Growing Vegetables Upside Down

[ChrisGreaves]

This N.Y. Times article "Growing Vegetables Upside Down" got me interested again.

• Has anyone here done any upside-down vegetable gardening (no Aussie jokes please!)

My NE-facing balcony has two stout planter hooks fixed to the walls.
The balcony receives direct sunlight in the early morning, and I think that draping my 5-gallon/25 liter pails (OR my cluster of 2-litre pop bottles) in fabric would do much to shield them from excessive direct heat.Watering is not a problem, since I am a grey-water enthusiast.

It is the "Victoria Day long weekend" up here in the Frozen North, so tomato and other seedlings will be selling like hot-cakes this weekend and be dirt-cheap next weekend, to misuse a couple of cliches.

[Skitterbug]

This N.Y. Times article "Growing Vegetables Upside Down" got me interested again.

• Has anyone here done any upside-down vegetable gardening (no Aussie jokes please!)

My NE-facing balcony has two stout planter hooks fixed to the walls.
The balcony receives direct sunlight in the early morning, and I think that draping my 5-gallon/25 liter pails (OR my cluster of 2-litre pop bottles) in fabric would do much to shield them from excessive direct heat.Watering is not a problem, since I am a grey-water enthusiast.

It is the "Victoria Day long weekend" up here in the Frozen North, so tomato and other seedlings will be selling like hot-cakes this weekend and be dirt-cheap next weekend, to misuse a couple of cliches.

We tried a tomato plant but found that where we hung it was not advantageous to the plant's good health. The wind would quickly dry the soil and constantly twirl the plant around. We managed to have a few tomatoes make it to half size, ripen and then the plant gave up. So based on our experience, I think you'd have to make sure it stayed moistened properly and have it hung out of the wind's way. Hopefully someone else has had better results.

[Skitterbug]

The balcony receives direct sunlight in the early morning, and I think that draping my 5-gallon/25 liter pails (OR my cluster of 2-litre pop bottles) in fabric would do much to shield them from excessive direct heat.Watering is not a problem, since I am a grey-water enthusiast.

Why not grow it the conventional way? Here's a pic of a determinate BushSteak Hybrid <Burpee See Company> grown in a 14 inch pot <12" deep>. We wanted early tomatoes so we started the seed in our basement growing area, then transplanted it into its current pot and put it on our window ledge in our living room area. My hubby took a bit of cotton<a Q-tip actually> and pollinated the flowers from each other. There are at least 10 tomatoes in various sizes growing happily. This is an east facing bay window so it does get a little sunshine from the south. Notice that hubby has put support on both sides of the plant and secured the plant as it grew so it wouldn't fall over. This is a better way for us to get what we want without too much fussing.

[DaveA]

Chris,
You need to check you junk mail more. There are all kinds of spam out there about the "Upside down" tomato plants.

Want me to forward you a few (just in case you are not getting any)?

[ChrisGreaves]

We tried a tomato plant but found that where we hung it was not advantageous to the plant's good health. The wind would quickly dry the soil and constantly twirl the plant around. We managed to have a few tomatoes make it to half size, ripen and then the plant gave up. So based on our experience, I think you'd have to make sure it stayed moistened properly and have it hung out of the wind's way. Hopefully someone else has had better results.

Thanks Skitterbug.
I rather suspect that my balcony on the east side will get too much wind. It hits the west side (our walls are curved so the est side is like a wind-tunnel) and bleeds around the sides to eddy on the east side.
I am also a tad suspicious about the roots ability to grow upwards on demand!
It seems to me that the roots must stay around the plant-end (or lower end) of the can, so that the 15" or so of soil above the roots act more as a water reservoir and a nutrient source.
the proof of the pudding would be the dissection of a successful tub at the end of the growing season.

[ChrisGreaves]

Why not grow it the conventional way?

I have tried before with very little produce. However this weekend was the "World Famous" . . . and what just might be, the World's Largest garage sale so I hopped on my (t)rusty 2-wheeler and grabbed four beefsteak seedlings. The lady told me about drainage - lots of sticks in the bottom of the pot, she said, so I have planted out two seedlings each in two large pots and set them on the east balcony. Maybe this year .....

[HansV]

beefsteak seedlings

Isn't "calves" the standard term for that?

[ChrisGreaves]

Isn't "calves" the standard term for that?

:noble: (read it out loud ... with a paws(sic!) between sylabulls(sic!))

[ChrisGreaves]

"Growing Vegetables Upside Down"

... and then the Toronto Star issues this report which says, in part "Their leaves are down, their roots are up.".
I might phone the chap and ask him how he KNOWS that the roots are growing upwards, and not all congealed crawling around the (gravitational) bottom of the tub.

[Doc Watson]

"Growing Vegetables Upside Down"

... and then the Toronto Star issues this report which says, in part "Their leaves are down, their roots are up.".
I might phone the chap and ask him how he KNOWS that the roots are growing upwards, and not all congealed crawling around the (gravitational) bottom of the tub.

I believe roots "gravitate" to water and are relatively unaffected by gravity. Leaves, on the other hand, reach for the light. So, unless the writer lives in OZ he's all upside down and backwards.

[ChrisGreaves]

I believe roots "gravitate" to water and are relatively unaffected by gravity.

Well that would make sense.
I'd be happy with "roots TRAVEL to water" in the sense that the root tips grow towards moisture. Since water tends to gravitate downwards (and evaporates from the surface), it would appear that roots "gravitate", but really they are hunting for water.
(Interestingly enough I'm at page 396 (again) of Richard Dawkins The Ancestor's Tale, where he explains WHY most animals have a front and a back, a top and a bottom, but are symmetrical left-to-right).

Back to the tub: If the tub is over-watered, I'd expect the roots to collect at the bottom, the end closest to the ground.
If the tub is under-watered, I'd expect to find roots near the top, away from the ground.
A suitable test for over-watering would be to probe from the top looking for roots, but this would probably do more harm than good.

[Doc Watson]

Why not just plant in a clear plastic or glass pot and watch the show ??

Have I mentioned that you might be over-thinking the problem ??

BTW - What the he** does this have to do with cooking ???

[HansV]

BTW - What the he** does this have to do with cooking ???

The name of this forum can be taken loosely to include food (such as vegetables, even growing upside down) and drink.

[ChrisGreaves]

Why not just plant in a clear plastic or glass pot and watch the show ??

Been There, Done that. Am currently growing in traditional "large pots".
I rather suspect that clear pots, glass or plastic, wouldn't be successful. The root tips ought to avoid the light, so a clear container would lose some of its matrix capacity for root growth; it would, of course, have the full capacity for nutrients.
Part of my thinking is that an upside-down container, watered from the top, would maximize the nutrient flow (by gravity) across the entire vertical root structure.

Have I mentioned that you might be over-thinking the problem ??

No, but I'll give it some thought (grin).
I read many articles sprouting good ideas when a little bit of thinking can prove the ideas are founded on non-fact, that is, are downright lies. A classic example is Mary Appelhof's guess that vermicomposting worms eat their own weight in food scraps every two days, now DOUBLED as an article of faith.

BTW - What the he** does this have to do with cooking ???

Well, we lack a "gardening" forum, and it is food-related. I figure that it might be of interest who grow and preserve their own food.

[ChrisGreaves]

The name of this forum can be taken loosely to include food (such as vegetables, even growing upside down) and drink.

How about the horizontal use of drink?

[HansV]

I rather suspect that clear pots, glass or plastic, wouldn't be successful.

You could use a transparent container and cover it with cloth, cardboard or similar. You could then remove the cover temporarily from time to time to inspect how the roots grow.

[ChrisGreaves]

This N.Y. Times article "Growing Vegetables Upside Down" got me interested again.

Then today I found an article about growing tomatoes on a rooftop. The idea of cutting two slits in a bag of topsoil and letting 'em grow is beautifully simple.

[ChrisGreaves]

You could use a transparent container and cover it with cloth,

Brill! This would solve the radiant heat-from-sunlight problem too.
Thanks Hans.
I'm off to Longho's this afternoon to buy twelve 2-liter bottles of Brio.
And a packet of Mentos.
After that, the hanging gardens of babble-on ...

[HansV]

How about the horizontal use of drink?

Let's not take it too far...

[Skitterbug]

Then today I found an article about growing tomatoes on a rooftop. The idea of cutting two slits in a bag of topsoil and letting 'em grow is beautifully simple.

I've grown tomatoes in a bag of topsoil with great results. Also, the dirt is "pure" meaning there isn't any disease, etc. in it <supposedly> so I didn't have trouble with yellowing leaves, blossom end rot and the like. I'd forgotten this experiment... Thanks for the refresher!