juniperlee wrote:Who knew this was such a hot topic?

My dad can grow ANYTHING. One year he tried the topsy turvy bag with his other tomatoes. I saw a difference between his regular tomatoes and the upside down ones. They did in fact grow but they were smaller and took just a little bit longer to produce. I will say this tho. The container tomatoes got decimated by damn cut worms. The hanging one was fine. :s

Decimated, you say? Those worms got 10% of your container tomatoes?

To all those naysayers out there:
You say ”tomato” and I say ”tomahto”
You comment on ”Topsy Turvy” and I say ”You've got some nervy!!”
PLANT IT, Don't RANT IT!!!
BUY IT, don't LIE it!!!
(oh, let's call the whole thing off.)

mmmata wrote:Found it 7.95 "p&h" so 18 bucks.. 2 to 6 weeks bleh

Actually is another 7.95 for the free one too.. soo..

The time is now, at least for most of the US. If you're in an extreme climate, check with someone local. (Mid-Atlantic, midwest, and northernmost states should all be fine. Avoid frost, which is a temperature below freezing.)

Find seedlings --small ones; cheap do just as well as pricy usually. I bought small ones at my nursery for $1.99 this week. Don't be tempted by flowers and the beginnings of fruit -- it's better in the long run if the plant has time to adjust to its new home before beginning to bear. Fruit on a transplant probably won't live. Choose the seedlings with the thickest stems.

Hope this helps.

cinder26 wrote:Don't plan on growing a tomato crop in these... might as well put the money in fresh produce at Farmers' Market, you would get a lot more there for the buck...

You're a genius! And I was going to buy a bird feeder, then realized that they can go find their own darn food! Was going to buy an ant farm for my kid's room, but why, when ants live just fine at the park on their own!!! Thank you from saving me from myself. Leave the fun, decorative, and interesting for some other ill-informed sap!!! :-(

We tried these here in western Washington last year. Of course last year, we had no real spring or summer, so the tomatoes in the raised beds sucked, the tomatoes in the Topsy Turvys sucked. So my review would be that they did JUST as WELL either way! See how that works??

I've personally seen however that, when you DO have a growing season, small tomatoes seem to do extremely well in these things.

Linad wrote:These two would probably be great together.

An original creation by yours truly.

Win

Does anyone know when these will ship?

$1 at many discount stores.

If you llive in an apt or someplace you cant plant in the ground and you want tomatoes, then these will surely do. But if you can plant in the ground, then do not use this product. Youll get a MUCH better yeild and result from planting in the ground.

Actually, don't mix tomatoes and tobacco---you run the risk of spreading tobacco mosaic virus.

Don't forget the strawberries!

http://www.amazon.com/Felknor-Ventures-TT041112-Strawberry-Planter/dp/B001WAL3XA/ref=sr_1_20?ie=UTF8&qid=1336061520&sr=8-20

This is torture to tomato plants.
I tried this last year and they were desperate to grow upward, but finally they couldn't hold their weight.
By the way, you could only grow plants once, the sun will damage the plastic and it will start peeling. Pretty odd considering that tomatoes need as much sun light as they can get.
Make sure you water them twice a day on hot summer days, the ran out of water very quick.

A lot easier to buy 'em at Jewel.

Spiky wrote:These work, but they are messy with the watering and no bottom. And they weigh a lot. If you get them, check how you hang them to make sure it's strong enough.

That is the problem I had with it.....too darn heavy!! Plus the plant just never grew into anything.
I just had no luck with it, but the tomatoes I planted in the backyard and forgot about for 2 months grew into GIGANTIC toamto bushes and yeilded tons of tomatos!!

I'm sure this has already been pointed out, but I can't bring myself to sit here for an hour reading six pages of comments about a tomato planter. I'm sorry, I'm a failure, I know, but I can't do it.

If you're going to try these things, do yourself a favor and choose a variety of tomato that's smaller than average. No heirloom beefsteaks in other words. Go for grape or cherry tomatoes. Otherwise the fruits that grow will get so heavy that they'll fall right off the stems and splat on the ground a long time before they're ripe enough to eat.

The advertising for these planters shows them lush and full of beautiful ripe tomatoes, exactly the variety that are much too big to ever successfully grow in this contraption.

That said, they do work well for cherry tomatoes as long as you're willing to water them at least once every day and sometimes more if it's hot and dry. Plants grown in these can't suck up any natural groundwater so the only moisture they get is from your sweat and tears while you're out there twice a day watering. They WILL die in a stupidly short amount of time if you forget for just one or two days.

I've used the hot-pepper-planter version for 2 consecutive years. I'm still eating the goddamn peppers I grew last summer, I had to freeze or dehydrate most of them due to the bumper crop I got.

I would, however, recommend if at all possible that the tomato hanger be put somewhere with *partial sun* in the hot afternoon. On my deck this is impossible unfortunately, and therefore I was stuck giving twice-daily waterings during the summer. I didn't grow any hanging tomatoes (just hot peppers) but I had several tomato plants in upright (small) pots and got a nice crop of them last year, too.

And AFAIK the ones they're selling here can be used just as well for hot peppers, even though there's a separate planter that actually specifies hot peppers.

alexei27 wrote:You can also make these yourself with 5 gallon buckets. Cut a 2" hole in the center of the bottom of the bucket (make sure its a bucket with a handle!). Then buy a tomato seedling thats about 8".

Wrap the seedling roots in a coffee filter (helps get them settled). Hang the bucket, drop in the plant through the hole, then fill with soil!

The buckets arent as pretty as the turveys, but they also won't break after 6 months like these will.

You could paint the buckets first.
Water suggestion: freeze some 16 oz plastic cups of water then put them on top. water goes down slopwly, no dripping, soil loss. My mother used that method (ice cubes) with her hanging indoor pots.

wlgiv wrote:I've given these a couple of seasons to proove thier worth - and they don't. I've grown the exact same plants in both these "Topsy" planters and large planter tubs within feet of each other. The tomatoes grown like gangbusters in the tub planter and do terribly in the Topsy hanger. 3 years of side by side comparisons, by a relatively experienced gardener, gives these Topsys, two upside down - thumbs down.

Sounds like a very fair test.

I'm an avid gardener and thought it would fun to try one of these. I tried two years in a row with no success. The plants grew alright, but produced very little fruit of very little size. I spent $10 for two, but 2 for $5 still isn't worth the trouble.

keep them in the sun, and they will disintegrate. yet, tomato plants must be placed in the sun in order to grow. hide from sun during non-season, water often, and follow instructions. btw, the do not make the house look good...

Linad wrote:These two would probably be great together.



An original creation by yours truly.

Will be looking for you on The Shark Tank.

When this first came out a few years ago (before you could get them at Dollar Tree), we rolled our own by cleaning out a plastic kitty litter bucket, punching a hole in the lid for the plant to come out of, punching a few holes in the bottom for watering, and attaching some chains for hanging. This is all stuff we had lying around the garage so except for our labor, the cost was $0.

We did it as a novelty, but it worked surprisingly well. I think the yield was a little bit lower than the ones we had in the ground but it was a lot easier to pick the tomatoes, since the only place we can put plants in the ground is right up against a fence, so you can't walk around the plants.

If you're short on space, I think it's worth it at DIY or Dollar Tree prices.

I tried one last year. worked ok, not as good as in ground planting, but certainly worth the price.
Count me in for a couple !

Hey, anyone else notice that despite the majority of comments being from people who say to stay FAR away from these, pretty much all the Quality Posts woot picked out are favorable?

I read the QPs and saw they were all glowing, so I came here to post my negative experience and only then saw that most of the comments agree with me on these not being a good idea. Never would've guessed based on the list of quality posts.

There's just one quality post showcased that has "a list of cons" and about a dozen QPs saying these are the best thing since sliced bread.

Normally woot is great about choosing QPs that offer both sides of the story. It's one reason I love this site so much, because they're perfectly willing to admit that the product they're selling very well may be garbage.

Shenanigans, I say!

Please tell me today's slew of "only favorable quality posts" is an accident and not a sign of your Evil Corporate Masters insisting you try to hide the product's overall crapness.

Probably depends a lot on where you are using these, but I can speak for North Texas

The wind destroys the plants

Tomatos prefer full sun, but the sun gets the container so hot that it literally cooks the roots. So you have to shade them.

They need watering all the time in the heat of summer. They leak quite a bit. You can experiment with all sorts of ways to seal the base, but in the end the water is going to leak out.

They are heavy as all get-out when you water them, so don't expect to hook them on a little 4d nail on the side of the carport.

There is no way to cage these easily so birds will destroy anything they can get to, especially if the season is dry and they can't find water easily. Birds attack tomatos for the moisture, so a bird bath might help here, but it was not 100% for me.


I found that banana peppers took to all of this fairly well compared to cherry tomatos. If you still feel like you want to try this, I recommend peppers. At least you'll get something out of them by the end of the summer.

I did this several years ago with buckets (I just cut a hole in the center and strung it up on my apartment balcony).

My tomato plants always grew upwards, never downwards like the picture is suggesting. Most of the growing season the plants put all of their energy into growing a thick base stalk/stem and it negatively affected the yield of my plants. The fruit was small and ripened very late in the season.

I would not recommend this product.

Wookieedog wrote:In the same planter, plant one tomato plant and one tobacco plant and get ready for some nice fresh Tomacco!!!

Seriously, it's a bad idea to plant tomatoes and tobacco together. Tomatoes are very susceptible to Tobacco Mosaic Virus, which many tobacco plants have.

For the same reason, it's a bad idea to use tobacco-based pesticides on tomatoes or to smoke around tomato plants. (Also a bad idea because of the whole lung cancer thing.)

lichme wrote:I have a friend in an apartment with a balcony who swears by these things. Might have to try one. Are they reusable?

Yes, I used mine for two years before it gave up

alexei27 wrote:You can also make these yourself with 5 gallon buckets. Cut a 2" hole in the center of the bottom of the bucket (make sure its a bucket with a handle!). Then buy a tomato seedling thats about 8".

Wrap the seedling roots in a coffee filter (helps get them settled). Hang the bucket, drop in the plant through the hole, then fill with soil!

The buckets arent as pretty as the turveys, but they also won't break after 6 months like these will.

You can also use reusable shopping bags. Just cut an X in the bottom and push the plant through. They only cost a buck at the supermarket, come in different colors, and you can toss it after the growing season.
http://www.amazon.com/Reusable-Grocery-Tote-Large-Pack/dp/B003B6478Q/

My mom had one of these and the tomato plant got way too big. It ruined a nice steel shepherd's hook

My apartment has absolutely no dirt in back patio (only cement) and I love to eat tomatoes.
I have used topsy turvy for the past three seasons, growing 1 plant the first year, 2 the second, 3 the third - this year I am scaling back to 2 planters again as I don't have enough sunshine to keep 3 growing. I have found that the planter is only good for one season (not reusable), grows large tomatoes very well (and small tomatoes okay), must be watered slowly (drip or watering can-never hose) and loves full sun. I have only had one plant die in this time, which I was able to replace and get a crop blooming for the season. I am looking forward to planting zucchini in today's purchase soon...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lax0GbCBOqA&feature=player_embedded

Gosh she's annoying.

I have not used this particular product, however, I wanted to chime in on the growth issue.

There are two types of plants -- ones that will grow always upwards and hence are not suitable for these kind of planters, and one that can grow downwards. I learned that at an Oregon farmer's market -- presumably any real/dedicated garden center will have people who can direct you to the right varietals. I know my dad grew some in a different upside down system and he got a decent yield from small (cherry) to medium sized tomatoes.

I just wish i remember the name of the type that you need...

I have used them for several years now, I hang one off the side of my shed on a plant hook. You do have to rotate the planter every
few days or they curl on one side upward. Grape and cherry tomatoes are best as they are lighter. If you use good potting soil , thes guys will get up to six feet long.

chaospearl wrote:
If you're going to try these things, do yourself a favor and choose a variety of tomato that's smaller than average. No heirloom beefsteaks in other words. Go for grape or cherry tomatoes. Otherwise the fruits that grow will get so heavy that they'll fall right off the stems and splat on the ground a long time before they're ripe enough to eat.

Why would fruits that are heavy not fall off of a tomato plant growing upright but will fall off of a plant in a Topsy? Just wondering. I grew only a medium sized tomato in mine, so I can't say from experience, but it seems like it shouldn't really matter.

The only thing I can grow are climbing green beans. I think they could grow out of a pile of my dirty socks.

Pufferfishy wrote:Just my personal experience, of course - but things don't like growing upside-down - period.

FWIW - I had FAR better results with blue lake green beans than I did tomatoes. The tomatoes that seemed to do marginally well were the cherry variety - any variety of "normal" size will:
- try to grow "up"
- get big & heavy
- break its stem
- and die.

Oh - and I hope you like to water EVERY DAY.

Sorry Woot, but these things are losers. I bought two the last time you had them and they resulted in stunted plants and very few stunted fruits. Same plants in the ground were huge and full. Trashed them.

Wookieedog wrote:In the same planter, plant one tomato plant and one tobacco plant and get ready for some nice fresh Tomacco!!!

If it's good enough for Homer Simpson then it's good enough for me! Tomacco rules!!!

The picture is last year's model, but the text write-up is for the herb/tomato plant version. So hopefully Woot isn't pulling a fast one and they are giving us the latest model. If the model I get in the mail doesn't have the holes in the sides, it isn't for herbs. If you soil is running out the bottom, you are watering too fast and don't have the sponge attached right. A little soil will run out (very little) if it's packed right from the beginning; i.e., making sure the soil is soaked very well as you plant. These do work, especially if you have ground hogs or other borrowing animals that eat plants.