How to plant tomatoes upside down (so that you can move them out of the way of frost)

In the "try this next year" category, here are some designs for a planter for tomatoes where you put the tomato seedlings in a bucket and then hang the bucket upside down. Two advantages are obvious: one, that if there's frost, you can move the bucket out of the way, and two, you can grow in places where you don't have soil.

Three, I guess, is that you can plant something nice in the top of the pot and have it do double duty.

There's apparently television advertising for these things (which tells you how much TV I watch) but these look pretty easy.

without further ado:

from greenthumbs.tribe.net :

My 83 year old dad told me he use to grow upside down tomatoes in an old tin, they would put a small hole in the end of the tin (I guess a paint tin? not sure what type tin they used) and plant the tomato plant upside down and at the top of the tin they would plant a pepper plant. He said they flourished! I have the upside down container that I am going to plant my tomatoes and herbs in this spring...I can't wait!

the Michigan Sportsman Forums thread from Frantz:

I had great success with tomato plants, but peppers did poorly. I drilled a single hole and fed my seedlings up through the bottom. This year I am making the hole a little bigger and putting the plant through the inside of the bucket and using some landscape cloth to gold it all in. Last year the buckets with chives, parsley and basil growing on the top side did better. I think because it held the water in better for the tomato roots.

the comments on a Lifehacker post:

Wow! If I knew there was a market for this, I would have had my grandmother patent it years ago. Since I was a little kid, she always grew her tomatoes upside-down -- by just using a simple plastic bucket & a few strategically placed holes.

And, as an added bonus? She planted azaleas on the top, so it not only looked pretty, but it would keep the bugs & other nasty critters from going after the tomato plant underneath.

We coulda been millionaires.

Instructables has pictures, planting in a coco fiber pot:

You will need the following materials:
-hanging coco basket with a hole in the bottom of the frame
-dirt (more on this later) I used peat moss, manure, and vermiculite
-something to hang it from (I used a Shepard's hook)
-and a tomato plant!!!!

The plant needs to be a baby plant, not one of those huge 1 gallon bucket plants.

Curbly has an illustrated How To Make An Upside Down Tomato Planter

Thank you for your DIY upside down tomato planter. It is the cheapest, most attractive one I've seen online. I planted two with Bush Celebrity Tomatoes and a third one (the one in the middle) planted with Jalapenos. I planted Thai Basil, Italian Parsley, Purple Sage, Sweet Woodruff, Italian Oregano, and Sweet Basil in the top of the planter. I realized that my pots are hanging a too low, so I have to shorten the cord, but I think they came out pretty good! Can't wait to see if my tomaotes and jalapenos will grow good upside down!

There's some art to the companion planting too.

Comments

[Edward Vielmetti]

Pepper plants also work this way - here's some photos

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=10hvee5e.1fu9p8da&x=0&h=1&y=-vze6ii&localeid=en_US

[Edward Vielmetti]

more container tomato information - this from an article on container gardening from The Dollar Stretcher. More about selecting varieties and less about the container structure itself.

http://www.stretcher.com/stories/03/03mar17a.cfm

I know a little bit about growing tomatoes in small places. I would recommend that you start with tomato plants from a local nursery. Some of the best tomatoes are "Celebrity" and "Early Girl." "Celebrity" will give you a large quantity of medium-sized tomatoes with a really good flavor. "Early Girl" tomatoes, like the name suggest, come earlier and are a little bigger size.

If you would like a smaller salad tomato, "Sweet 100's" do well in pots. "Christmas Grape" tomatoes are very flavorful as well. Make sure to pick as large a pot as you are comfortable with. Also be sure to plant the tomato plant at the thickest part of the stem to give it good support. When the plant has grown a bit, stake it with a tomato cage. This will keep the plant from falling over especially when it is heavy with fruit. I would water more often when it is first starting out, and then water less when it starts to bear fruit. If you water tomatoes too much, the fruit will not have a nice texture.

If you end up with an abundance of tomatoes, you can throw them into the freezer and use them in tomato soups later on. Their skin is easier to peel and they taste great. Just take them out of the freezer and thaw them half way in the microwave so the skin can come off and then throw them in the pot with a few veggies. Yum! Good luck on your new adventure!
Julie from Bountiful Utah