hanging plants upside down

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Permalink Reply by sonia on April 30, 2009 at 1:24pm

I think it's cruel, why not just let the plants grow the way they were designed to grow, up towards the sun?

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Permalink Reply by John Walker on April 30, 2009 at 3:02pm

What happens to the roots?
Don't they exhibit geotropism?
They should all be bunched at the bottom of the container...
John

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Permalink Reply by Michelle W. Flannery on April 30, 2009 at 5:50pm

John, I have a post in Container Gardening about the tomatoes I am growing upside down. Geotropism is something I have dealt with successfully. Go to my post and check it out later. I'm just getting ready to update with pics. Thanks! mwf

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Permalink Reply by Michelle W. Flannery on April 30, 2009 at 5:49pm

Sonia, I can't tell if you're being funny or serious about the "cruelty" issue. We look for new ways to grow plants/vegetables because we don't always have the availability of land and sunlight together in the right place. If all we have is a balcony, why forgo the enjoyment of fresh vegetables if we can find a way to grow them satisfactorily on a balcony? It's making do with what we have. That's self-sufficiency.

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Permalink Reply by Melanie on April 30, 2009 at 5:45pm

I have actually just recently started an upside down plant. So far so good - especially since I thought I about killed it wen I put it through the upside down hole. I have a plant in the top and the bottom of my pot (and it looks like a regular hanging pot with a bigger whole in the bottom) - both tomatos.

I got the pot through a $10 kit at lowes, and while the seeds were a joke, the pot is handy. I haven't experience any competition problems yet, but then - it has only be up for about 2 weeks.

You can follow how all of my plants (including this one) on my blog. I have also attached my latest picture of the plant.

Attachments:

• 013.JPG, 5.4 MB

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Permalink Reply by Michelle W. Flannery on April 30, 2009 at 8:37pm

Here's a progress report on how I'm doing with my upside down tomatoes. I solved the problem of phototropism by "staking" my upside down tomatoes. I'm growing cauliflower/broccoli in the tops. That might be pushing it, but this is all an experiment for me.

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Permalink Reply by Elizabeth Strange on May 28, 2009 at 6:03pm

What a fabulous idea! My tomatoes are growing fine in the topsy-turvy bag hanging from my deck, but I'll try your idea next year. I do have the problem of the bag being really heavy. At first I was going to hang it off the second story from a hook clamped to the railing, but it started to pull the clamp off, so I had to swing it to hang over the deck itself. Probably several smaller pots hanging from hooks drilled into the deck would do just as well.

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Permalink Reply by Michelle W. Flannery on April 30, 2009 at 9:03pm

By the way... these are Better Boy tomatoes. When I planted them, I added Osmocote. The soil compacted, and yesterday I added additional soil with a bit of composted manure in it. The tomatoes get about 7 hours of direct sunlight daily, and 5-6 hours of indirect sunlight daily. I water them once a day, 32 ounces of water each. They drain well, and haven't shown any signs of heat exhaustion. Temps here have already been in the 80s a few times, but are mostly in the 70s. Temps will be in the 80s next month, and climb into the upper 90s by July and August. I'm sure I will be adjusting their water, and perhaps moving them to a different spot. But for now, they're doing great! We'll see how things go. And that's geotropism, not phototropism/i>. I know better than that. Just tired. Sorry.

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Permalink Reply by Marla Bays on May 5, 2009 at 2:07pm

I have taken a 1 litre plastic bottle and left the lid on. I poked 4 small holes in the top of the bottle and turned it upside down in the top of the planter. It drains out in about 2 days and I fill it again. About once a week I add a small amount of fertilizer. so far, so good. We shall see....

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Permalink Reply by Ragnar on May 5, 2009 at 3:02pm

Move to Australia.

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Permalink Reply by Kathy on May 29, 2009 at 1:01pm

Hi! Tam, I have a very small garden spot and I am planning on hanging my tomaotoes and peppers. I need to build the hanging rod and find or make the containers. Some of it is still just foggy thoughts in my head. I am going to use pipes vertically on each end, with one horizontally across the top, then hang containers from the horizontal rod. I have raised beds and I am going to attach the end pipes to the beds with pipe hangers and have a rod of rebar inside of the pipe to keep the pipe vertical. As I put this together I will take pics and post them so that you can see the whole idea come together. I have thought that using long narrow planters might be the easiest way, but still need to figure out how to hang. Any ideas or thoughts would be welcome.

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Permalink Reply by Lakeecha Murrell on May 30, 2009 at 9:54am

Last year i collected all of the poland spring bottles from my job and filled them with water, then turn them upside down in the soil pushed them deep so the the entire bottle top in in the soil and then squeezed to draw out the water until i saw bubbles coming going to the top of the bottle and it worked so it is cheaper to use regular bottles no holes in the top and it worked well

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