Does the Topsy Turvy Tomato Planter work?
My experience with buying TopsyTurvy was a disaster. First, they
offered two-fer-one, but the order form does not tell you how many
to order against what you want to receive. Since there is NO
communication method on the web site I went through the pain of
writing to the domain owner and threatening legal action if they
did not cancel my DOUBLE order. Then the (two-week delivery)
shipment did not arrive for four weeks, so I called (on a Friday)
and asked... I was told they were in the warehouse, and they would
be processed that weekend, and I that I would have them within two
weeks. Well, three weeks later they were dumped on my doorstep. One
dropped off the hook with plant and soil as I was watering the
first time. The side split, but I used complete cicles of duct tape
and it's holding well. But the dense foam split circles that hold
the plants in at the bottom have no accommodation for the plant
stalks, so the plants have died from compression strangulation.
Let's go back a bit... I looked at the pictures and thought to
myself, I can do the same thing with a $2 plastic bucket and some
soil! So I started without 'em... Shopping list: - Cheap plastic
buckets, ONE bucket for each TWO plants you plan to plant. - Bags
of tomato-specific-ready soil. I found that soil stayed blacker,
looser and lighter than the other commercial soil I bought, which
packed down fairly tight with watering. - time-released all-purpose
fertiliser. - a drill-mounted device for cutting holes in doors for
locks (the big hole). - a relatively small portion of white 1"
styrofoam insulation, depends on how many buckets you plan to use.
- Plants to work with. Up-end the bucket, put the hole-cutter into
your drill, and cut two holes into opposite edges - the same edges
as the bucket's handle attachments. Leave maybe 1/2 inch between
the hole and where the bucket's bottom inside starts to turn
vertical, for support for the styrofoam inside. Now turn the bucket
right side up and with a sharp knife and a sawing action cut a
circle of styrofoam the same size as the bucket bottom inside. Push
it into the bucket, hold it against the bottom from inside, and
up-end the bucket again so you can see the styrofoam through the
holes you cut. Mark the approximate centers of the holes on the
styrofoam with a pen - you could even just shove a pencil through
each one. Remove the styrofoam and cut exactly in half in a
straight line through these two marked centers, and with a sharp
knife enlarge the spots where the marks are - to about the size of
half a penny each. Put one half of the styrofoam back in the
bucket, lined up with the holes in the bucket bottom. Now prepare
two plants to be inserted - by knocking them gently out of the
seedling pot and holding them loosely between the fingers, roots
towards you. There should be one finger outside of the plant stalks
and two fingers between the plant stalks. Again, hold loosely for
wide spacing. Have someone hold the bucket for you (with the
half-portion of styrofoam inside) or hang it securely at an
appropriate height, and lower the plants so the two plant stems fit
into the two half-penny grooves you cut into the styrofoam. Still
holding the plant stems, fit the other half of the styrofoam so the
two half-penny cut-outs surround the stems. Let the plants drop
into the styrofoam hole to the point where the root ball is holding
it, and start adding soil around the edges until the root ball is
held firmly in place. Continue adding soil to about halfway up the
bucket, add a small sprinkling of the slow-release fertiliser, and
continue to fill the bucket with soil. Add a couple of drops of
dishwasher detergent and a bit more slow-release fertiliser, soak
the soil well with water, and you're done. Hang the buckets on
shepherds crooks or sturdy garden hanger - the hook must be able to
hold a full bucket of water in weight. Some notes: - Make sure the
penny holes in the styrofoam are big enough they do not squeeze the
plant stalks being accommodated. - Water once a day, but give a
good soaking once a week (especially tomatoes) - If adding soil at
the top afterwards, use the hose jet to really stir it up because
fresh soil may hold dry pockets. - Decide what your budget is and
stick to it. Be forewarned that soil can get expensive - but the
better it is the more spectacular the results. - If you have a
back-yard fence, check your local nursery for a P-shaped bent metal
rod device that allows you to hang plants off the vertical
boards... small and effective. - If hanging on shepherds-crooks,
mount them back-to-back and join at the top and middle with nylon
ties so the weight of each counters the other (singly, the vertical
shafts bend and the shepherds-crook wants to keel over with the
weight, especially after watering). I'm growing upside down
tomatoes and strawberries (those will move into the ground soon for
wintering), and they are doing well. I am also growing herbs in the
tops of the tomato buckets, with great success, those do help shade
the soil from drying out. If I can find time to move my pictures
from my camera to my computer I'll make a web page to show you my
upside-down bucket plants!! ** The "do it yourself" bucket method
does work much better. people have been growing upside down for
years before they started marketing the topsy turvey hunk of junk
We were intrigued by the Topsy Turvy and went all-out--we placed a
12', 4X4" post in the ground in concrete, then hung heavy-duty
hooks to hold four planters. It has not been good. We live in
Kansas, and the plants keep breaking off where the stem enters the
dirt--it's just too windy here. The plants are about 5' off the
ground, and they really take a beating. We hoped that once they got
big enough, they would withstand the wind. Today we lost our
biggest plant--probably close to 2' if it had been upright. We're
very disappointed in the results.