Upside down tomatoes/strawberries

[flapjill]

Does anyone have experience with the upside down tomatoes and/or strawberries that I saw hanging from roofs/decks last year? I've seen them at the store and am wondering if they are worth the $10. I know gardening purists probably scoff at them , but I can't do anything in the ground at my current residence and thought I might give them a try.

TIA!!

[JD5351]

I'm interested to know also...I've wanted to try the tomato ones, but haven't been able to get myself to buy one yet.

[maplesugar]

I want to make my own upside down tomato hanger using a five gallon bucket with a two inch hole drilled in the bottom. I did read to let this grow upright for a few weeks, then hang upside down as necessary.

I plan to try some cherry tomatoes this way just for kicks.

[number572]

I searched youtube once & found a bunch of how-to videos on this type of gardening.

here:

http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...rch_type=&aq=f

[SundayCrepes]

I got a couple of the tomato planters for Christmas. Our toddler pulls the fruit off plants so I thought this would be perfect. I got 2 young tomato plants, planted one but could not find the other hanger. The second one got planted 2 or 3 weeks later. It's amazing the difference in size from those few weeks.

I've had clear plastic sheeting wrapped around them to make a greenhouse. Coincidentally I just removed it half an hour ago. So no little tomatoes since the bees couldn't get to the flowers (I presume.)

Of course, I've since figured out where I could put in a garden that the toddler can't get to so I'll plant several more plants. It'll be fun to see the difference between in ground and hanging plants.

Because of my circumstances--a toddler--these were perfect for me. We'll see how I feel next year with an established garden.

[gmvh]

I planted some in a five gallon bucket a few years ago and mine didn't survive my then toddler twins. The green tomatoes were just too much fun to pluck. I probably had too much soil in my bucket because it was so stinking heavy I couldn't move it and it was bending my shepard's crook. The plants were beautiful so it definitely works but just be careful where you put it!

[wendybird]

We had one and I would definately not do it again. The bag was said to be reusable, but it degraded and when we touched it we would get those painful little slivers that you can't see to pull out.It was trash after 1 season. The water flowing out of the bag took alot of the nutrients with it, so we had to add alot of bone meal, and still only got 3 full grown tomatoes off the plant. The bugs that were a problem on our traditional plants can fly, so the ariel aspect did not help. All told...the kids liked the uniqueness of it, it was fun to see growing, and was really not worth it. We will stick with traditional planting from now on.

[DeerMother]

I also didn't like mine. At all. My dad made it. I planted cherry toms. It was hard to water, you have to go real slow or it flows over. It was the unhealthiest plant I had and only got a few pieces of fruit.

I do containers on the ground and love it.

[ShwarmaQueen]

I've been wondering about these too. Thanks for posting this!

[applecider]

I wouldn't do it again. I had to water it constantly. It did very poorly and ended up dying. I have a hard enough time remembering to water on a regular basis! Don't want to do it everyday.