Felknor Ventures 82506 Topsy Turvy Upside-Down Tomato Planter

about a month ago, i built a sturdy wooden frame, and hung seven topsy-turveys, planted with 'better boy' tomatoes, in my backyard garden. the area gets about 6 hours of good florida winter sunshine per day. so far, i'm very pleased with the results. the plants have grown well, have good and healthy looking foliage, and lots of blooms. at this point...a high percentage of the blooms have set as fruit, the biggest of which is now about 1" in diameter. i read many of the reviews, took note of the problems that were experienced, and worked around them. yes, a filled planter is heavy--the solution, build a sturdy support, it'll last you for years. yes, you can break a stem when loading the plant--the solution, follow the instructions, and you'll avoid that problem. to be honest...filling the planters is easy, if you have someone help...support and protect the stem as you're filling the dirt. there was one complaint about tomato horn worms--the solution, google those nasty critters, and learn about them. a moth lays eggs on your leaves, and the hatched-out worms do the eating on your plants. BELIEVE ME... the offending moths can't tell the difference between plants that are in topsy-turveys, as opposed to those in the ground. they're just not that smart!!! yes--you do need to water frequently. tomatoes need a steady supply of water... if you visit 'the land' at disney world, and take the backstage tour of the hydroponic gardens, you'll see that most plants receive constant watering. this is the 'world capital' of gardening, with plants, and yields enough to make any gardener jealous. they had one tomato plant, that produced over 30,000 tomatoes!!! in this case...there's nothing wrong with being a 'copy-cat.' BEST OF ALL...the biggest advantage to the topsy-turvey is that there's no tying of branches. the time savings, both during growing, and at the end when you're clearing your garden, is very substantial. these planters do require a little more work upfront...but in the long run, it's really worth it. i have just built a second support, and added seven more planters, this time with cherry tomatoes...and am looking forward to changing over my other tomato plantings to this same planting method. please see the photos in the customer-photo section on the front page.

I do not have a green thumb. When I decided to grow my own vegetables due to the high cost in the markets, I wanted something easy and I figured you can't get any easier than this. So far, so good. I have a tiny tomato starting and Many ready to drop their flowers. The plant is growing very fast and I can't wait for the rewards. I am purchasing a second one and I'm going to try cucumbers next. UPDATE: October 19, 2010 This product worked beautifully. I purchased 2 of these and grew tomatoes and Cucumbers. Because of the strange weather system we had here (Pacific North West) this summer, only my cucumbers ripened. My tomatoes grew nicely but they never turned red. They stayed green and then started rotting. So, I picked the green tomatoes and made "Green Tomato Mincemeat". I can't wait until I can start growing them in 2011!

I am not sure why others appear to be having trouble. I have never been able to grow plants before. I guess I usually overwater my plants, so these are great because the extra water just drains away. I looked for tips online, and gave it a shot. One topsy turvy, one bag of miracle grow pre-mixed potting soil, and one small tomato plant. I had more tomatoes than I could eat last summer, and gave the rest to my neighbor before they rotted. Home grown tomatoes are the best! I will never eat store bought again. I am recycling the topsy turvy from last year, and bought 3 more to add for this year. I am growing big boys again, cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, and cucumbers. They're all doing great! I used a cheap plant hanger from walmart last year, counterbalanced with a bird feeder. This year I bought a sturdy 4 plant hanger. It's nice and tall, and mounted sturdily to my deck. I even branched out and set up a timer for my hose when I went on vacation. I have an automatic watering system set up for about $50 or less, so they all get watered twice a day whether or not I'm home. They're doing better than ever now that I set up that watering system. I live in southern maryland. Temperature here is regularly 90 or more during the summer. NO problems. Just last night, we had a nasty storm. Some branches fell down in our yard. All four planters and my watering system appear to still be intact. Next year I am going to double my crop, and add herbs to the tops of the planters. I love having a vegetable garden where I can just walk out onto my deck to pick fresh veggies every day. No effort, no maintenance required, self watering, just have to make sure the vines don't kill eachother trying to climb where they shouldn't, and remember to pick the fruits before they rot! Wish they were more attractive and wish I could find a way to move them inside and keep growing over the winter. But hey, going on 2 seasons of success is not bad at all for a brown thumb like mine!

I planted some Roma tomatoes in two of these containers about six weeks ago. The first thing that I noticed was that the plants immediately did an upside-down U-turn in the wrong direction. This device can be easily rotated to face different directions. Unless you are lucky enough to be able to hang the planter where it gets 360 degree sun, the plants will tend to grow up on the side away from the sun. There is some plant Biology going on there that probably makes perfect sense to someone. You will need to rotate the thing about every other day. My plants seem healthy and are setting fruit. I have uploaded a picture. Conclusions: 1) (-) That stock picture sure looks 'Photo Shopped'. Compare that to my photo. 2) (+) This is able to grow healthy tomato plants, with U-shaped vines that do set fruit. 3) (-) I worry that when the tomatoes get large, those U-vines will just snap. 4) (+) Hey, If you do not have room for a large container, this will work. Enjoy

I AM AMENDING MY REVIEW AND OFFERING A MEA CULPA TO ANYONE WHO HAS BOUGHT ONE OF THESE IN THE PAST FEW MONTHS. I do stand by the idea and have had great success for many seasons but apparently the popularity and the flooding of the market with these has the Makers cause to drastically reduce the quality of this product. I bought four this season and have had the CABLES BREAK, even as I was planting two of them. Also the accessories like the foam disc inserts that hold the plant decreased from one inch to about a quater inch thickness (with good density) and even that is of such poor quality that the plant bulges out from the now shallower cup meant to hold the plant in place. Additionally there used to be two larger, perforated light foam discs (the width of the planter) to be placed at intervals in the soil to slow down evaporation and to keep the water from running right through --- not any more. The lids are ill fitting, the plaster liner is MUCH less durable and not attached well to wir ring that supports it. I am not deleting my previous review so that it will obvious that this is not simply a "Sour Grapes" opinion. They just arent't worth buying anymore, even at their reduced prices. ---- MAY 28, 2009 I thought that this would just be a fun conversation starter when people visited my garden - it is so much more! This product far exceeds the description in the ad. The inverse orientation seems to encourage hearty plants - super strong stems requiring no staking - so many tomatoes that I'll be giving them away by the bushel - BEST of all the bugs don't seem to notice it is even there (and the rabbits can't reach it). After the severe rains this past Spring the whole rest of my garden is bogged down with mold, mildew and more insects than I have ever seen but the hanging tomato garden is thriving and pest free. The only access a crawly creature would have would be the wire that it hangs from (a much more clever design than the expensive 'Upside-down Tomato Garden' ($69.97) that is in actual contact with the ground and besides, that one has to be put together). Make sure that your plant 'starts' are a good five or six inches tall before they go into the planter and be consistent with the water (about a gallon each day) tomatoes are heavy drinkers. Have fun watching your whacky garden grow!

Last year our tomatoes did really well on the south side of our home, but we needed to make room for other things so I decided to give this a try. Out of the box it's pretty self explanatory as to what you need to do. Open, insert tomato start, fill with potting soil, hang and water. So far my tomatoes are looking great! They haven't ripened yet, but there are plenty of them on the verge. One important thing is to water often! It's easy to forget and if you don't water enough you won't have good results. Overall this is a good product that I think is worth the price, especially if you are limited on your space. The only suggestions I would make are to make sure that you get your tomato start in early. I got busy and put mine in after it had grown quite a bit, not easy at all and more stress on the plant than it needed. Also make sure your hanger is sturdy, with the soil, water and mature plant it becomes quite heavy. **UPDATE** After seeing a recent thread in the Amazon Gold Box Forum I remembered that I hadn't come back to post any pictures. Several forum posters complained that the Topsy Turvy was a waste of money and didn't work. I have already had one successful year and expect another one. I just uploaded one, it's within a week of putting the start. I will continue to add pictures as the plant progresses.

like I said in my head and you wouldn't believe what I am growing in my Topsy turvies in my Topsy turvies with the orange flower on it it is Italian Zucchini I'm growing in it and the vine is started from the topsy-turvy all the way down and it's going along the edge of my railing also too it's going up above the topsy-turvy that's the first thing the second thing on Topsy Turvy I courses my tomatoes in those are the Roman tomatoes in one and another topsy-turvy I have early girls going and I will give you pictures I hope they come out for you I will turn around and say this to you on your planting in your topsy-turvy don't fill your dirt up all the way maybe halfway that's it that's your waist in your soil that way and that's what I have done and I hang it up on the the rafters of the beams outside on my decking and I'll turn around the Sun is beating down . Some of my plants like my zucchini they were germinated in the house first I did not buy plants they're from seeds and one of my other plants my early girls and big boys are from seeds and then one plant is not from seeds from an all of them are topsy turvies I have no complaints whatsoever from this my first year growing with the topsy-turvy and I won't put anything in the ground anymore I've been doing this for years and I'm tired of everything getting in it worms everything you can think of I do it on the decking and I have no issues like I said you can turn around and hang it from the beams to your house and some of it looks real pretty people admired it when I when they drive by my place they can't believe how nice it's growing one of the ladies up the street says she can't get her garden going at all because all the deer and everything else eats it. Mine is been growing for since well what the germination I started in February and this is June now on one of my Topsy Turvy for tomatoes and that's the Romans I have already 10 Roman tomatoes on it Ps I am real sorry if some part you cant read right . I have a lot of problems with my wrist . If you need to ask please send a note an I will tell you on how I did others if you dont have the turvy. There are other ways as well an I have did it

I was very intrigued by the Topsy Turvy when I saw the infomercial and heard the great reviews. I ordered 2 TT's, got the soil, fertilizer, and tomato plants and followed the directions. My plants wilted and died after 3 days. After reading some helpful hints online, I re-planted and now they are doing great. Tips that helped: First, pick a seedling that's only 6" tall or shorter, making sure the roots are white. (The one I originally got from Home Depot was about 12" high and too gangly.) Next, carefully feed the plant into the bag and the leaves out the bottom hole. (The first time I planted, I forced the big root ball thru the hole from the outside. I think it damaged roots.) Then, bury 3/4 of the plant in soil with only the top leaves out the bottom hole. Add extra soil and fertilizer. Cut a milk gallon container in half, poke several holes in the bottom and place it in the bag. Pour water in and it will slowly drip/drain to water. I water 2-3/day. Wrap the outside with foil if you live in a hot place (I live in Hawaii) to deflect some of the sun's direct light. Now it's been 3 weeks and the plants look full and green. I hope to have lots of tomatoes this summer for all my effort and experimenting...good luck! P.S.-The shepherd's pole I got at Home Depot could not support the weight. It broke, so we ended up having to hang it from the eaves. P.S.S.- With more detailed directions and tips, this could have received a 5 star. I had to research on my own.