A.S.
I used it last year for tomatoes and it worked very well for me. I have a brown thumb but this was so easy to do I got 10 tomatoes...pretty good for my first try.
I was wondering if anyone had any comments or experience with the Topsy Turvy tomato planter that basically has the tomato plant growing upside down? I am very intrigued! And wondering if anyone has grown strawberries in the strawberry planter that comes with it? Thanks!
I used it last year for tomatoes and it worked very well for me. I have a brown thumb but this was so easy to do I got 10 tomatoes...pretty good for my first try.
I was intrigued by it also. But I didn't want to invest in one since I don't know how it will work. So, I got inventive. I cut the bottom off a milk carton, turned it upside down, and put a tomatoe plant in it. I just did it about 2 weeks ago so don't know for sure how it's going to work. So far, so good.
We got one to try this year as well and so far so good. I friend said that they had one that worked really well for them. You do have to get all the stuff to go with it and find a sturdy place to hang it. My hubby built the stand and then hung it with a rope that he could raise after he had planted everything. You do have to water them a lot, twice a day if it doesn't rain, or they will dry out and your plants will die. We have one that has the wholes on the sides as well as the bottom and have put herbs in the sides as well. The herbs are doing great and the tomato seems about the same as the ones we planted in the garden. You could probably do strawberries on the sides instead of the herbs without any problems. Strawberries have shallow roots so they don't need a lot of soil.
We have the Topsy Turvy tomato planter. The tomato plant already died after 2 weeks, but my tomato plants in the ground are already producing flowers! My husband wants to try another tomato plant in the Topsy Turvy, thinking that he may have put the soil in too fast and broken the roots. Don't try hanging it from a shepherd's hook. It will bend from the weight. We actually hung it from part of the swingset. But hubby wants to put up some kind of really strong hanger to hold it instead.
I just got 2 set up a couple weeks ago, it was a bit of a fiasco! First I guess I thought it came with everything (ha), then I found out I had to buy the plants, and then when I went to put them in, I realized I needed a whole bunch of potting soil (get the big bag!). So I proceeded to fill them hanging on the back of my patio chairs. Then when they were ready, they were soooo heavy!! Had to get my husband to lift them, but then we had no place to hang them! We ended up finding like a 4 point cast iron stand at Home Depot, which he duct taped to make it a little sturdier, and they are hanging on that now, although based on commercials I think they might be hung too low! They are actually doing really well, flowers and everything. I water them everyday a lot (unless it rains) and that seems to be working. Hope this helps! Good luck!
Hi R.,
We didn't have this gizmo, but grew some tomatoes upside down in large buckets that we bought at home depot. It worked alright, but they are pretty heavy, so you need somewhere that's strong enough to hold them. And you need to make sure to water them a lot, because they dry out fairly quickly.
Good luck!
R. J
We purchased the topsy turvy planters from Home Depot before they got in the topsy turvy tree.... the difference is the tree comes with the stand. I bought four planters and my hubby built a mini swingset for me to hang them on. I too had mine on my kids swingset till he got our contraption built to hang them :) I wanted the kids to have their swingset back though so we built our own. They are VERY heavy! Mine have lots of blooms already and I planted them on 4/26. I hope they do well but since this is my first year with them I can't give you any more info.
I also bougght the miracle grow soil for vegtables and then purchased their fertilizer as well. As I understand it you need to ferterlize them every ten days or so and keep them well watered. If the bag feels light you have a problem it should always be heavy fully watered.
Good luck!
L.
I am very glad you asked this question. I am wanting to get one as well. So your question actually helped me as well! Thanks!