Hanging location

Before deciding where to hang your tomato plants, consider the height of your chosen tomato variety when the plant is fully grown. Once hung, your container will need to be placed high enough to let your plant grow without hitting the ground.

There are several ways to suspend your container high off the ground. You could hang the container from a hanging rack, a large hook, a railing, a balcony, a tree or even a door. The location you choose should be based on your individual environment. Consider the increased weight of the plant as it grows, and it gets watered. Make sure whatever location you choose is able to support the plant’s full grown weight.

Climate and Soil

Tomatoes like a nice warm area in full sun, and need at least 8 hours of sunlight a day, or they get spindly and produce little mature fruit. They like soil that has a pH of 5.5 – 6.8, is fertile, deep, well-drained, and that is rich in organic matter.

You want soil that will hold water as evenly as possible because uneven uptake of water can cause all kinds of problems with tomatoes including: flower drop, fruit splitting and blossom-end rot. To help give your tomatoes the best-suited environment you can, mix in a good amount of compost or organic matter.

You can also grow a cover plant to help shield the top soil from drying out in the sun. Herbs are a fantastic choice to consider.

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Further Discussion

1. Consider some of the planting locations discussed in class today. After reading the information above, think about your surroundings, and the most suitable area to hang your upside down tomato plant from. Describe your environment using the comments area below.

2. In your Group Journal, post your ideas of the most effective ways to enrich the soil you will use for your plants. Remember, while you and your group members are expected to agree on a variety of tomato to plant, you are free to experiment with the soil and nutrients used. Later in this course, you will be charting the growth of your tomato plant in comparison to your group members’ plants.