Hoax or Gimmick? ;)

My MIL bought us the Topsy Turvy planter - you know the one where the tomota plant grows upside down and *apparenlty* gravity feeds the nutrients to the fruit.:rolleyes:

Well, call me stooopid or whatever buuuut, don't seeds themselves automatically grow up even if you plant the seed the wrong way? Don't plants know which way is up automatically and therefore the plant she also bough us is going to cuve around to grow *up* towards the sky?

We gracially accepted her gift...she bought each family one :rolleyes: but serioulsy comon....even the picture on the front of the packet looks photo shoppped!:rolleyes::rolleyes:

JMO...but what does everyone else think?

Hmmm... yes, I do belive you're right....

Try it and see if it works :) And then let us know! Surely home shopping network wouldn't be able to sell it if it didn't work? I dunno?

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Surely home shopping network wouldn't be able to sell it if it didn't work?

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Hehe being the purveyors of fine products that they are :lol:

I think you plant a 'seedling' rather than a seed. I have planted a roma in a green bag upside down to test this theory of the topsy turvy and I got another roma seedling that I planted in a large pot, same time, same size. The upside down roma has given me 1 tomato and is a very bare plant, the potted one went really bushy and gave 2 tomatoes but has brown spots all over the leaves so I think it got some sort of disease. With my pitiful attempt I say the upside down failed and I won't be doing it again.

I've seen snippets of the ads and I'm left baffled.

Plants do respond to gravity and sunlight. They'll grow towards sun and gravity is what tells them to send shoots up and roots down. If a pot plant tips over it won't continue to grow horizontally, but will start growing up.

I'd love to hear if it works, because logic and science tells me that it won't.

BW

Hmm, I dunno. But I will say that in times gone by when I can't be arsed staking my tomatoes they grow fine running along the ground...

I suppose it would lose alot of energy trying to support itself?

I wonder if requires a specific type of tomato plant that has been messed with so that it grows upside down?

looking forward to hearing whether it works

we got some and yes they do work...but not at first...as little seedings them seem to turn up asnd head towards the sunlight but as they get heavier gravity takes hold and they grow downwards...we have just started to get little fruits on ours...very exciting...oh yes you have tp start with a seedling not a seed.

I would expect that they don't "grow down" - they just grow. Gravity will drag them to where it will, and they will just continue to grow. Much like an unsupported tomato will basically become a creeper - prostrate along the ground because it can't hold the weight. Plants generally grow towards the light, and the roots grow towards the water and nutrients. Seems to me that it is a perfectly viable concept to grow them upside down - you wouldn't need to stake them.

Not sure about gravity feeding more nutrients to the fruit, though... I imagine that the plant structure itself would be just as efficient in whichever direction it was growing!

Pretty cool concept, actually!! I probably wouldn't go out and buy a specially made product to do it though. You'd likely get the same results sticking your tomatoes into a hanging planter provided it was big enough to provide enough soil and nutrients to sustain a growing plant, and that the weight of the plant didn't damage the stems where they lean against the planter before dropping.

Not sure about tomatoes but half of Europe's strawberries are grown this way in poly tunnels - in planter troughs where the plant hangs out the bottom and the water goes in the top. They do grow towards light but the weight of the plant means they hang down. The do it because it saves space in the tunnels (you can grow a double or triple crop if you suspend some of the plants) and they're easy to harvest because the ripest juciest fruits hang down.

I can't see gravity assisting nutrients to the fruit (as claimed on the ad). Not any more than standing on your head after dinner will help the nutrients get to your brain. Yeah, you'll probably improve your spatial awareness, which may have some impact on intelligence, but I doubt the nutrients are forming puddles in your brain. ;) Otherwise we'd all have deliciously nutritious feet.