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Growing tomatoes upside down
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Cherry tomatoes do well upside down. (photo by Paola)
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Many television viewers are familiar with those commercials advertising the Topsy Turvey, an upside down tomato planter. You don’t need a specially manufactured gadget to grow tomatoes on your porch or balcony. A sturdy bucket will do the job and help produce a good crop of clean garden fresh tomatoes. Besides saving space, this method will help the air will circulate more freely through the plant and prevent diseases. Also, animals will have trouble reaching the tomatoes to eat them. You can also forget the problem of sturdy supports for the plants. Setting up this planter is very easy, but there are a few things to consider.
First, select which type of tomato plant to grow. Cherry tomatoes, Roma, or any other small varieties do well with this method. Determinate tomato varieties also do better than indeterminate, as they are less sprawling. But, they produce a lot of tomatoes in a short period of time and then die back. This is good if you are planting late in the season or can’t manage a larger plant. Indeterminate plants will grow steadily all season long, but need more care. They tend to get much larger and weight can be a problem when growing tomato plants upside down. If you use an indeterminate plant, keep an eye on these issues and prune as needed.
Next, select a container. Many books suggest five-gallon paint containers but some even recommend those large, square cat litter buckets. The Cheap Vegetable Gardener uses 2 liter bottles. The only real requirement is that the container be large enough for a tomato to live in all season, be sturdy, and have a strongly attached handle or cord to hang it with.
You will need to cut an opening for the plant in the bottom of the bucket. Make it large enough to slip the plant through but not so big that the soil will fall out. A couple of inches should do it. Something will have to hold the plant in place as it takes root. Cut either a few pieces of newspaper, a swatch of landscaping fabric and cut a slit in the middle. (Coffee filters also work.) Place it over the hole.
There are a couple of methods for inserting the plant, so do what is most comfortable for you. You can put the bucket up on a couple of bricks or anything else that will leave space around the hole. Or, you can lay the bucket on its side and insert the plant that way. Gently push the top of the tomato plant through the hole in the bottom of the bucket, leaving but a few inches coming out of the hole. Tomatoes can sprout roots all along their stems so do not be afraid to bury a long piece of stem as it will make the plant stronger in the long run. Using soiless mix or the potting soil of your choice, pack it gently around the tomato seedling. The soil will settle over the growing season, so add some on top as needed. Some prefer to grow the plant right side up for a few weeks, but that is really not necessary. After this the plant will be ready to hang in a sunny place.
The upside down tomato method does have a few drawbacks. The most critical is water, so the container needs a lid to help keep the soil moist. You can just take the lid off to water it or to let rain get in. If the pot or bucket does not already have a lid you can improvise by setting something over the open top. Some even grow herbs in the soil on top, making the container do double duty. A lid also keeps weeds down. Weight is another common problem. Test everything well and make sure the plant is hanging as securely as possible. But, if you keep an eye on these few issues you should be able to grow a successful crop of upside down tomato plants without any expensive materials.
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