to be TX wind resistant(Shame I grew them stright up...10 ft at that last year...we could have had a Rita test to see how well they really woulda done..lol)

I had to water them alot& was hard to turn the bucket.I'm going to add foam peanuts to their soil mix this year.they get NO water splash-ups from soil so less soil borne problems.its like a controlled enviroment,plus I grew marigolds with them on sides& top as well.I'm going to try cherry tomatos on the sides with marigolds and re use the container from last year.I've thought of doing a pepper/tomato planter as well(your gonna

hehe, im young, heavy doesnt bother me yet

and btw, i like ur upside down tomatoes. very nice. did the marigolds keep bugs off it pretty good?

Some info. on upside down tomato and pepper pots based on my experience of two years ago-
I used white 5 gal. pickle pails. Disinfected them, drilled the holes as specified on web sites, used potting soil, coffee filters, etc. and hung under an 8' deck facing south. Strange things happened as they grew: the tomato plants tried to turn back right side up toward the sun but gave up as they got bigger; watering the plants was time consuming and it was difficult to use just enough water w/o it running out of the bottom hole and onto the tomato plant (not good for disease control); pollination/production was mediocre compared to my regular garden grown plants of the same variety; but the peppers seemed to do better than the tomato plants. Perhaps because they liked the heat more.
So, FWIW, and this is my opinion only, try some upside-down plants for fun, not for production. If you live in a place where space is severly limited and you only have room for a plant or two, I'd go with a regular container- not an upside-down one. The indeterminate varieties really struggled. Perhaps small grape or cherry varieties would do better.
Don't mean to throw water on a parade here, just some lessons I learned. Like I said, it's a fun thing to fool around with and a conversation piece but not something that's going to supply you with lots of maters for the table or salsa for canning, etc. I do plan on trying it sometime with small colorful habenaro pepper plants for the color as much as anything. (However, 5 gal. white pickle pails are not the most decorative hanging pots.)

I could say yes....but its also not on the ground...so that elimanates alot of problems.But marigolds are natural pesticide fighters.

I actually bought 2 tomato plants today 1 early girl 1 better boy.I did spy a type of cherry tomato& thats what I'd like to do in the sides of a container...but need to see which ones do well for my area to MY likeing.

When I get my"lighter than yours "planted....I'll post a picture.we can compare muscles end of season.

One more thing- I like the idea of hanging plants but feel that a regular clay or other material pot which is hung by traditional methods growing normal side up will produce better, be more attractive, and be easier to maintain. As it gets bigger, it simply overflows the pot and hangs down toward the ground. I don't think an almost totally enclosed container breathes very well and the roots suffer. If tomato plants were designed to grow upside down, you'd have seen it in nature before now. Hehe.

watch my pics this year then...ya might change your mind.But I did enjoy growing 10 ft tomatoes last year...and I bet if my trellis was taller can make it to 15 ft.
mine didn't grow as big in hanging pot as in ground.but I also had cut the top on tomamto plant& was also a celbrity& I don't care for that one as much either and won't grow it again.Right now I just have 1 better boy& 1 early girl& I DO like early girls.

the water running down the neck of the tomato plant kinda worried me a bit. i figured i could rig something up that would eliminate this problem. lemme see if i can make a quick scetch on the pc of my idea... ill post it later

ok, im no good with paint, but hopefuly this will convey my idea anyways

oh, these are the same pic, im just checking to see which one works

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y159/wizzard489/tomatoplanter.gif



the water level indicator and rocks are for "self watering". the water level indicator could be any clear plastic.
pvc fitting would have to have a good rubber seal so water would not leak
the coconut fiber is to hold the plant

not sure how well its going to work, but i will let everyone know if i decide to go with it