upside down tomato planters

[Drew]

Does anybody have any experience with these? I'm thinking of making my own with a hanging basket and planting herbs on the top side. How deep of a hanging basket do I need for a tomato. The upside down planters you buy in the store are approx. 14" deep or tall. Would 8"-10" work??

[sparkyaber]

If you get one let us know how it works. My father and I were talking about these the other day. He has a degree in agronomy (an old one, but a degree none the less). I thought they would be a great idea. He made a good point: it is unnatural for plants to grow upside down, the grow towards sunlight, which is up. Good point. They might grow, but I don't think they will look like they do in the commercials.

[toughguy]

They have to be a better purchase than a sham-wow

[Dellfin]

I would highly recommend them. My wife bought a few of these units (Topsy Turvey, sp?) and they work excellent!! Just be sure that you hang them from very strong hook because after you get a few monsters growing, the extra weight adds much more than you think. We learned this the hard way. BTW, Harbor Freight sells them for the lowest price we've found.

[maros91]

I bought the pepper one to put my strawberries in. I know they make a special one for them but they were out. Shouldn't matter any.

[Tom7227]

five gallon pail for free at a bakery and about 2 minutes with a drill. a HSOforum on them indicates that you should let the thing grow upright for a week to allow the plant to root in well and then hang it up.

[south_metro_fish]

The whole 5 gallon pail thing seems like a good idea. I have been looking online for some homemade ways of making them and found lots of info real easy. I think after reading a few of the how tos I find I can come up with a good design. I don't know about needing a whole 5 gallon pail. There would have to be something that is not so big and white that would still be strong enough and have enough room for the roots to explode as they put it. If you used a hanging basket it would seem like you would need to figure out a lid for it and I would make sure it is something solid so it will act like a greenhouse for the roots. I will post some more if I come up with something good. I through pottery so I was thinking how cool it would be to make gifts for the family making these out of clay on the wheel.

Still reading and found out the original planters have special foam disks to help keep the right moisture but the newer ones don't have that but I guess you can add the moisture control beads into the soil for the same effect.