A Wild Thought

More and more I've been hearing about growing tomatoes upside down in pails.

Apparently, you cut a small hole in the bottom of a bucket, fill it with soil, put the cover back on, and plant a tomato in the hole. When the plant is about a foot high, and the rootball developing, you hang the bucket, and the tomato grows downwards. Among the advantages: no need to stake or cage; total control of watering and fertilizer needs, and ease of harvesting.

So what about this. If I built a frame out of, say, 4 x 4s, 8 feet high right in the garden, I could, in theory, hang the tomatoes from it, and still use the ground underneath for another crop. Maybe greens. Or radishes. Or, who knows.

Just curious what y'all think of this idea.

Sounds like a good way to double your planting space!

I don't quite get the picture, though. Do you use a bucket with a lid and a bail, and hang it from the bail with the tomato growing out of the bottom? How do you get water and fertilizer to the plant, then? Or, does the lid get removed when you hang it? I assume you turn the bucket upside down in the beginning to get the plant to root?

Edited to say I found a thread that gives a lot of detail in the container forum. I also thought this link from that thread gives a lot of ideas for someone creative. http://www.hammacher.com/publish/67403.asp?promo=search#

This message was edited Oct 29, 2003 8:55 AM

I've seen various descriptions, Darius. One can be found at http://oldfashionedliving.com/tomato2.html.

The HS grow box looks interesting. But I wonder about it really supporting four plants in a 2 x2 foot area. Seems like you'd have to water several times a day, and add lots of fertilizer.

Somebody on another list suggested three plants in a 3-gallon bucket. There, again, I wonder about the water/nutrient levels.

To answer you basic question: yes, you hang them from the bails. Some leave the covers in place; others remove them. Obviously, you have to water by hand; or rig a drip system of some sort.

Brook, I wasn't suggesting the HS grow box as I agree it would need lots of watering. What came to mind was whether ot not you could have a platform atop your 4x4's maybe a foot deep, and have several plants hang from the bottom.

I liked your hyperlink. Thanks.

Brook three full sized tomatoe plants is two to many.

I have grown two tumblers in a five with good results.

I have found I need to water twice a day when it is hot,and feed weekly .

So being unsatisifed with the production and size of my five gallon size tomatoes I am moving to large tubs cattle feed is sold in maybe 15 gallons. Ernie

"three full sized tomatoe plants is two to many."

Exactly what I was thinking, Ernie.

I grew single plants in 5-gallon buckets this year. The bottoms were cut out, so the plants actually had access to the soil. Even so, while they did ok, production wasn't as good as regular planting.

So, unless somebody is prepared to heavily fertilize, I can't see how three plants could be supported even in a 5, let alone a 3. And, if I'm going to the effort of that much fertilizing and watering, may as well go hydroponic and be done.

Brook I have done the cut the bottom out thing and bury half way worked good with peppers so so with toms.

One last try with the cow feed tub and if the results are not as good as the ground that will do it for me.

Edited to say I will still do tumblers in containers because they work well and make nice little surprises for my non gardening friends.

Two tumblers planted in a white 15 inch K Mart deck planter delivered when flowering and they think they have something wonderful. Ernie

This message was edited Oct 30, 2003 5:56 AM

I've done the upside-down maters before, last year.

Some were done in 5 gal buckets and a few were done in 10" hanging baskets (used for flowers). Altho the cherry tomatoes did "so-so" in the 10" baskets their production was really quite low. Plus they needed watering sometimes twice a day! No fun there!

The ones in the 5 gal buckets did much better (only had one plant per bucket) but still required lots of watering, more so than the ones in the ground. (However, last yr was a big drought yr for our area so the dryness of the air is a factor to consider.)

Brook, it sounds like it would be a nice project to have fun with. I liked the picture of the framework on your link you gave above. That would make a nice "demonstration garden" experiment.

Yer right, Shoe.

I thought she made the planting process a bit complex, though. I can wait a couple of days with the plants in an upright position. Once the roots start growing I don't think there's any need for all that locking-in-place stuff.

I'm definately going to experiment with this next year, though. I figure a couple pails each of cherry tomatos and plums to see what happens.

I wonder, too, if, instead of double planting you leave the lids in place, whether this would cut down on the watering needs.

I would think so (lids reducing watering). Another side effect would be that it could also hold in the heat to the root system during the early months.

Heck, while we're at it I wonder if we could throw in a small handful of earthworms to not only aerate the soil but contrbute to the nutrition also.

Edited to say I didn't do much with the 'locking in'. The holes I made were silver dollar size and the seedlings I used had a decent amount of roots. Just packing soil around the stem held them in place perfectly fine.

This message was edited Oct 30, 2003 10:53 AM

Yeah, I figured that's all it would take. Or, like I said, a couple of days growth time to lock them in.

Since I started researching this I've found six or eight slightly different approaches. So I'm convinced it's a good concept.

Opps sorry thats twice I have done this

This message was edited Nov 6, 2003 5:11 PM

I'm thinking a 2" id bushing 1 to 2" high screwed and caulked into the bottom would make a water trap that would help with the moisture problem by allowing the excess to wick upwards.

Root heat. I had an old friend who always put a ball of green steaming horse stuff under his tomatoes claimed it warmed the soil for a long time and by the time it cooled fed the tomatoes later on. I never did it back then because my theory then was strong stuff grows weak stuff dies. Ernie

Hey Brook!

We have a story and plan for making these in our next issue of "The Heirloom Gardener" magazine,

It sounds cool,
Jere

I'll watch for it, Jere.

Isn't it by the woman who did the link I posted above?

There was a posting concerning this matter on the container forum. There are some pictures down in that thread.

http://davesgarden.com/t/188624/

As far as growing tomatoes in containers I will put mine up against any in-ground grown anyday. I make my own Growth Containers. Some are 8 foot long.

I have posted this link before so you might have seen it already. It is how I made my last 8 footers. Plus a drawing of another type of growth container, and some pictures of my standard growth containers. (BTW I'm totally organic.)

http://www.dow-mgc.org/cgi-sys/cgiwrap/turret/dow/iB3/ikonboard.cgi?s=1a59f1fe83015ac04c5474cad300483c;act=ST;f=1;t=1156;hl=oldman

Brook, since you started this thread I've done a lot of research, including hydroponics, for tomatoes.

Now I'm wondering about the efficacy of combining upside-down tomatoes with some form of hydroponics. Whatcha think?

I don't know enough about modern hydroponics to have an opinion, Darius.

Seems to me, based on what little I know, that elevating the maters might require too much in terms of pumps, plumbing, etc.

From what I understand, hydroponic tomatoes are trained to a single leader. In Europe and Great Britain, greenhouse tomatoes are grown up strings, so they take up more veritical space than horizontal.

What if you looked into combining those two concepts?

Hmmmm... have to think on that one. I haven't seen the tomatoes growing up a string over the pond. Will take a look. I haven't looked specifically at hydroponic tomatoes either.