How to make your own upside Down Planter In your Garden
May 19, 2010 garden planter, planter, upside down planter
Over the past year I have created a few different versions of garden planters for growing tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers inspired from my daughter watching a Topsy Turvy tomato planter commercial. Here is a quick summary of the different options which you can click the link for full instructions how to build on yourself.
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2 Liter – The Original — This is the one that started it all. Very simple design using a 2 liter bottle covered with duct tape with a hole cut in the side to add soil and water as needed.Pros: Simple to create, dark color helped keep soil warm during the early part of the year, unlike the sibling seedling which I planted in the ground as a control which did not make it.
Cons:Â Really had to keep up on watering, given it had a 2 inch hole in the side water was able to easily evaporate and it did not get the advantage of being watered automatically on raining days/weeks and given I wasn’t watering any other plants forgot about this poor one which led to reduced yields. |
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2 liter — Version 2.0 — This year I wanted something that did not appear as hideous hanging and also took care of the watering issue from the previous version. With this I created a slow drip watering reservoir and used spray paint and skipped the duct tape.Pros: Easy to water through manual or automatic (rain), evaporation is minimized due to small drainage holes
Cons: At the moment, there are none known. I am happy with this design. |
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1 gallon milk jug (with auto-watering) — I was curious about if the extra 1.799 liters with a larger contain would significantly help yields so I went with this version. Also decided to add an experimental external watering source.Pros: Larger volume of soil, extra watering capacity
Cons: Keeping the whole thing balanced was a pain, currently have it under control with a couple rubber band but will probably have to be replaced with something more permanent later. |
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So there you have the short evolution of my homemade upside down tomato planters all created from materials from my recycling bin. Though if you do not want to make one yourself here are a just a few of the commercial upside down planter versions on the market right now.
With many people inquiring how well the plants actually did planning on doing a better job to chronicling their progress of my peppers and tomatoes on a weekly basis in the forum. You are also welcome to start your own thread and share your progress as well.
Tags: cheap, garden seeds, led, outdoor plants, pepper plants, tomato plants, upside down tomato planter, vegetables
May 20th, 2010 at 8:07 PM
[...] This link is mentioned in the article, but in case the NYT page disappears, here’s a link to a guy experimenting with upside-down planters: at Cheapvegetablegardener.com [...]
May 21st, 2010 at 7:57 PM
Here’s my problem–my work keeps me on the road for over two weeks in a row each month. Will the auto-watering system last that long? I live in North Florida, so I anticipate a fair amount of rain, just in short bursts. I’d love to come home to fresh tomatoes and peppers, but I’m afraid they need more maintenance than I can give.
May 23rd, 2010 at 3:13 AM
Thanks for sharing tips! Splendid summer ideas to entertain-teach-learn children out of school. Will share in my SWFL SOMOS GoGreen/Cultura Verde column. Who do I give credit besides NYT?
May 23rd, 2010 at 8:55 AM
Don, when the weather gets hot you would need to water these daily. Now provided you got some nightly thunderstorms with some hard rains you could be ok but a 2-3 days without rain and your tomatoes would be in sorry shape. The peppers on the other hand like to be a little dryier and could survive a little bit longer without watering. One other option would be to setup a automated watering using a 5 gallon (maybe bigger for 2 weeks) bucket of water and a cheap fountain pump to provide some water to supplement the natural rainwater.
Luisa, feel free to give this site credit as well
I was inspired by a topsy turvy commercial who was most likely inspired by people using 5 gallon buckets for the past 2-3 decades…
May 24th, 2010 at 3:15 PM
I bought that Topsy Turvy tomato planter. I hope it works like they say it does. If I get enough tomatoes, I would like to donate some to our local food pantry. If it’s got enough there, I want to share. lol
May 24th, 2010 at 3:47 PM
Nancy, great idea I have been meaning to post of sharing your extra crops. If you want it would be great if you could document your efforts with growing with a Topsy Turvy on our forum.
May 25th, 2010 at 3:29 AM
thank you, this is very nicely detailed. i wonder if one should expect any soil loss to occur through the opening at bottom after watering ?
May 28th, 2010 at 9:09 PM
[...] Did you ever grow tomatoes or peppers upside down? How to build your own upside down planter: http://j.mp/cVHk0P [...]
May 29th, 2010 at 6:50 AM
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Gardora, Garden Calendar. Garden Calendar said: Did you ever grow tomatoes or peppers upside down? How to build your own upside down planter: http://j.mp/cVHk0P [...]
May 30th, 2010 at 3:12 PM
curious, with the restricted water flow I have seen almost no soil being loss at the bottom. Though adding a sponge or coffee filter should eliminate all worries of soil loss.
May 31st, 2010 at 2:26 AM
Don a possible alternative for you may be earth boxes. These are commercial self watering planters. But there is quite a cult following of homemade do it yourself ideas on the web to accomplish the same thing.
June 2nd, 2010 at 6:43 AM
A cool sounding idea, but I do have my doubts as to how much produce can actually be had from these contraptions.
June 2nd, 2010 at 10:58 AM
I would completely agree that yields will not equal that of the same plant properly staked/trellised in the ground with unlimited space to grow. Though if you plant three of these small planters above that plant above area grown by the in ground plant even if the yields are half as much this still would be a 150% total greater yield. Or infinite if you didn’t have any ground to grow on
June 5th, 2010 at 3:15 AM
I tried this and the plant has made a u-turn and is growing upwards – it has now reached the top of the bucket and is growing toward the handing handle – has this happened to anyone?
June 5th, 2010 at 2:06 PM
Sounds like your mix might have been a little high in nitrogen or possibly not in full sun. If it has a strong stem, once it starts to bear fuit it should bend more towards the ground
June 17th, 2010 at 10:31 AM
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August 28th, 2010 at 5:50 AM
[...] via How to make your own upside Down Planter In your Garden. [...]
January 8th, 2011 at 1:41 PM
I made upside down tomato planters out of 5 gal buckets used by a plastering company. I planted tomatoes upside down through a hole drilled into the bottom of each bucket. I also planted peppers in the tops of the buckets right side up. I hung the buckets on an old swing set. The tomatoes did well and the peppers did great. All would hve done a lot better if I had been able to keep up with the watering.
March 2nd, 2011 at 9:40 PM
i saw some where sold such planting items, but this DIY things looks much great.
March 12th, 2011 at 3:58 PM
How does one stick the plant through the whole without hurting it?
March 18th, 2011 at 7:48 AM
Judy, normally once I shake off some of the dirt of the roots it fits in nicely. If you have larger plants you could consider using a utility knife to make the opeing a little bigger. As long as the plant does not fall through when you plant it, as it grows it will secure itself in there even more.
March 23rd, 2011 at 11:25 AM
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May 16th, 2011 at 6:34 PM
[...] Upside Down Tomato Planter [...]
June 15th, 2011 at 8:28 AM
Try using a reusable grocery bag that can be bought for $1.00. Their nylon construction makes them sturdy and they have handles to hang from.
Take the bag and cut hole(s) in the bottom depending on how many tomato plants you want. Take the plants roots and stick them through the hole. It’s best to place the bag on top of a bucket when filling with soil so you don’t damage the plant. They hold plenty of potting soil and don’t forget to add some organic fertilizer.
February 6th, 2012 at 6:42 AM
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March 22nd, 2012 at 6:32 PM
I see alot of talk about using these homemade planters for tomatoes and peppers. But how about green beans? I prefer bush beans to pole beans. I was thinking that I would plant the beans in the 2liter bottles and hanging them. How well do you think this will work?
March 22nd, 2012 at 8:51 PM
Michelle, I have not personally tried it (too be honest not a fan of the green beans) but I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t work. Not sure how tall they get so you have to make sure the container was at least that hight. If too hight to water may consider a larger container and trying bush beans.
March 25th, 2012 at 5:08 AM
Bush beans do not get very tall, maybe knee high. And they do not vine out. That’s why I was hoping the 2 liter pop bottle would work good.
I was also wondering about another growing container. We have a black lab dog, so we always have large dogfood bags around. Do you think they would work for a planting container? Of course I would have to cut some drainage wholes.