A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 my upside down tomatoe plants (ROMA)

I used a 4 gallon bucket& my holes were in the sides as well and planted the top as well.Yes they are heavy....foam peanuts helps.I did celebirty my 1st one w marigolds..Early girl my 2nd time with marigolds tangerine& this year doing cherry tomatoes with banana peppers& contemplateing adding parsely& basil.I may hang from a tree.

Njoynit: Did you find you had to water it more as oppossed to being in the ground ? Should I have put holes in the sides as well? About the peanuts did you just mix them in with the soil? I have one more I can do maybe I'll change it up with the third one!!?

I didn't find my peanuts that day(nor have I till this day...lol) My very 1st unpictured one was a regular hanging basket with the bottom saucer removed and 2 plants grown out bottom topped by marigolds.It may have needed watering more due to 1# my 1st Tx summer since was 14-16 which was coastal.Corpus Christi was totally diffeent up in Whitehouse,not to mention was my hottest summer ever(I enjoyed a day of 121 and the heat index was around 140+..........)2# soil type DOES matter.


peanuts reduce the weight of the pot....when ya got um.I currently have my 1 hanger low to ground for now& still looking for a home hanging spot.I sunk a qt pot in the center this way water will stay to the sides then fill the bottom plus water INTO the inner pot will drain below into soil drenching the roots of all plants.....hopefully.


I've got the picture.I've just not sat down long enough to unload them.plus I went to Brooks& Dunn& seen the rodeo& took 118 pictures while there(and wished could have gone back today....plant sale in the carnival area CASH& CARRY )

I been weeding.they pull easy after raining & my ducks are annoying me cause Tex won't accept my new duckies...not even after I yelled at him that I'd cook his A$$! I can;t belive my duck is going to make MORE work for me!It looks like I'll have to divide their area & buy ANOTHER roll for $20 plus some posts.I guess hubby broke me from buying more ducks huh..lol

I have a trash bag full of peanuts I'll use some of those the next one Whew yes it's IS heavy after this rain we've had the last two days my shepard hook bend over from the weight I had to straighten it and move it back toward the fence and use the steel post support for the fence and roped it on to there so next rain it will be alot sturdier!!

Sounds like Tex doesn't relish the idea of 'sharing' you!LOL and knows all to well your idle threats of cooking him!LOL

He looked at me like I wouldn't dare.

says Tex!

or would she?

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There she is!I have 3 of these stands,but this is the only sturdy one.I'm going to secure the taller one(6 ft) and hang on it.I tried asking about screwing it to deck& got such a nasty look....I did not repeat the question.


planter has 4 cherry tomato plants 4 banana peppers,marigolds as they sprout.nasturiums.1 tomato out of bottom 2 tomato 2 peppers on side 1 tomato 2 peppers on top.I think i've popped 4 marigolds 3 on side 1 on top.I have a qt container in middle and its got the nasturuims& a marigold head I think might be my tangerine marigolds.

OHHHHH I see ! I couldn't imagine what you meant with holes in the side thanks for the Visual! that bucket ought to be pretty heavy once they all grow to fruiting!
last year when they started to produce did any of the branches break off on the ones growing out the sides??

They just had a thing on the QVC
2 of the upside down bucket things, for
$23.95...

$23.00

I have been doing this for a year now. There is a picture on this old link:

Picture of my upside down tomatoes

4th picture down

Big Jim

BigJim Did they produce for you and did they break the branches???

no branches broke.but clebirtys we're not that heavey(and once it got hot...it took a break from like june till august)

Its heavier when wet than when on the dry side.

I'm thinking of adding holes on the corners next year to my hanging pot.

Ace Hardware has 3-5 gallon buckets and their 5 gallon bucket is only $3 and comes in white or red or green.they no longer carry the yellow.I would worry growing in a potting mix bag as it gets quiet hot in TX.

JIM~ It was proably the heat that stopped your production,but when your temps dropped some they should have picked back up and shot out some fruit.I could get fruit of celbirty till bout june,then was Sept when it picked back up.I had blossoms in between but no fruit,but from June-Sept we don't drop below 80& get triple digit temps quiet a bit too.Your plant looks good though.but think your pot should bigger.I wouldn't go below 3 gallon pot,plus you we're watering alot too huh.(I watered less in my 5 gallon pot,but was dangerous to my health to unhook& turn,plus fell of ladder one day doing so too.)

Hi angelblossom!

I have never had a problem with branches breaking. The tomato plants I have are like giant water sucking weeds.

This plant have been producing fruit for about 8 months now. My tomatos never look like the ones in magazines, but I still have maybe 2 or 3 ripe ones at a time from this one pot.

Njoynit - thank you, and I agree, yes, I probably was watering them too much, expecially in the cooler months, you think?

I have my bucket ready, I have to set my pole first.

I have a Celebrity ready to go in it.

I plan on it, but haven't figured where I want the pole yet. I should still have a half bag of sackcrete somewhere.

I have to cut the pole and I am going to notch the top. That should hold at least 2 up.

Wow that is amazing

Would squash work with the upside down growing?? I don't really feel like building a trellis for the vines. I have about 10 squash plants that will need homes soon.

That sounds neat ! But I'm wondering if the weight of the squashes would break the vines?
Since they wouldn't have support? I'm not sure.

I've never done it...

but also you'd need to take into consideration
what kind of squash first?????

Some squash plants, like yellow summer squash and zucchini are either bush or vining...
the bush I definately don't think would work at all...

Deborah... If I feel my tomatoes are going to be to heavy for the branches I will be putting a tomatoe cage under the bucket to help support the branches of course my buckets aren't too high so it will work I chose roma tomatoes because this is my first time planting UpSide down and it bears a smaller fruit. We'll see this season if I'm going to do this again next year.

Diane,
Have you been takin' pictures of the new growth,
to see how it fills in????
Realllllllly lookin' forward to this post/thread
and how it looks as it gets by in time over the summer...

Wow! That really looks cool. You've given me some ideas, since I am limited for space. Tomatoes on the bottom and another crop on top...the possibilities are endless.

Thanks!

Shawn