Everyone has seen those commercials for the Topsy-Turvy, the planter that hangs your plants upside down. Aside from some silly claims on plant physiology, it looked interesting. When my grandmother mentioned that her tomatoes and strawberries were doing well, I decided to give it a shot. However, I am far too cheap to pay even the $10 price for a Topsy Turvy on sale. So, I went to some of the local stores and bought those recyclable bags everyone seems to have for around $1.
I then poked a hole in the bottom, and cut a slit in a cheap cleaning sponge to wrap around the stalk of the plants.The sponge holds moisture and keeps the dirt from falling out of the hole in the bottom of the bag. I mixed in some time-release fertilizer as I filled the bags up.
The first two I built with no supports. The rest I built with a u-shaped support made out of cut up cardboard boxes. I also started dropping in extra sponges in the later versions, with the idea that they will hold more moisture. Then, I hung the bags by their handles in a series of hooks that I installed along my front porch, which faces east. Two of the bags hang on the south side of the porch.
The initial results are great. All of the plants have fruit, and they don't seem to be adversely affected by the situation. I haven't had any fruits ripen yet, but that's likely because of how late in the season I started my experiment. The two tomato plants that I have in the back yard are also not ripening yet.
The only caveats I have seen so far is that they need to be watered daily, and that you have to keep an eye on cross winds. The two on the south side were battered by the wind on the side of the house during a recent storm, and both developed splits in the stalks. However, the splits healed and the plants are doing fine now.
I'll try to post pictures later.
EDIT: Here are the pictures I mentioned.
