Topsy turvy tomatoes

puddy

well we've probably made the same mistake. i wanted tomatoes in hanging baskets but we bought the wrong ones, only one is a tumbling variety. so our plan is, that if the vine looks like its going to pull the soil out of the basket to train it up the porch truss (which the baskets are hanging from) and use sticks to get the tomato to climb up and around the chains of the basket. we'll see how it goes

forgotmyname

I tried to plant some in an old plastic tub, drilled a nice large hole & make sure it was well padded but i think too much wind got the better of it & the stem got damaged.

Gave up on that one.

Primrose

I fail to see the benefits to trying to grow any plant upside down. Tumbling varieties of tomato such as Tumbling Red or Tumbling Yellow will grow perfectly well in a large deep hanging basket or a low container as long as it contains sufficient well nourished moist compost. Apart from anything else, I would have thought the shade of the container above any hanging plant will shade the sun from the tomatoes and make them slower to ripen.

Filey

Zazen999 wrote: »

The tomato plant might be upside down, but the plant itself will try to grow the right way up once it is able to.

So, the variety needs to be a tumbling type, rather than a vine type; or you will just get one central stem trying to make a break for freedom which will then pull the whole thing over.....[yes, been there, done that].

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I used cordon types in my buckets-with-a-hole-in-the-bottom for upside down tomatoes. When they first started growing they tried to right themselves by curling upwards, but as they got longer they grew down - gravity I suppose - especially when tomatoes started forming. I grew a cordon type out of the bottom and put a bush type at the top. I hung them from hanging basket brackets.

However they got blight before the end of the season but I did get a few tomatoes which I ripened indoors. I shall try again this year and experiment with different types.

foreign_correspondent

I called in at my dad's today... he was a commercial tomato grower for getting on for fifty years... (and his dad was before him) - one of the first things he said was 'have you seen that bloody daft thing they are trying to sell people to put their tomato plants in upside down...? .. they are saying the nutrients will get to the fruit better - it is nonsense, and the plant will only try and right itself'

I think he has a point - nutrients and water are carried to the leaves through capillary action and the effects of transpiration - not gravity! Also, the plant wants to grow upwards...as they have evolved to do, to get the maximum sunlight for photosynthesis - so why thwart it? Having wet leaves in sunlight is not good for plants either, and i can see this being likely...

I would be interested to hear how people get on with these, and I wish you luck, but I cant see any logical basis for growing them upside down!

SallyForth_2

Lotus-eater wrote: »

I absolutely agree and I meant it when I said, come back and tell us the results.

I'm always happy to learn something new.

Well they are up and mounted! And it looks like the toms are starting to curl upwards towards the sky. Not a problem for me as I can secure them to the side of the bag if necessary.

wayne1983

SallyForth wrote: »

Well they are up and mounted! And it looks like the toms are starting to curl upwards towards the sky. Not a problem for me as I can secure them to the side of the bag if necessary.

Just thought id say, mine appears to be doing this now, but they are coming on and theres flower buds so i will give a full review when the seasons done with it, but it as come on a lot since i first started.
I still think next year i will plant smaller tomatoes in it so its easier to fit through the gap!:D

SallyForth_2

wayne1983 wrote: »

Just thought id say, mine appears to be doing this now, but they are coming on and theres flower buds so i will give a full review when the seasons done with it, but it as come on a lot since i first started.
I still think next year i will plant smaller tomatoes in it so its easier to fit through the gap!:D

Yep, mine too! I have four tomato plants in four hanging bags, and while they look a bit perculiar, they are growing, and flowering and seem to be fine. I will definately do this again, but will also go for a trailing variety. I didn't have any this year.

wayne1983

SallyForth wrote: »

Yep, mine too! I have four tomato plants in four hanging bags, and while they look a bit perculiar, they are growing, and flowering and seem to be fine. I will definately do this again, but will also go for a trailing variety. I didn't have any this year.

I didnt too, i just used an 'ordinary upright' variety, but it seems to be coming on better than i thought so far, so it may work yet!:D:beer:

SallyForth_2

Just spotted two pea sized tomatoes on one of my wrong way up plants!