How to Grow Hanging Tomato Plants Upside Down

Growing tomato plants upside down in a hanging planter allows you to have fresh homegrown tomatoes even if you live in a location with no yard space for a garden. The planter can be made out of a 2-liter soda bottle, but for more room use a 5-gallon bucket. Choose an indeterminate or determinate plant that is recommended for container gardening. Patio hybrids and Husky Red plants are ideal for containers.

Things You'll Need

• 5-gallon bucket
• Drill
• 1/2-inch drill bit
• Saber saw
• Potting soil
• Paper towel
• Hook
• 2 saw horses
• Fertilizer

Instructions

Making the Planter

1. Choose a location where the hanging tomato plant will get at least six hours of sun per day. The wood that you screw the hook into must be solid to hold the weight of the planter and plant, which can weight as must as 60 to 70 lbs. during the growing season. Use a heavy-duty hook with a 2-inch screw. Wind the screw into the wood.

2. Use the drill and 1/2-inch drill bit to make holes on the side of the bucket 2 inches up from the bottom. Set the bucket on a table with the bottom facing down. Drill the first hole 2 inches up from the bottom. Make a holes going around the bucket, spacing the holes out every 5 inches. Drill 10 to 12 holes in the bucket cover going around the cover in a circle.

3. Turn the bucket over so the bottom is facing up. Drill a hole in the center of the bucket. Insert the saber saw blade into the drilled hole. Cut out a 2-inch circle.

4. Place the bucket with the bottom facing down on the saw horses. Fold one piece of paper towel in half. Cut an "X" in the center of the paper towel. Place the paper towel inside the bucket with the "X" over the 2-inch hole. Insert the tomato plant with the roots first through the bottom of the bucket through the 2-inch hole. Open up the "X" in the paper towel and bring the roots through the "X" and into the bucket.

5. Add soil to the planter. Tamp down around the roots. Continue filing the container with soil, stopping 1 inch from the top of the bucket. Water the plant thoroughly until the water drips out the hole in the bottom by the plant. Place the cover on the bucket. Hang the bucket on the hook.

Care of Container Tomato Plant

1. Keep the soil moist. During dry periods, the plant may need water every day. Test the soil by pressing your finger up to one of the bottom side holes. If the soil is dry, add water through the cover holes.

2. Feed the tomato plant with 1 tbsp. of ammonium nitrate fertilizer after the first tomato has grown to the size of a golf ball. Add fertilizer again three weeks after the first application and again three weeks later. Water the container tomato plant thoroughly after adding fertilizer.

3. Pick the tomatoes when the fruit is fully colored and firm. If temperatures are above 90 degrees Fahrenheit, the fruit doesn't develop full color and will soften quickly. If the weather is hot, pick fruit when the color is starting to develop and ripen in the house in temperatures of 70 to 75 degrees.

Tips & Warnings

• If you don't have ammonium nitrate , use 10-10-10 fertilizer according to the package directions.

References

• Wilson Bros Nursery: Growing Tomatoes Upside Down
• University of Illinois Extension: Tomato