Yes, there has been many previous discussions here about them - mostly bad but a few good comments. Unfortunately I can't link those prior discussions for you as the search isn't working right now - gives you the links but not the files themselves. :( When it is fixed you can search 'upside down tomatoes' and 'topsy turvey' for the previous discussions if you wish

Personally, given what I know about growing tomato plants in containers and their feeding and watering demands, I find their advertising claims to be bit far-fetched. One has to wonder how they glued on all those perfectly ripe tomatoes or got them all to ripen at the exact same time on the plants in their photos. ;)

Perhaps it would work well for one of the small dwarf varieties but it simply isn't enough soil capacity for a plant of any size. JMO

Dave

Total waste of money.

Ted

I was at Home Depot the other day and for $9.00 I couldn't resist buying one. Took it home and stuck a extra Kewalo seedling in it since it's the only determinant tomato I'm growing this year. It curled up toward the bottom of the container trying to grow normally for the first few days but now it's accepting the fact that it's growing upside down and is beginning to point down.

Seems to be doing well, other than the fact it's got some wind burned leaves due to this darn wind we've been having for the last week. I'll post pictures of it's progress from time to time.

I have seen the ads on tv also. I was wondering if it was too good to be true also. I have NEVER seen 20 fully ripe tomatoes the same size, all at the same time, with no green ones on the same vine...lol.

Regarding the advertisement showing a great number of much the same size tomatoes all ripening to bright red at once. I have no idea if what they show is genuine or contrived. Actually, it is very possibly genuine.

There are several varieties of "crop" tomatoes that have been developed over the years that display similar performance.

Many years ago there was a variety named "Missouri Surprise"
which did actually yield pretty much like the advertisement.
I grew them and from 3 plants had almost 3 pecks which I had to deal with all at once! Of course, I canned them.

Missouri Surprise was developed through a cross of two varieties which I now have and am growing again this year:
Glamour and Mozark. Both are determinates though Mozark is a little more "rangy" than the average determinate. Both
these varieties tend toward ripening all at once, but my experience is that they do not quite match the old Missouri Surprise variety in productivity.

I had intended to offer these seeds this year but was set back by discovering I had messed up badly on saving the Glamour seed as they did not germinate for me. I know that they were allowed to stay in the fermentation water far too long by mistake. Fortunately, I have a good supply of 2005 seed from another collector to restart my supply, and that's underway now. So, I'm set back a year on Glamour. However, if someone wants Mozark see my page and just let me know. An SASE would be appreciated. Mozark germinated at 100% this year.

All I grow is tomatoes and strawberries, so I thought it'd be no problem, since I already had a "handle" on things; or so I thought.

I took the bait and tried the Topsy Turvy and found the plastic rotted in the sunshine in one season, the plant died and that still, small voice repeated an endless mantra of "I told you so!"

I have spent 25 years making commercials as a Key Grip in NYC. The pizza we eat while we are making Pizza Hut commercials is delicious. The few times I have gone to a PH restaurant brings disappoinment, big time.

Without mentioning a thousand other examples, I will just remind you all that I am in an industry that is designed to make you believe something that may not always be reality. Skilled prop department folks can make a plant look any way a producer wants, and none of you will ever know the difference.

That is not to say that the upside down tomato thing advertising is anything less than truthful. I have no knowledge that it is not.

But I will tell you that I laugh my butt off every time I see the infomercial. Those sure are good lookin' plants. Actually, they are perfect, aren't they?

I was thinking of not starting the 36 different heirlooms I am growing from seed this year, and just going with the upside down thing I saw on TV for all my tomato needs.

Then I drove by a Pizza Hut.

I think I will stick with the heirlooms....

I also get a good laugh watching those commercials and trick photography. They show a full luscious plant with no tomatoes or flowers, then in the next scene they show the same plant full of ripe tomatoes with no change to the plant. How did that happen? The plant didn't even move. Then throw in a holder for slicing and a recipe book. If it wasn't for that, you would have no idea how to cut up and use a tomato, right?

largemouth--
Back in the day, 20 something , I also was a grip for a production company that made commercial.
They never had real food on the set, always plastic burgers, eggs, whatever, because take after take could be possible and the real food would look like alein food in short order under the intense lights.

Do your productions, use the fake food? I wonder today when I look at the info's and commercials, because it does look so real.
I have serious doubts that those topsy turvey plants are real.

Well I'm the idiot who both worked on commercials for many years and should know better, and yet still bought the thing !! In my own defense I bought it without seeing the commercial. Had I, I don't think I would have bothered.
It was a disappointment. I put a cherry plant in it. I got better yield from containers, and it is rather ugly. In a small garden that matters!

My experience with food packaging and advertisements...for Healthy Choice frozen dinners, we sent dozens of each item to the photographer and food stylist. They would pick the absolute best examples of all food in the meal and use them for the photographs.

In case people do not understand, it is against the law to advertise using fake props, etc. If you actually watch the commercial, it probably states that the results shown are exceptional and may not be the same for the buyer.

Hey largemouth, windclimber and anewgarden-

I'm a gaffer out here on the west coast. And you're absolutely right. The viewing public is totally unaware of the prep taken to make a product look like something that might not be absolutely true. Case in point, this looks like a nice cool beverage-

{{gwi:1316143}}

But look at the temperature of the "ice". It's 77 degrees-

{{gwi:1316144}}

Add some food coloring and you have a magazine grade image-

{{gwi:1316145}}

windclimber-
the "best" (but not my favorite) craft services on a big shoot was the one that served poached salmon, made-as-you-ordered-it pasta dishes and custom omelettes, served on hard plates not paper. But my favorite craft services was when the production company ordered in a taco truck (don't know if you guys have them out where you are) and told the crew to order anything and as much as we wanted. I had 6 tacos and a burrito at 2am.

I did buy one of the Topsy Turvy planters and the tomato plant in it is doing just OK. But all of my other tomatoes are growing like gangbusters.

{{gwi:1316146}}

I notice that when the discussion of these Topsy Turvy planters comes up that the only ones that people seem to have tried are the original ones with the hole on the bottom.

It always seemed to me that the problem with those is that, with the hole in the bottom, you lose too much water out the hole which tends to run down the plant. So, not only is the plant drying out quicker, but all the nutrients are running out the bottom and the plant is staying wet all the time (which makes it prone to disease).

I have to question, though, whether or not the new ones work any better as they no longer have the hole in the bottom but rather use a larger bag with multiple holes on the side.

The new bags look to be a iittle bigger than 5 gal buckets. While I question the ability to grow 3 tomato plants a container that size, it seems to me that with the larger bag and not having the hole in the bottom would make for a better system.

So, my question to the board is has anybody done anything similar with a bucket and a hole in the side rather than on the bottom. If so, what were your results?

I grow strawberries like you're talking about and they do quite well. I should interject here that I grow in 100% perlite using static hydroponic culture and not soil.

I threw in a link to a page on my Web site. It shows four 2-gallon buckets stacked one atop the next. Each bucket supports 6 strawberry plants. The picture was taken the day I planted them. It's now about a month later and they are growing like gangbusters! I'll update the picture on the Web page this weekend probably.

Here is a link that might be useful: Strawberries Planted In Bucket Side-holes

ok like alot of impulsive fools I bought into the whole idea of the Topsy Turvy. being bored out of my mind all the time I decided to grow some veggies for the first time this year. Since I live in a apartment it seem to be perfect. I bought it at walmart for 9.99 and bought a Better Boy hybrid to grow in it. may I also add Ive never grew anything! I used Miracle Grow garden soil. and now have it hanging from my patio. The thing has got to be watered 2 or 3 times a day and the leaves still curl up like theyre thirsty!!! So i did some research and found that everyone has these same problems. Im thinking about adding shipping peanuts to the soil to contain some extra moisture. I also planted another Better Boy hybrid in a 5 gallon bucket so I will be able to give more details later. Im taking pictures and will document the whole experiment on here as I go along."as I am extremely bored"
as of now with alot of extreme care and time. the topsy plant is maybe 2.5 times the size of the other. IMO your better off taking a bucket and drilling a 2" hole and slit a sponge slide the stem thru the sponge slit and drop in the whole fill with soil and hang. save $5 bucks and skip all the BS chinese engineering!!!

btw way the thing is only around 3 gallons.

Rick

can anyone tell me how to post pics?

I made my own out of a 5 gal bucket, 2" drill bit, 3 holes in the bottom, three sponges with slits, three brandywine pink plants out the bottom of the bucket. I mixed 1/2 and 1/2 miracle grow garden soil, and miracle grow potting mix (to retain as much water in the soil as possible). 1 tsp 10-10-10 fertilizer 1/2 way down the pot and water the dirt. I filled it to 3/4 full of dirt and watered again. I am going to water with miracle grow liquid fertilizer and add blood meal and bone meal to the top. I covered it with an extra earthbox cover I had laying around, and tied it to a tree! I just planted them last night. Next step painting the white bucket camo. I photographed the entire process step by step. I haven't downloaded the pics off the memory card yet to upload. I'll do that tonight and upload them. Next one I make will put holes out the side 2-3" from the bottom of the bucket, and maybe even make a reservoir in the bottom (like the earthbox). That would definitely keep the plants from getting dehydrated. I was also thinking about making a drip container out of a used milk jug. That would make for easy mixing and daily watering. Plus the handle would be easy to tie onto the tree. Plus if I don't like the performance of the bottom mount I could always use plumbing fixtures to create a reservoir in the bottom of the bucket. Assuming I drilled the holes far enough away from the sides of the bucket. I could also tilt the bucket slightly away from the tree causing excess water to pool in the side that is closest to the tree because I only drilled three holes. Hmm... That would cause the soil to wick the water as needed. I think it's great if it works. I have Zero Lot lines and have used all of the space next to my house for gardens. The trees are the obvious choice for hanging. My pine trees allow lots of light through to the plant. My wife won't let me dig up the rest of my yard. She says that I worked too hard to get it green and lush. Haha One problem. All of the chemicals to keep the weeds out killed one of my eggplants! Hanging planters are the solution to modern housing gardens. If it works I will be very excited and I'll let you know with pictures. Unrelated subject: Rent my cabin at www.antlerbend.com It's in Blue Ridge Ga!

Will be interesting to see how it does. Link to a News Cast on Topsy Turvy planter.

Here is a link that might be useful: Video New Cast of Topsy Turvy

A complete waste of time. Trust me, I've grown tomatoes of all types for 20 years, in the ground, in large pots and small ones, too. There is NO benefit to a tomato plant growing upside down.

1) Plants want to grow UP toward the sun, if you missed third grade science class. Their leaves are designed (by God or nature, depending on your point of view) to be right side up.
2) Gravity does NOT help nutrients get from the roots to the leaves.
3) Growing upside down puts stress on the stems and will cause many varieties of tomato to fall off, or their stems to strip themselves off the branches.
4) Where are you going to hang this device? From a hook in the ceiling? A VERY strong pole that can hold the weight of a plant, its fruit and the wet soil it will grow in? Wind will wreak havoc on this unnatural construction!
5) Many varieties of tomato (any type referred to as BUSH or DWARF) will grow QUITE WELL in a pot--the bigger the better, but if you're desperate I've gotten smallish tomatoes from an 10-inch pot.

Pass on the word, folks. I hate to see people waste their money because of clever marketing ploys.

Nice to see a few of my film industry brethren on this page, namely mr_potaohead , windclimber and anewgarden. Those reading this link might want take our seasoned observations into acount. If it looks too good to be true, dude, maybe it is.

I am growing in 2 Topsy Turvy planters. These are the type with 3 ports from the side. So far all looks great. The first images are planted 3 weeks earlier than the second TT.
The 1st TT has a Heatwave (my 1st stab at these tomatoes)tomato, Black Beauty eggplant and a Bonnie Green bell pepper.
http://img2.pict.com/df/f4/7a/441c95938cf0f7b8d0eb1b195c/dqNI1/topsyturvycomp.jpg
Heatwave
http://img2.pict.com/6d/5d/73/e25af36b5c5ca8ed5e4b2881e6/REogS/heatwavecomp.jpg
Eggplant
http://img2.pict.com/7f/3a/f1/270a87faf7de312693770bf232/ppX82/blackbeautyflowercomp.jpg
http://img2.pict.com/dd/ca/be/97c091c9b3900e81e65d4beffe/mIG8M/blackbeautyeggplantcomp.jpg
Bell pepper
http://img2.pict.com/c6/4b/b3/432c9e279084d14e9b638eed2b/vb2fc/bellpeppercomp.jpg
2nd TT
BetterBoy
http://img2.pict.com/fb/ec/ad/7ca1c08bdc3f26100d8da560d6/a9GS2/betterboylongnecksquashcomp.jpg
plant to right is a longneck squash. There are 2 in this planter.
I will try to show pics at harvest.
sorry not sure how to make hyperlinks for the URL

{{gwi:1316147}}
{{gwi:1316148}}
{{gwi:1316149}}
{{gwi:1316150}}
{{gwi:1316151}}
{{gwi:1316152}}

Hi, I like your hanging tomato.
I am new to this site and would love to post pictures of my hanging tomato and after hours of trying I still can't figure out how to post an image. Is there any advice you could share? thanks!

It's nothing more than a gimmick and some people always fall for it. Save your money.

I think they are great! Last week I sold a bunch of tomatoes to put in Topsy Turvy Planters. I sold them the most bushy, compact plant I had. Well this week I sold a bunch of my Hanging baskets with Tumbling Tomatoes in them. Most of those people said that their Topsy Turvy died and they wanted to hang something else up in their place.

Here is a picture of my Tumbling Tomato Baskets.
{{gwi:1316153}}

So, as a person who sells tomato plants and hanging baskets, I love them. As they fail, the come and buy more!

Ok, lots of sarcasm here, but I couldn't resist.

We set up 2 planters approx. a month+ ago useing Miracle Grow Flower/Garden Soil. The plants have barely grown and seem to be on a life or death struggle. The soil may be the problem: I.e. Not good for use in a upside down planter because of the high fertilizer content. The first time the tomatoe plants were watered an oil like substance appeared on the ground, which of course got there via the bottom hole and down the tomatoe plants. I would say the substance could only be fertilizer. My thoughts is that over fertization (burning) has/is occurring when watered. The plants are on the east side of the house so get sun 4+ hours of the day. Tell me what I'm doing wrong! We are looking at transplanting our plants to a topsy position.
About the Planter's TV Ad: The planters shown have those beautiful tomatoes,and in my opion only,is worded such that suggest that those tomatoes plants are shipped with the planter's order. I've had to correct some friends on that, and got responses like: "What! You don't get those tomatoes plants with the planters?" In so many various words. Anyway! Good luck with your planters. In my opion it would be cheaper making them yourself in more ways then one! Try doing a internet search using "Topsy Turvy planter" and see what comes up.

jrslick --

Wow! What's in that tumbling basket, anyway?

Well here's my plant 8 weeks later. Not growing superfast but growing. Since this picture was taken it's pointed down 45 degrees from where it shows here. And it has buds on it.

Largemouth- You still in the biz?

Missing:

In the hanging basket is a Tumbling Tomato. They were bred to be grown in baskets. They will hang down 15-18 inches and be loaded with blooms and 1-2 inch tomatoes.

The blooms are really a thing of amazement!

jrslick --

Thanks for the reply.

Is your "Tumbling" the same as "Tumbling Tom"? [Over-optimist that I am, I have Tumbling Tom Red seeds to grow inside next winter, though I have neither a south-facing window nor an adequate lighting system.]

I can't find a tomato named simply "Tumbling" listed anywhere. But I did find a "Tumbler" and a "Tasty Tumbler."

I am sorry, Yes it is a Tumbling Tom tomato. I purchased the seed from Jung's. Other places have them, but they offered the red and yellow. As you can see, they are growing nicely in the baskets. I just hope they grow well for the people who bought them.

Jay

Buying crap from TV infomercials is a rampant human disease with no cure short of an empty bank account.

Think of this one. One person over on the Idig forum has put 2 Cherokee Purple plants and 1 Georgia Streak plant in one TT planter.

When do you think some steel cable to hold this mass in the air will be needed???

Makes you want to ask, "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING??????"

Ted

Jay --

Thanks again!

I too am having trouble with the topsy turvy. I am on my second plant and they both have shriveled up and got brown edges on the leaves. What am I doing wrong? I also have one with a pepper plant and even though it looks better it still doesn't look good. HELP!!!

My topsy is doing great! Yes it does grow up but once the fruit begins to grow it straightens back out. look for yourself. I had serious doubts at first but without a single doubt this is the healthiest plant I have. I still think you would be better off building your own but if you don't its not a waste of money!

Here is a link that might be useful: My Topsy Turvy

I have 2 Topsy Turveys and they are doing alright. I have blooms on the Early Girl and the BHN 640 they were only planted in May. Visit photo bucket/organic_dusty to see all of my pictures.
Beauginger:
What kind of soil did you use? You need to make sure it is potting mix and not potting soil as the plant will not be able to grow. The pepper loves the warmth and should do well if you have alot of sun as the Pepper TT drains very well. So some use straight peat moss and that seems to work however I use the Organic Potting mix by miracle gro.
Good luck. Oh by the way if when your tomato drains it must drain out the little holes all around the bottom not just through the tomato hole at the bottom. If that is the case maybe you used potting soil??? and should have used potting mix???
One last thing I use Quick Start by Miracle Gro on all of my plants when first planted you may want to try that too.

I've heard peppers do better than tomatoes in these topsy turvy containers but I have no experience using them.

Organic Dusty
I used some organic soil. I have since planted two tomatoe plants in containers and used potting soil. What is potting mix? The containers seem to be doing ok so far. I am keeping my fingers crossed. I do notice that they don't seem to need a lot of water.

My neighbor gave me a Topsy Turvey planter and I am surprised at how well it is doing.
I used potting soil, home made compost, some water holding crystals and some Osmocoat for tomatoes fertilizer.
I also have a lot of other tomato vines growing here and there in my garden. They are doing well, also.
This is at about one month after being planted.....the seedling I used was only about 3 inches long.

I've grown tomatoes upside down in five gallon buckets for several years. This year I've got two tomatoes, tomatillo, and an eight ball zuccini growing. I build an 8' lonf, 4' high and 2' wide frame out of 2x2's. The end of the frame is crossed to support a 2x4 that rests on the top. On the underside of the 2x4 I attach 4 j hooks that the buckets hang from. As the vines grow and fruit comes on you can easily tie the vines and attach to the handle of the bucket. They're off the ground and easy to maintain. I don't think they produce as many tomatoes as a container growing them upright. It is kind of fun and always a conversation piece if someone drops by.

Here's what mine looks like now since the 5/24 photo above. It's got about 10 set fruit on it with more blossoms ready to open.

The plant looks very nice and healthy hope you get some great tasting tomatoes. :)

My TT looks about like Mr. Potatohead's except I've got quite a few green Roma tomatoes on mine. A few have had blossom end rot, but I picked them off. The ones I left look ok.

It does seem to need water almost every day now that we're in the 90's each day. This does not surprise me.

For those who think this is infomercial junk, it does allow people an opportunity to have a plant which they might not otherwise have space for. Also it's fun to try something different. I'm sorry for those who had no luck with this system; try again because they do work.

Mine are all doing awesome. I have a single one which I used for a cherry and a three spot on where I have a beefstake, a patio tomato and a bell pepper.

I bought the one for tomatos and herbs and I love it! I made a few more out of some 5 gallons buckets for peppers. I do not know about everyone else, but I have had great results. Yeah, you do have to water them a lot, but is that really as big of a pain as people are making it sound? I think 5 dollars to make your own and 10 dollars to buy one is much more reasonable than buying a big pot and cage. The fact that they sold them on tv doesn't necessarily make them junk...

2 years ago I drilled 1-2 holes, about 1-1.5 inches diameter (size and qty depend on what you have available for tools) in a hanging plant container that I kept from the year before. I then planted a store bought tomato plant and carefully placed the plant through the hole and left the root system in some plant soil at the bottom of the container. Basically get the plant through the hole and back fill with dirt. when you fill the top of the container with, say basil or parsley you can get multiple crops and the top crop will keep the soil from drying out prematurely. Just try it. You can keep the containers for years and use them on the patio. It maybe precarious with larger tomatoes but works great with grape to plum sizes. As they say plant'em if you got'em.
T's

You can plant the smaller varieties in plastic hanging baskets and get great production too. The key to all growing no matter where? is environment! Topsy Turvy planters are subject to more heat than in ground and may require more water and nutrients. If you pay attention to what the plant needs you can even grow on your roof or in hay bales for that matter. I wish I had thought of the "gimmick" cause it makes huge bucks for that guy or gal!!!lol!

My husband got one of these from Big Lots. I planted a tomato in it. It was cumbersome to deal with single handed. I will replant it this weekend by mixing in some water holding crystals. I shall take pictures and track how it does.

I was given one, I am too cynical to buy it. Still, I wanted to be able to tell my Dad how great it was, because he gave it to me.

The Supersweet-100 I put in it grew, but not as well as the ones I had in the ground. The catch for me was that it has to be in the sun, for good tomato production, and it dried out too fast. It was more trouble than the in-ground and right-side-up plants, and didn't do well.