Name: Bryan Jeffrey E.
Dela Cruz
Year and Section: BSA AnSci 3-C
Inverted Tomato Planting
Introduction
Planting, with the aim of providing your own food, has experienced resurgence over the
last few years. More and more of us are looking for ways to reduce our food bills, decrease our
carbon footprint, and eat healthier. Those with gardens or access to an allotment find it easier to
grow their own food, but what about those of us who live in apartments? Apartment dwellers
have much less space to work with and this obstacle stops many budding gardeners in their
tracks. That is why to grant everyone the opportunity to grow their own vegetables regardless of
available space, upside down gardening or inverted planting is the method being used. Inverted
Planting means growing plants in pots suspended from the ceiling. This style of gardening or
planting started to gain popularity in 1998 when gardener Kathi Lael Morris showed that it is
possible to grow tomatoes and peppers in hanging pots.
Inverted Planting presents benefits to those with gardens as well as those without,
however, the advantages are more apparent in urban environments. The biggest benefit offered
by inverted planting is it saves space. It also helps deter some pests. As the plants don’t come
into contact with the ground there is a much, much smaller chance that they will be affected by
pests such as aphids. Another advantage of the plant not touching the ground is that the roots,
stems, and fruit are less susceptible to rotting or contracting a disease. And since the plants grow
downwards, you don’t need to stake them to optimise growth. Lastly, with inverted planting,
water and nutrients are efficiently delivered to the roots.
Many traditional gardeners viewed this style of planting as a fad with little chance of
being widely adopted. Unsurprisingly, people with no garden space quickly realised the
significance of this method and how they were no longer excluded from being able to grow their
own food.
Objectives:
The objective of this activity is to learn whether plants are still able to grow normally if
inverted planting is applied.
Methodology
How to set up inverted planting? Growing plants upside down is certainly worth trying.
First, you have to find the materials such as a strong hook, strong string or metal wire,
lightweight soil or compost, a large bucket or any container, a sharp knife, a marker pen, a tray to
catch water and a young plant. When you have collected your supplies simply starts with finding
the sunniest area of your home and mark the ceiling where the pots will be. Then, you need to
install the hook. Turn your bucket upside down and draw a 5cm (2 inches) circle in the centre.
Using the knife, carefully cut around the circle to make a hole. Turn the bucket back around and
make three evenly spaced holes roughly 2.5cm (1 inch) down from the lip of the bucket. Next, tie
the string or metal wire through each hole to make three loops that are the same size. Then, cut a
1.75cm (half an inch) hole in the middle of the sponge (or foam) then cut a line running from the
hole to the outside. Place the bucket on its side and carefully thread the roots through the hole in
the bottom, make sure the plant is on the outside of the bucket. Have someone hold the bucket
off of the ground and add soil until it is roughly half full. You need to water until the soil is moist
and add more soil until the bucket is roughly three quarters full. Hang the bucket/ container and
place the water catcher beneath the bucket. Lastly, water the plant again until the new soil is also
moist.
Photo documentation:
Prepare the young plant tomatoes that
you need to grow.
Cut the bottles/container you will use for
inverted planting. Put a hole on its sides
for the string to attach.
Put the soil in the containers and plant the
young tomatoes. Hang the cut bottles
upside down in the sunniest area in your
home/garden.
(February 17, 2021- Transplanting of
young plant tomatoes)
After a week, apply fertilizer
on the soil.
(February 24, 2021-
Application of fertilizer)
This is the tomato plant, 15-16 cm
after applying fertilizer.
The tomato plant after 2 weeks, 21-22 cm.
