Upside Down Tomatoes
Advantages of growing upside down tomatoes and how to grow it
Growing upside down tomatoes become popular day by day among gardeners. Here are some advantages of growing upside down tomatoes.
- No need of support- Upside down tomato plants are suspended from planter, so these plants do not require any kind of support apart from the planter hanger. Some varieties of tomato plants are required trimming to remain them off from hitting ground. But you don’t need any kind of stakes to support the plant.
- Remain away from soil borne pest- As the upside down tomato plants do not come in contact with ground, there is no way of getting infected from soil borne pests.
3 Low risk of soil borne disease- Upside down tomato planter needs restocking of the soil annually so troubles with diseases generating in the potting soil are considerably lower.
4 Lower risk of rotting and improved pollination- As tomato plants are suspended in the air, so they got good air circulation, which boosts the pollination. Therefore, there is a chance of good amount of yield. Also, there is lesser chance of rotting.
No need of weeding – The probability of growing weed in almost nil as the exposed
Portion of soil of the planter is very small. Thus, additional effort for weeding is saved.
The main advantage of growing upside down tomato plants are you can grow them anywhere. You can hang the planter in your balcony or in your patio. You don’t need to go to your garden to pick up fresh tomatoes.
How to grow upside down tomatoes-
Here is step by step guide how to grow upside down tomatoes...
Take a bucket and make a hole at the base of it. A circular mark, which is of 2.1/2’’in diameter, is commonly existed in the bottom of all buckets. If there is no such mark, then make a hole. Diameter should be in between 2”-3”.
Place the bucket right side up and rest it with the help of any material, so that the hole becomes exposed
Place whatever stuffs you select to use to protect the seedling, in the base. Now hold the plant and softly thread the leaves and stems down. Carefully place the seedling in such a way so that it comes out through the gap of the base of the bucket, and suspended out of the base of the bucket. You should take care that up to 2 inches of the stem is projecting out from the base.
Hold the seedling in one hand, fill up the anchoring stuff around the stem so that the seedling gets fasten and will not slide through the gap. Many things can be used to anchor the seedling like sphagnum moss; coffee filter etc, to protect it from sliding out of the gap till the root of the plant gets developed properly and it can stand on its own.
Hold the plant properly in its proper position, and fill up the bucket with the soil, get ensure that soil is equally scattered up to the root ball. Carefully leave the plant, let it hit the ground, and fill up soil in such a way so that root ball falls 2 inches below from the soil line. Put approximately 2 cups of compost, and then add soil to fill up the bucket. Leave an inch from the top.
Hook the bucket to the place where you want to hang. One thing you should notice while walking, your tomato plant should not touch the ground. Suspend the container with the help of handle, and then water it. Water must begin passing out of the base hole of the container within a few minutes.
Keep observing the soil level of the bucket. It should not be level down by 2 inches. If the soil levels down more than 2 inches the place more soil to the container. Add water and compost to it. On the top of the soil you can grow herbs like parsley, but be sure that water should reach to the root of the tomato plant otherwise all efforts will goes in vain. Do not grow herbs which cover the top soil and obstruct the water to reach up to root of the tomato plant.
If you are not growing anything on top soil, then you can cover it by lid to retain the moisture within container, but be careful that it should not be sealed tightly. There is one difficulty. In such method you have to open lid every time you water the plant.
Watering of the plant depends on the climate you live. If you live in humid place, then you need less water to your plant.
One funny thing you will observe while growing the upside down tomatoes that plant grow towards the sun until it takes the shape of big bush and yielding fruit.
Do not forget to observe the soil level every alternative week, if the soil level comes down put additional soil or compost to compensate the loss of soil.
Selection of the upside down tomato plants for growing
While selecting the right strain of tomato to plant in your upside down tomato planter, it will be good for you, if you select mini determinate strain. Because with indeterminate type of tomato the problem is that, it can raise too big for the planter if you neglect the trimming. Here are some best strains of tomato, which are suitable for upside down tomato planter.
* You can select Celebrity bush tomato as upside down which is an all purpose variety. This variety possesses a high level of disease resistance and tastes great. Celebrity bush tomato is a bushy determinate breed of tomato. All fruits of the plants are full-grown at once.
* Window box Roma is a dwarf variety of tomato plant and fruits are known for its exotic flavor. Fruits are pear shaped and yield is high.
Tumbler cherry tomatoes are a type of cherry tomatoes. The fruits of this variety ripen early, fruits are sweet in taste.
* Micro tom tomato plant considered world’s smallest tomato plant, which grows up to 6-8 inches in height and yield is very high
