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Cherry tomatoes are a great variety for growing upside down in hanging containers.
Nothing is as tasty and fresh as home grown fresh tomatoes and you’ll enjoy ripe fruit from late spring through fall if you plant your hanging tomato plants in early spring.
Some people even claim that growing tomatoes “upside down” yields more fruit than planting tomato plants in a garden.
Read on to learn how to grow your own hanging tomato plants; it’s a quick and simple do-it-yourself project from which you’ll enjoy the fruits of your hour’s labor all summer long!
What You Need:
- Five gallon bucket purchased at your home and garden center
- Soil with the correct vitamins additives recommended for growing tomatoes (you will need one 40 pound bag of soil for each plant)
- Tomato seedling (preferably a smaller variety of fruit like Roma)
- Several feet of 1/8 inch cord
- Utility knife
A five gallon bucket with a hole in the bottom and some cord to hang is all you need to grow upside down tomato plants!
Instructions for Hanging Upside Down Tomato Plants:
- You can purchase your empty five gallon bucket at any home and garden center. A green bucket will be less ugly than the orange or white ones or you can paint your bucket whatever color you like. Be sure the inside of the bucket is clean, using warm water and mild dishwashing soap and then rinsing it well.
- Next, cut a hole about two to three inches in diameter in the center of the bottom with your utility knife.
- Lay several layers of newspaper in the bottom of the bucket and cut a small slit in the newspaper through the hole in the bucket; this will help hold the seedling in place when you initially hang the bucket.
- Drill four small holes evenly around the top edge of the bucket to attach your cord. You will want to measure the distance from the hook or other point you will hang the bucket from. Cut four lengths of cord and tie one end of each piece to each of the four holes.
- Turn the bucket on its side and carefully remove your tomato seedling from the container it came in and thread it through the slit in the newspaper so that the stem protrudes through the hole in the bucket and the roots are inside the bucket.
- Fill the bucket with the potting soil, which you can purchase along with your bucket at any home and garden center or local nursery; be sure it contains the right vitamin additives suggested for tomatoes. Be gentle to your seedling and try to allow it to protrude about three inches out of the hole in the bottom of your bucket.
- Cut several holes in the lid and place the lid on the bucket, taking care you do not harm your seedling in the process!
- Now you are ready to hang your bucket in a sunny place with plenty of room below for your tomato plant to grow down. Tomatoes need a lot of sun so do not hang it in a predominately shady spot; it should get direct sunlight at least fifty percent of the day.
- Keep your upside down tomato plant well watered and in about 50 to 75 days you should begin to see flowers and not long after you will have tomatoes. Let your tomatoes ripen on the vine and pick them as they become red and firm and ready to eat!
After hanging for 75 days, your hanging tomato plant should be full and flowering and soon be ready to produce delicious, fresh tomato fruit.
Hanging Tomato Plant Tips:
- Plant tomatoes such as cherry or Roma varieties that have smaller fruit, which do best with the upside down hanging tomato growing method.
- If you don’t like the look of a five gallon bucket, you can also purchase planters specifically made for hanging tomatoes.
- Be sure to pick a solid place and use a good strong hook or other means from which to hang your tomato plants; each planter will weigh between 35 and 40 pounds.
- Plant your hanging tomato plants in spring (between late April and early June depending on how far north you are located) so that you can enjoy fresh tomatoes all through the growing season.
Comments
13 comments
JC Mims
May 8, 2008
[...] tomato plant. Takes like 30 minutes to make one. I can’t wait for some fresh tomatoes this summer!http://www.howdididoit.com/home-garden/how-to-grow-hanging-tomato-plants/Tomato Gardening TipsTomatoes are easy to grow, both in your garden and in containers. ….. This [...]
May 12, 2008
Well, I completed my hanging plant, and had been watching it grow with no problems with blooms everywhere. I decided to move it up higher to get more sun, and thats where an unexpected and very dissappointed problem happened. I secured the tomato plant container to a pulley, to raise it for full sun, as the evening shade settled over our home. My design was working great, I could raise and lower it to check soil and buds, and ‘the wife’, who went along with it was shocked how well it worked. I used parachute cord, to secure the bucket and wasnt prepared for the handle to bend, which released it from the holes on the side and sent my plant crashing to the ground… I am now going to use ’s’ hooks to the upper outside lip of the bucket for a sure grip..I hope..Hopefully that will solve my problem of too much weight .
May 18, 2008
[...] tomato plant. Takes like 30 minutes to make one. I can’t wait for some fresh tomatoes this summer!http://www.howdididoit.com/home-garden/how-to-grow-hanging-tomato-plants/The Upside-Down Tomato Garden. at Hammacher SchlemmerThis ingenious planter takes the toil out of [...]
May 22, 2008
[...] flower pots for the annuals, and put the herbs in a strawberry pot. Damon took charge of making an upside down planter for the tomato [...]
June 2, 2008
Will tomato plants grow in a plain hanging basket? (bending over the sides)
June 4, 2008
Hi Kristin,
Not sure if that works as well as the method we outline here, but I have seen photos of tomatoes grown in hanging baskets; no reason I can see why it shouldn’t work, but maybe other people have tried it and will post here!
June 12, 2008
I am new at growing tomatoes. I have been researching many different websites. I came across this one showing what I believe is container hanging planters ==growing across a cattle fence.
The fruit from watermelons, cucmbers and tomatoes hang like grapes would.
Just thought you might like to see it since it was asked about hanging in a normal hanging pot.
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.autopot.com.au/content/images/Gardensmart%2520display%2520Web1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.autopot.com.au/default.aspx%3FPageID%3D7145423c-0ab9-481e-84e4-b3ea660bf13a&h=336&w=448&sz=114&hl=en&start=2&um=1&tbnid=NSo6ih31ej9paM:&tbnh=95&tbnw=127&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dgrowing%2Bcherry%2Btomatoes%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN
July 1, 2008
Hi: I have hanging tomato plants too but I’m having a problem. I bought the al fabric type baskets with the strips that absorb the water into the soil. The edges of some of my tomato leaves are brown and crisp and they aren’t really growing that much with minimal flowering. Should I take the water receptacle off the top of the soil and water directly? If you have any advice I’d really appreciate it.
Moriah
July 1, 2008
Hi Moriah,
Check to be sure your soil is staying moist. Also, if the plants are not flowering you may want to give your tomato plants a bit of fertilizer. Don’t over-fertilize though or your plants may grow large without producing much fruit; that happened to a friend of mine last year and he had very little to show for the 6 foot tall, extremely bushy tomato plants he ended up with!
July 4, 2008
[...] though you do not have soil on the ground and would like to grow them in containers. Here is the link to an article that provides many more details on what you should do to get such a garden: * Plant tomatoes such [...]
July 7, 2008
Enter Your Comment
Hi I have 2 hanging tomatoe plants. It looks like I have a lot of white waxy nodules growing from the vine-I thought they were roots but others say it looks like a fungus or a blight. The leaves are a little wilted but there are tomatoes growing. Any thoughts sine I can’t find a picture or disease anywhere that fits this description. Thanks!
July 10, 2008
If you are planting cherry tomatoes then yes. You could also plant the cherry tom upside down in a hanging basket. Just put the seedling through the bottom holes one seedling per hole but only 2 plants though. Fill half way with dirt till the plant comes over the edge then fill top with soil and put in herbs or any other plant you would normally plant in a hanging basket
August 16, 2008
[...] 3. http://www.howdididoit.com/home-garden/how-to-grow-hanging-tomato-plants/ [...]