Topsy Turvy FAIL!

[K8-EEE]

Is anybody out there having any success with this thing??

OK here is my in-ground "Better Boy" tomato:




Here is it's sad "Better Boy" upside down cousin, planted the same week!





My theory is that where I live they sell heat/drought resistant tomatoes and they don't like getting the leaves wet. Maybe in a more humid area they would sell different varieties that don't mind wet foliage. You can't water the thing without soaking the whole plant, which is making the leaves black around the edges.

[troubleinwinter]

1. Interesting!! Hahahaha!

I recieved two as a surprise present the other day. I don't care about tomatoes much, so am considering a yellow crookneck squash and maybe an Italian bush bean. Wonder if they'd be less sensitive to runoff?

[dgibby]

3. I saw an ad for one of these for strawberries. I think I may try it.

Wonder if the cherry and grape tomatoes would do ok in one of these.

[uppityperson]

2. Perhaps once the stems get longer and curve up, it will work better?

Thanks for posting this and please let us know how they do.

[K8-EEE]

4. Hey maybe you're right -- new pic!

Looking up!! MAYBE NOT A FAIL AFTER ALL? We shall see -- it's still way behind the others but lost it's sickly yellow look and has tons of new growth!

[undergroundnomore]

5. This product

is advertised a lot and I wondered about whether it would work. Even though it's not expensive, we're really counting pennies. Thank you for saving me about $10 or so worth of pennies. It's kind of amazing because they who huge tomato plants hanging upside down. One photo I remember seeing had it growing as tall as a man.

Never take things at face value. That's an important value.

[lib2DaBone]

6. You must grow them normally (upright) for 3 to 4 weeks until plants are established...

I have experimented with all types of "upside down" tomatoes.

I have not had much luck. The plants grow healthy.. but they do not produce the same amount of fruit as standard grown plants.

The tomoato plants that did the best for me (Heriloom non-hybrid) I had started in a 5 gallon bucket and grew in the normal upright position for 4 weeks. After the plants were established... I turned them upside down and hung them on a hook.. and they did very well.

I don't know if this has something to do with the root system establishing itself? (but it seems to be the system that works best.)

I also tried it with squash, cucumbers and peppers. They grow better if established first in the normal position.

[buzzycrumbhunger]

7. I've grown upside down for years

. . . since I read an article in Mother Earth. Simply recycle big plastic buckets or Mylar balloons. Since the FL growing season is ass-backwards (we're now heading into the too-hot-to-bother summer), it really helps prolong the growing season. I hang them from trees and the morning dew helps to keep them watered, even if I forget, as well as protecting them from merciless midday sun. Best of all, it eliminates most of the pests--I gave up on a proper garden after I moved here because you barely get one crop before you're overrun with the biggest, weirdest insects. (A caterpillar should NOT be over a foot long. . .)

I've had the best success when I add a lot of that crystal cat litter (rinse to remove the perfumes), which holds on to moisture, and a weekly dose of fish emulsion, though I can't say that the size of the plants or fruit production is noticeably different from anything in a regular pot. They do seem to sprout a crapload of extra roots up the stalks (I assume to get more moisture from the air?), which might even take energy that could be going to more produce.