topsy turvy tomato plants

[missyann]

Do they really grow? My mom was thinking of getting one this last season but didn't. She lives in an apartment and doesn't have a yard to grow plants. Has anyone ever had success with them?

 

[justusforus]

Hi there. I bought one and didn't end up using it yet. If you look on line there are some stupendous photos of them with very healthy looking plants. I will let you know when I use mine but I am sure there are some here who have used them.

 

[headfullofbees]

They work, and are ideal in your mom's situation, and they can be a little better than conventionally grown if light is an issue.
A couple of years ago, I tried an upside-down espalier, just as an experiment, and got 28 trusses of "Gardener's Delight" from it.
I did have it on a watering system though, and upside-down plants require more daily attention than you can get away with if you grow conventionally.

 

[claudine]

Personally, I prefer growing plants in a traditional way. So no, I've never tried it. But we have a thread about upside down gardens here: https://www.gardening-forums.com/threads/upside-down-garden-anyone.344/ I remember that we were talking about tomatoes too, so I hope that you'll find a few tips there

 

[firelily99]

I have never tried one, mainly due to nowhere to hang one. The one's that I have seen do well but the grower did say they require more watering than a normal tomato plant.

 

[Lacey]

I got one as a gift and could not it to grow. I followed the instructions exactly and it didn't do one thing ......I am really glad I have a garden that grew a lot of tomatoes last year though.

 

[CountryQueen]

We made one out of an old bucket and bought the plants to put in it. It did really well, but like any other hanging plant, you have to water it a lot.

 

[Pat]

We had one but the pole it hung from was too short, it didn't work out that great. I prefer to grow the plants in the ground.

 

[Lostvalleyguy]

I have tried these twice and the second attempt was much better than the first. The main issue the first time was the tomato plant insisting to aim towards the sun. This caused the branches of the plant to bend as the tomatoes grew and significantly reduced the output of the plant. On the second attempt I put a stick in to attach the main stem to. This forced the plant to grow downhill for the first 18 inches or so and it seemed to do the trick. The crop of tomatoes was nothing near that of the plants that were grown in the ground so I would suggest growing a regular tomato plant if you are able to do so.

 

[DrCase]

My wife thought i needed some
I had the same problem as headfullofbees
With are hot sun it was hard to keep them watered