Our early attempt at upside down planting....
In Mike's words:
"Based on my experience so far, this arrangement seems to work the best:
line the interior of the container with something opaque. The idea here is keeping light away from the roots as they spread to the wall of the container. I used newspaper (papers in the U.S. use soy ink) -- almost any material will work, but make sure it's food-safe.
line the interior of the container with something opaque. The idea here is keeping light away from the roots as they spread to the wall of the container. I used newspaper (papers in the U.S. use soy ink) -- almost any material will work, but make sure it's food-safe.
Push the root ball of the seedling through the opening. In this case, cutting an opening in the bottom of the container might be the ticket, since that would allow the roots to spread out into a mat more easily. Cover the root ball of the seedling with a layer of dirt (say, 1" over the root ball). I mixed in some peat to keep the soil fluffy and provide some nutrients.
Add a layer of "fluff", say 1" thick. In the containers that are doing the best so far, I used spun polyester (the kind of stuff that is used for fake snow displays) -- but I think that anything will do here --you just want to ensure that is will let water pass through easily and that it will maintain an air-space.
Fill to the top with soil. I used a top-soil/peat mix."
Add a layer of "fluff", say 1" thick. In the containers that are doing the best so far, I used spun polyester (the kind of stuff that is used for fake snow displays) -- but I think that anything will do here --you just want to ensure that is will let water pass through easily and that it will maintain an air-space.
Fill to the top with soil. I used a top-soil/peat mix."
So far, so good. The plants at both Mike's house and at our apartment are doing well using this upside-down method. We also planted a few in the ground, using traditional methods, to compare results.
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