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Hanging Tomato Plants
By Jay Ruppel
Growing tomatoes is the most popular crop of home vegetable gardeners everywhere. While the types and varieties of vegetables are endless, almost everyone has at least one tomato plant in the garden. But even people who live in an apartment, condo, or even a small home will sometimes find there is no ready access to space for a garden. In those cases, the erstwhile gardener may be able to set aside space on a patio or balcony to use for a tomato plant or two. One of the best ways to use that space is to grow a tomato in a hanging tomato planter, or even an upside down tomato planter. Why use a hanging planter instead of a potted plant on the ground? There are several advantages to hanging tomatoes: 1) Conserves space: Tomato plants tend to sprawl out, especially the larger ones like cherry tomato plants. By letting them drop down vertically, they can still expand and grow but not at the expense of a large area on the ground (or balcony floor) 2) No tomato stakes or cages needed: One of the biggest jobs of tomato gardening is the constant pruning and tying up associated with cages or stakes. With a hanging planter, that is eliminated by growing down where gravity helps instead of working against us. 3) No soil borne diseases - With a hanging planter (or any container grown tomatoes) you will most likely change the soil out in the planter. In fact, many people will use a soilless mix to grow the tomatoes in. Either way, the risk of soil borne diseases is significantly reduced. In addition, often soil borne diseases are introduced to the tomato plant by soil splashing up on the plant when they are watered. With a hanging planter, the bulk of the plant is below the soil of the planter, so splashing is less of a problem. 4) Improved air circulation - The plants don't fall to the ground, and the air circulation is much better, resulting in fewer diseases. 5) Early tomatoes - The soil of the planter can be hung in direct sunlight, and since it is not in the ground, will warm more quickly in the spring, with the result that the tomatoes will often produce more quickly, sometimes up to 2 weeks earlier than tomatoes in the ground. 6) Put it anywhere: Even a homeowner with a garden will find it handy to have a tomato planter just outside the back door, saving a trip to the garden just to get a single tomato. Probably the biggest problems with hanging tomatoes is the need for frequent watering, especially in the hotter summer months. Related to this, with their relatively small "soil ball," it is not realistic to expect one to support a very large tomato plant. The combination of those 2 factors leads to a perception that tomatoes will not last as long, and will die in the summer months in a hanging planter. The best way to deal with this problem is to choose a tomato variety that produces smaller plants that can handle having this smaller root system. One other disadvantage to hanging planters is the weight of a fully loaded planter. With the soil that has been watered, it may be too heavy for smaller or older people to handle, especially when trying to hang them. One tip is to hang it before watering the soil. One common variation on a hanging tomato planter is an upside down tomato planter. It's basically the same, just that in one case the branches hang over the edge, but the upside planter saves that stress by simply having the tomato hang directly down out of the bottom of the planter. There is even one version of a free standing upside down planter, which can be placed almost anywhere, and doesn't need the overhead support to hang from. |
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This intel was contributed by jsr54
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May, 2012
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