upside down hanging tomato plants

[TanksHill]

Well I guess I'll post this here because I plan to recycle whatever container I figure to use. I thought you all could brain storm with me and make this work. I was up last week at about 4 am watching one of those tv infomercial things. They were selling that infamous upside down tom plant bag. Has any one tried these?

I thought it would be great fun to see what I could plant that way. I started thinking of other containers I could "hang up". I though about buckets, already having a handle. Then I could just drill the holes in the sides and skewer them on a pole or something. Yesterday I saved a plastic bag form 20lb of rice. It's really sturdy and good sized.

I guess what I need to figure out is how I am going to hang them and on what. I want to put them out by my raised beds, which is also my yard. I was thinking of an A frame type structure, kinda like a swing set. Then hang 3 or 4 plants from the middle? But it might take up to much floor space. Any ideas?? How far do you think they should be off the ground? I think the pole on the tv add was 6 ft tall. Hmmmm, I guess I need to go look around and see what I have that's 6 ft tall.

Anyways let me know what you think, gina

 

[me&thegals]

I was just talking about this with my boss! I pictured hanging them from hooks on a front porch, where a personally would normally have flower pots. How about plant hooks? Like the kind that poke into the ground and curve up, over and then down like a candy cane. One point my boss made is that there's a hole in the bottom--obviously--for the stem to come through. But the one she saw also had a foam disc with a slit in it, placed in the bottom of the bucket. It was a soft place holder for the tomato stem and also didn't allow all the water to seep out of the bucket.

I've also heard of people planting the top of the container with herbs. Good luck!

 

[TanksHill]

Oh, yeah I forgot about those big hook things they sell. I wonder if we could make something likethat? Hmmmm??

 

[Tallman]

DW tried this for a couple of years. We used 5 gal. buckets. We cut a hole in the middle of the bottom using a electric jig saw. This hole is about the size of a tennis ball. We turned the buckets right side up, put a piece of news paper in the hole in the bottom, and filled them with extra good dirt loaded with compost. Snapped the lid on the bucket, turned it upside down, cut the newspaper out of the hole, and planted one tomato in each bucket. After the plants were about a week old we turned the buckets upside down and hung them from an old swing set with the top bar being about 7 feet off of the ground. An old swing set works great for this!

With the buckets upside down, we took off the lid and cut about 2 inches off of the outside of it with the jig saw (removing the bead), drilled some holes in it about the size of a pencil, and put it on top of the dirt. We drilled a lot of holes and laid this round piece of lid on top of the dirt. This cut piece of the lid keeps the sun from hitting the dirt directly, and allows you to water through it.

This method makes tending very easy (picking, checking for worms and such); however, in the summer these buckets really dry out so you need to keep them watered. The watering is the part I don't like. When the plants are about 2 foot long, they begin to bend upward and start growing up around the bucket. It is something to watch. We also put a piece of scrap carpet under the buckets to keep grass and weeds down.

I prefer growing in the conventional way and mulch.

 

[TanksHill]

TallMan, yes heat and the containers drying out would be a big issue for me. Thanks for the advice, more to consider before I spend time on the project. g

 

[DrakeMaiden]

I haven't tried it myself, but I have also heard those who have say it wasn't worth the extra effort.

If you decide to do it, let us know what you think.

 

[enjoy the ride]

My next door neighbors tried this- in their green house. They had a number of problems. One was that the weight of the 5 gallon buckets with damp soil and plants pulled out the bale from th bucket in some cases and pulled the "s" hook they were using out in others so that buckets were likely to rain down on you at surprising moments. So if you do this then it needs strong hangers. It also took a piece of their greenhouse down.
They had to water a lot too as the buckets dried out fast. And the buckets with plants were too heavy to move easily.
All these things can be overcome with heavier hardware but I think that they are really not mobile after the plant gets large.

 

[xineohpoel]

Yeah the grow bags sold on television is not worth the cost. They are too small for the roots and they break down from the elements after one season.

My neighbor does this with 5gal buckets though. He uses 4x4 posts with an iron bar across the top as they are not easily moveable. Every spring he tips the buckets and puts new soil and plants in them.

 

[TanksHill]

ok I am convinced. No hanging tomato plants. I'll use my energy to do somethng else.

 

[farmerlor]

Wait, wait!!! Before you give up on the idea, we tried the same thing in our greenhouse last year. The tomatoes did okay, but I wasn't impressed. The PEPPERS did VERY WELL!!! Peppers like the extra heat, they like keeping their feet dry, and I had bumper crops of easy to pick peppers. If you're still thinking about trying it don't plant a plant that has really huge root systems like tomatoes, try peppers or something like that....wonder how broccoli would do? Hmmmmm.....