Thursday, April 3, 2008

How to Grow Tomatoes Upside Down

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

Tomatoes are a sweet and delicious fruit from a very tolerant plant. They're so popular to grow because they're so easy. As a vine, they're also good for the gardener with very little space. This article will tell you how to grow tomatoes hanging from the ceiling - although it could be adapted to suit a hanging basket, too.


  1. Set up your hanger. Choose a sunny place indoors. Your plant can be hung from a hook in the ceiling or tied around a beam. Using string or twine, knot a basket that your upside down milk bottle will sit in without slipping out or toppling sideways. Attach it to your ceiling, ready for the plant.
  2. Take a small tomato plant; bought or grown from seed are both fine. Water it well and set it to one side.
  3. Take your large plastic milk bottle and cut off the base. Remove the lid.
  4. Take your tomato plant out of its pot and set it upside down in the milk bottle, with the plant poking through the pouring hole.
  5. Fill in the milk bottle with a mixture of good compost and garden soil, and water it. Now you see why the hanger was put up first - it's impossible to put the plant on a surface without covering it in soil or damaging the plant.


  • Water your tomato plant regularly and make sure it gets plenty of sunshine - sunlight is the key to dark, ripe tomatoes.
  • Your tomato plant will grow downwards, so hang it somewhere it won't be in the way.
  • To adapt it to suit a hanging basket, cut a hole in the bottom of the basket liner and follow the above steps.
  • Make sure the hook or beam are secure, as the plant can get quite heavy.

Things You'll Need

  • A large plastic milk bottle
  • A young tomato plant
  • Compost and/or garden soil
  • Trowel
  • Scissors/craft knife
  • String or twine
  • Hook in the ceiling (optional, if you have something else it can be hung from)

Article provided by wikiHow, a collaborative writing project to build the world's largest, highest quality how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Grow Tomatoes Upside Down. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.


Nan said...

I actually bought an upside-down tomato planter (it was on a clearance shelf at Target a few weeks ago) and the box had illustrations of eggplant, zucchini, and green peppers also growing upside down. The planter came with a circular sponge that you're supposed to use as a collar around the stem of the plant -- probably to help keep the roots anchored in the hanger and prevent the plant's own weight from pulling it out. The one caution the planter included was that the plant should be one small enough that it has not set any fruit yet -- so no being tempted by the idea of getting a head start using a plant that's already two feet tall with golf-ball sized green tomatoes on it.

Tracy said...

Interesting! I never thought of trying this idea for other veggies.
I have a friend who has raised tomatoes this way, and he claims the bugs don't bother them when they are grown upside down.