Think about it. Where is a root crop (or any other kind of plant) going to find the room to develop and prosper in a small container filled with tomato roots?

crazie, go for it.

If you are using a five gallon bucket, there oughta be enough soil.

I saw topsy turvey ads on tv and they have a smaller container for the roots. Maybe they use treated soil with additives.

I can visualize strawberries hanging over the edge of the buckets, I think I will give that a try.

I am trying it this year with the ever-available hanging black wire form and moss liner. My neighbor said she did it last year on her porch and there was more than her family could eat ( tomatoes)

We tried Topsy turvy. Bad results. Instructions say water them all you want and that it is impossible to water them too much. We wound up with a rotted plant.

I don't even bother with the Topsy-turvey pots because I'd rather grow tomatoes in a upright container, not worry about gravity save for some support for the plant, and know that the plants roots are well watered and cool when they need to be. Also, those upside down containers don't seem nearly big enough for the larger plant varieties, let alone that anything bigger than a cherry tomato seems to pull to much on the plant.

Also, something to note: the infomercial for these things? Pay close CLOSE attention: the plant you see throughout the entire thing, is the SAME PLANT. Different locations, different actors, SAME PLANT. The cluster of 4 tomatoes in front doesn't change. So apparently this thing doesn't work enough to give them more than one sample. That they probably pumped with Nitrogen and super-glued plastic fruit to.

I tried it and my tomato plant kept wanting to grow up towards the sun. Like most everything else, its a great idea, but in real life, falls short of the hype.

I tried it also and found that it wanted to grow upwards. I found it difficult to water. It had to be up high enough and I needed to get a small ladder out every day to water it. Took it down when the tomatoes were just starting to form. The whole area was roots and dried out quickly. More trouble than it was worth.

Roots are always going to be positively geotropic, while the above parts are negatively geotropic. I've never been able to figure out why this thing was invented, in the first place, lol.

I actually had pretty good results with mine..but I did plant cherry tomatoes in them..I'm going to use them again this year and also try maybe cucumbers...As to the issue with fertilizers: use a Miracle-Gro potting soil...I always thought it was too expensive..just use the Miracle-Gro fertilizer, until I planted one Tomato plant in regular potting soil with fertilizer added...and the other with the Miracle-Gro potting soil...you would not believe the difference in these two plants...FANTASTIC !!! That's what I am going to use this year in my topsy turvys ...Good luck everyone...

Tried the topsy turvy last year. Not the best way to grow tomatoes. We got healthier and more tomatoes doing it the old fashioned way, in the ground growing upright. I'd pass on this idea.

I have not tried topsy turvy but i tried to grow tomato in a bucket upside down. Worked OK, i did not get a lot of tomatoes, bush tried to grow up and was not very convinient to water.
I read that people in some area where they have a lot of wild life invented this method. It can work for those who don't have place to have a regular bed or even to put container, then it's better than nothing.
But i would never waste money for these planter when if needed we can use bucket.

I realize this is a ~3 year old thread, but thought I'd add some of my experiences with the topsy-turvy.

I should point out that this is my first time to try topsy-turvy. Don't think I'll use them again. I had 8 of them with several different tomato varieties. 3 of the plants completely broke off at the stem. Of the 5 that are left, 2 are doing pretty well, 2 are doing mediocre, and one is appears almost dead. I'd say a 25% success rate is lousy considering I take immaculate care of them.

Some specific problems:
1. The marketing makes it sound like using these are so simple. I disagree. The lids are a royal pain with how they fit with the hanging wires. And, the soil washes through the planter over time and when you have to add more soil, it takes a big effort to get them down and refill without harming the existing plant.
2. Tomatoes are phototropic (I think that's the right term). The plants want to grow up toward the sun, and they grow up and bunch up around the bottom of the planter. As the vine gets heavier, it puts more stress on the vine and main stem as they start bending down from the weight.
3. Probably most importantly, the slit where the stem comes out of the planter really seems to take a toll on the stem.
3a. The water runs down out of the planter slowly and tends to collect on the stem causing noticeable rot and mold issues. The stem tends to be shaded right up under the planter and doesn't dry well.
3b. The weight of the soil seems to cause the foam slit to push in around the stem. As I stated above, I've had 3 completely break off at the stem. On a couple of the others, you can clearly tell the stem development has been pinched by the foam.

I put 4 other plants in the ground and so far so good. Staking and caging is MUCH easier than dealing with the topsy-turvy.

Of course, your mileage may vary.

Best of luck,
Greg

I too failed to grow tomatoes upside-down in mine, but it's paid for and hanging there for the past 5-6 years so I've used it. First, get rid of the "lid." Why would one want to divert precious rain water?

Depending on exposure, sun or shade, fill the top with trailing stuff, upright stuff, vines, as much as you can cram in, as well as whatever you can manage to insert in the bottom, if anything. If all goes well, you'll soon have a lovely clump/ball of something, hiding this hideous thing.