Upside Down Tomato Tips
Growing an upside down tomato is a great concept for those that don’t have any open spaces. These plants can be grown in upside down planters that are readily available in the market. One of the most popular brands of pre made planters is a topsy-turvy planter. These planters save time and space for growing the upside down tomato. All you need to do is add good quality potting soil and the seedling itself.
Choosing the right seedling
Choosing the seedling is extremely paramount when growing the upside down tomato. Precautions that you would take for normally growing the conventional tomato garden are also applicable here.
Choose the plants that are dark green in color and don’t have any spots or holes in their leaves. In fact the leaves shouldn’t be curled up or wilted. The ideal tomato seedling should be just as wide as its tall that can be used for upside down tomato garden.
How to fertilize the plant
Your upside down tomato garden should have been fertilized before planting the seedlings. The soil should have been premixed with the fertilizer. The soil needs to be fertilized on a constant basis. When the tomatoes start to appear in your upside down tomato garden, you would need to apply fertilizer and then again on a frequent basis. You would also need to fertilize your upside down tomato garden more often if you have sandy soil. Usually two tablespoons of fertilizer are enough. Too much of nitrogen in fertilizer can also leave your upside down tomato plant unhealthy.
Tomatoes are extremely susceptible to temperatures. If you want to grow upside down tomato, then you need to be careful of the amount of sunlight that the plants are receiving. If an upside down tomato plant or any tomato plant for that matter is exposed to too excessive and hot sunlight, it might cause the tomato to wilt. They do very well between 50-90 degree Fahrenheit; if the temperatures fall or rise beyond this band, your tomatoes will grow with difficulty.
If you have been receiving too much sun with temperatures soaring, you can cover the plants with cheesecloth to protect them from the harsh sun. Tomatoes should always be grown in spring right after the frost, to get a great bounty.
Other problems that can be faced by the upside down tomato are irregular watering and insects such as thrips eating away at the fruit. If you water the upside down tomato irregularly, it can cause the plant to wilt away. How long can you your self go with out a drink?
Damage to the root and infrequent watering
If you find that the leaves of the upside down tomato plant are becoming brown, it indicates that there is damage to the root. Especially when large amounts of fertilizer have been applied near the root, it damages the leaves, which is also known as scorching. Other causes of leaves becoming brown could be insects. Another reason for the leaves of the upside down tomato plant becoming brown could be over watering or under watering the plant.
Another problem that you upside down tomato plant could face is black spots on the bottom of the upside down tomato plant. This happens when the moisture content to the plant fluctuates. This means that sometimes the plant hasn’t received any water but at other times it has received lots of water.
For these reasons, its important to check the fertilizer amount and the moisture content in the soil constantly for a healthy upside down tomato plant.
Tags: Growing an Upside Down Tomato, tomato, tomato garden, tomato planter, tomatoes, upside down tomato, upside down tomato garden, watering
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