ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Does Growing Upside Down Tomatoes Work?

Updated on February 9, 2016
Top and bottom hanging planter.
Top and bottom hanging planter. | Source

Why Grow Tomatoes Upside Down

Why has it become so popular to try growing tomatoes upside down? You see articles on building your own planters, and there are a variety of commercial planters. Let's examine some of the advantages of upside down tomatoes.

No Staking - Since the tomatoes are hanging from the planter, you have no need to stake them, or bother with any other types of support other than the planter hanger. For some indeterminate types of tomatoes, you may find you need to trim them to keep them off the ground, but no need for tomato stakes.

Soil Borne Pests - Since the tomato plants don't rest on the ground, you don't have nearly the problems with slugs and other soil borne pests.

Soil Borne Disease - Since you are likely to replenish the soil annually with a planter, problems with diseases lurking in the potting soil are significantly lower.

Improved Air Circulation - Since the tomato plants are suspended in the air, you get increased and better air circulation. This results in improved pollination, higher yields, and fewer problems with rot bottom, a common tomato disease caused by too much watering.

Weeds - Since the planter has very little exposed soil, there are almost no problems with weeds which also means you don't have to weed.

Location - The beauty of container gardening is that you can create a garden almost anywhere. You can hang these planters on your apartment or condo balcony, you can hang it on your patio, or you can hang it near your back door. All of these options keep your fresh tomatoes much closer to the kitchen than a backyard garden plot.

Topsy Turvy Planter in action
Topsy Turvy Planter in action | Source

Topsy Turvy Tomato Planters

The most famous upside down tomato planter is the Topsy Turvy Planter. A few years ago it was even featured in Time Magazine as one of that year's Amazing Inventions. It's a simple construction, but it has the water retention sponge in the middle of the unit that is key to making it much easier to use than most home made planters. With that in place you don't have to worry about watering as often, which can be an issue in any type of container.

While this has been a very popular planter, it has the shortcoming of only supporting one plant at a time (or two if you try planting another plant in the top).

To get around this, the same company has introduced the Topsy Turvy Tomato Tree. This is a unit that has a built in stand, and has spots for three tomato plants. While they are not technically upside down, they are hanging plants with most of the same advantages. So you get room for three, and a built in stand so you don't have to find a place to hang it.

For those DIYers out there, you can actually make one of these hanging tomato planters with a bucket or even a milk jug. But the money you will save will not land you the water retention sponge that addresses the main problem with container gardens, and that is the problem of keeping them adequately watered. So before going home made, make sure you are able to water DIY planter adequately and regularly.

Upside Down Tomato Garden

The Upside Down Tomato Garden is the high end of tomato planters. This unit has a soil container that is supported by 4 poles, and has room for four tomatoes to be planted upside down. But, in addition to that, there is room for additional plants on the top of the container. You can fill this with flowers, or maybe smaller pepper plants, so it can be almost a whole garden on a stand on your patio. Note, this unit can be quite heavy when you fill it with soil and water it, so be careful about its placement because you don't want to be trying to move around a fully loaded unit.

Finally, if you just want a small tomato plant, you can plant one of the smaller varieties like Patio in a simple hanging planter that takes up very little room.

While all these planters are generally sold as a way to grow tomatoes, you can actually use them to grow other plants like peppers or cucumbers as well.

So, hanging tomatoes work quite well. Build one of your own, or just save the time and pick up one of the smaller ones to get started with some of the best tomatoes you've grown.

Hanging Planter Poll

Have Your Grown Upside Down Tomatoes?

See results
working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)