Not me, but friends of ours. They said they were a huge disappointment. online reviews weren't good either.

If you do a search on the Tomato Forum on GW you will find lots of reviews on it.
Clare

Here is a link that might be useful: Tomato Forum

I kinda was confused by this too, because I always thought roots grow downwards...in the tospy turvy thing, they grow... up? how?? down? around because they are confused? I don't know because we grow ours in the ground.

If we used a topsy turvy, I think we'd have to constantly raise the plastic "container" higher and higher as the tomatoes and vines grew...even if they grow upwards, eventually, their weight and gravity would drag them downwards, right???

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

I found it on Amazon while looking for something else. I haven't watched TV or a TV commercial in several years. So I missed this goofy thing!

I was given one in April.....I had a tomato plant doing very well but it looked "crooked" and when I tried to straighten it, it broke.
I replanted two other volunteer seedlings and they did OK....but I won't fool with it next year.
I got about eight red tomatoes (about the size of an small apples) and a bunch of yellow grape tomatoes. The grape tomatoes grow like weeds around here anyway so no big surprise.
It is important to keep them watered and fed and seems like later in the season, the water that drips out the bottom causes late season blight.

Eileen:
I think they hang bunches of tomato's on that Plant, in the TV Commercial.
Swore I saw a price tag on one.

I was going to try it but I heard they weren't too good also.

You could put a plant in the top for double trouble.
call it Ferris Wheel Tomatoes.
Lou

One of the women at work used woven grocery bags...poked holes in the bottoms, popped in the plants and filled with soil. A couple of months ago she said they were doing well. I'll have to ask her if she's gotten any tomatoes yet.

Out of curiosity, I planted Topsy Turvy tomatoes for the first time this year - two plants per planter and I think I'm the only person I know who planted them that is still picking tomatoes. I'll use the method again, but I'll be using the system from the link below, which I have already purchased and have ready to go.

Disease usually gets my tomatoes before the frost, and by hanging the tomatoes, I've avoided that problem. I did have to pick off Army Worms, however.

I made sure I chose a variety of plant that doesn't get HUGE, nor does it have a large tomato, and grows well in our area (Celebrity). I just thought it made sense for such a small feed and water source. Patio tomatoes, often used in patio planters, would have also been a good choice.

I used a moisture-retaining potting soil, and fed the plants regularly.

After the first week or so of watering, the soil had settled quite a bit, so I added a LOT of nutrient-rich compost (homemade), which is what I think made a difference from others who were unsuccessful using this method.

The first tomatoes started getting blossom-end rot, so I added "soft gypsum" granules to the watering can and added those minerals each watering for a few days. I added it again after the first wave of fruit, when the second wave of blooms came on, and that took care of the blossom-end rot.

carol-in-california - The tomatoes are crooked because they are bending towards the sunlight. As they get bigger and fuller, they straighten out a bit.

I have chosen the planters from Gardener's Supply Co. for next year because they have improved them to where there is a 1-gallon reservoir for the water (a must-have in our horribly hot and windy summers), and they now have a moisture indicator so you can monitor when to water tomatoes. On the Topsy Turvy I devised a plastic quart bottle as a mini-drip (irrigation). That's also why I think I had success with this method.

I'll probably never take up space with tomatoes in my small garden ever again. I'm going to add zucchini and squash to the hanging plants next year.

-Grainlady

Here is a link that might be useful: Gardener's Supply Co.

Our next door neighbors had one and it didn't produce one 'mater. Pretty sad looking hanging without 'maters!

Wayne and I fell for it a few years ago. We planted heirlooms in them. Great disappointment. Not worth the money. Our new neighbors behind us have them. We were going to tell them don't waste your time with them but being new we didn't want to offend them. I'm looking out the window at them now. Out of the 4 that they planted up, only 1 scraggly tomato plant is growing. The rest died. NancyLouise

One of my lawyers got sucked into buying one too. Sure enough, not a single tomato.

Since I planted 62 tomato plants, and that was a much smaller number than usual, I'd have to have an awful lot of hanging planters!

Annie

I have a friend who did the Topsy and a hanging basket, with pear or grape tomatoes..I'll have to ask her how the experiment went. When I saw them, they were about the same...not much going on.

My Dad tried one this year. He tried using fishing weights to pull the plant downward but it just declined. He eventually discoverd a bird nest in it. So he didn't get any tomatoes from it but he was quite taken with the baby birds on the porch.