How to Grow Tomatoes in Hanging Baskets
Hanging baskets aren’t only for petunias and calibrachoa; they can grow tomatoes, too! In this article, garden expert Logan Hailey explains how to grow hanging planters for ornamental and edible enjoyment.
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Hanging planters aren’t only for floral displays. These suspended containers can yield an abundance of sweet tomato snacks to harvest right on your patio. Growing tomatoes in hanging baskets is very straightforward as long as you choose the right container, location, soil, and variety.
Let’s dig into everything you need to know about growing tasty edible hanging planters!
Can You Grow Tomatoes in Hanging Baskets?
Compact tomato varieties yield gorgeous cascading clusters of cherry tomatoes that grow perfectly in hanging baskets. These planters are highly ornamental, offering vibrant, juicy snacks that dangle straight from your porch or doorway. Proper container selection, a bright location, and well-drained soil are the keys to growing tomatoes in baskets. Pruning can help funnel energy toward fruit production while keeping plants compact and tidy.
10 Steps to Grow Hanging Tomatoes
Tomatoes are the backbone of any summer garden, but not everyone has the space to grow giant fruiting vines. When raised beds or floor containers aren’t an option, consider growing this crop up high. Suspended baskets of brightly-colored tomatoes are a gorgeous addition to any porch or patio. This unique twist on edible baskets adds a surprising touch to the traditionally floral-dominated decor.
But before you toss tomato seeds into a hanging container, it helps to recognize the unique requirements for this growing method. Here are the 10 simple steps to grow cascading cherry tomatoes.
Choose the Right Container
Even the most compact tomato plants require sufficient space to thrive. Therefore, it’s best to choose the largest hanging container possible. The ideal planter basket size is a ten-inch diameter basket or a five-gallon hanging pot. The plant will need enough space to anchor its roots so it can absorb water and nutrients. Ensure your basket includes hanging chains or ropes to suspend the container from above.
Larger upside-down planters are also suitable for growing tomatoes! There are several pre-made and DIY options for this method, but a minimum size of three to five gallons of soil space is still recommended.
Any pot material is acceptable, but proper drainage is required. Many hanging baskets have a metal structure with a coco coir liner that perfectly holds soil while ensuring airflow to the roots. If you use a plastic planter, check that there is a hole in the bottom where water can escape.
Ensure a Strong Anchor Point
Before you plant your basket, ensure you have a strong anchor point to secure the planter. Tomatoes are heavy plants, especially when loaded with fruit. You must account for the weight of soil, water, and fruits in the basket. A fully loaded mature tomato basket can weigh 30-50 pounds!
A weak anchor point or fallen planter can be majorly disappointing and even dangerous for someone walking underneath it! Prevent problems by choosing a strong ceiling stud, beam, or rafter. If your porch does not have visible beams, use a stud finder to determine where the strongest point is. If you want to hang the container from the wall, choose a strong metal hanging basket bracket with multiple anchor points.
Basic hanging basket hardware is helpful for installing the anchor point. At the garden store, ceiling hooks are generally located near planters. Use a properly sized drill bit to ensure that the hook goes into a wood beam at least two to three inches deep. Test the planter’s chain or rope suspension before proceeding.
Fill With Well-Drained Soil
Tomatoes always enjoy well-drained, loamy soil, but the quality of the soil is particularly important in a dangling planter. You want to choose a blend that is simultaneously lightweight and rich in nutrients. Your plants’ roots won’t be able to access extra nutrients or water in the ground, so everything must be available inside the planter.
While drainage is important, a happy medium is necessary because you don’t want the pot to dry out too quickly. Container-grown plants naturally require more irrigation because they have less volume of soil to hold moisture. Avoid blends that lack organic matter, as this component is the most important for retaining water. The best basket blends are typically rich in fluffy compost or vermicompost, perlite, vermiculite, and coco coir.
Fill your planter about three-quarters full of soil. Allow the mix to settle before transplanting, and be prepared to add more soil on top after planting.
Choose the Right Variety
Not just any tomato can grow in a hanging planter! Large indeterminate varieties will rapidly overgrow the constrained space and potentially fail to yield without enough root volume. Slicers and chunky beefsteaks are not ideal for this setting. Instead, choose cherry varieties that yield long cascading trusses of sweet snackable fruits.
Luckily, many varieties have been developed specifically for compact vertical growing. These tomatoes are crossed and bred for stout vines and abundant fruit production from a small space.
Popular picks include:
‘Cherry Falls’
This variety perfectly balances beauty, functionality, and flavor. ‘Cherry Falls’ is the most popular variety for hanging tomato baskets. The vigorous yet compact vines grow rapidly, yielding abundant clusters of bright red cherry tomatoes in just 55-65 days after transplanting. The 1.5 inch wide fruits are highly ornamental and yield a classic sweet flavor.
This is a determinate variety with vines that reach a maximum of 18 inches long. Pinching and pruning (described below) ensure even more productivity and compact growth. These plants yield impressive quantities of fruit for snacking all summer long. Walk right outside your door and snag a handful of cherries without even leaving the porch! Regular harvests promote continuous production.
‘Patio Choice Yellow’
One of the fastest-growing tomatoes in the garden, this variety is perfect for impatient growers with minimum space. This sunshiney tomato adds an eye-catching contrast to floral displays or traditional red cherry tomato containers. The bright yellow rounded fruits average ½ ounce in weight and 1.5 inches in diameter. Bred specifically for patio growing, ‘Patio Choice’ is also suitable for a large hanging basket.
Vines average 15-20 inches long for dangling down in long trusses or pruning for stouter growth. This determinate variety is very high-yielding and well-adapted to regions with hot, humid summers. The fast-growing plants begin fruiting just 45 days after planting and continuously produce yellow clusters until the first frost of fall.
Disease is sometimes a problem in suspended containers due to dense growth and warmer environments. Fortunately, ‘Patio Choice Yellow’ is resistant to Fusarium Wilt, Verticillium Wilt, and Tobacco Mosaic Virus.
‘Tiny Tim’
A very popular miniature tomato, ‘Tiny Tim,’ is as adorable as it sounds. This ultra-cute variety is highly productive despite its small size. The determinate vines stay under 18 inches long, and the roots don’t mind cramped conditions. Impressively, the plants are still wildly productive. ‘Tiny Tim’ yields big clusters of one-inch red fruits rich with flavor and juiciness.
This small variety was first released in 1945 and has remained a staple for container gardeners ever since. Although the flavor is not as sweet as that of other cherries, it is still ideal for salads, roasting, or snacking.
‘Tumbling Tom’
To continue the tomato alliterations, ‘Tumbling Tom’ is another wonderful pick for hanging baskets. The tongue-rolling name perfectly exemplifies how these delicious red cherry tomatoes tumble out of patio containers. The fruits average one to two inches in diameter and take about 65 days to start producing.
‘Tumbling Tom’ is a hybrid with vigorous growth and incredibly stout growth. The plants can stay under 6-12 inches tall, with vines cascading down the sides of your planter. This growth habit yields a lush display without much pruning. ‘Tumbling Tom’ is ideal for beginners because it doesn’t produce suckers (side shoots).
If you can’t find a container-specific seed packet, most compact tomatoes will suffice. Avoid planting standard large-fruited varieties in a basket.
Use a Balanced, All-Purpose Fertilizer
A slow-release all-purpose fertilizer is ideal for growing tomatoes in any pot. The plants need all the nutrients supplied in the soil blend because they can’t access anything beyond their limited root zone. Balanced organic fertilizers are the best option because they provide a trickle of nutrients all summer long.
A balanced blend includes NPK ratios that are close in number. Avoid fertilizers with super high ratios of nitrogen. Excess nitrogen can cause an overgrowth of green foliage, which detracts from flower and fruit production.
Once your plants start fruiting, an extra boost is helpful to increase overall production. Espoma Organic Liquid Tomato Plant Food is an easy water-based solution that can be mixed at a rate of ½ a cap full per quart of water. Repeat this application every 2-4 weeks throughout the summer for enhanced production.
Transplant and Water
Planting hanging baskets is very straightforward. The process is almost exactly the same as transplanting in a garden bed, but you must ensure that the roots have enough space to spread out. Make a hole about one and a half times the size of your seedling root ball and place the plant inside. Tomatoes can be planted deeper than their original soil level as long as you remove the lower leaves.
When purchasing plants from a nursery, smaller seedlings are ideal. Avoid plants that are rootbound or already flowering in their pots. If you start seeds indoors, ensure that your seedlings have sufficiently strong root growth.
To avoid leginess, give tomato seedlings ample light in the early growth stages. Long, spindly stems are harder to remedy in a small pot. You could typically plant deeper in the soil to allow roots to form along the stem, but a hanging basket doesn’t provide sufficient depth. You may need to pinch or prune the plants. Seeding directly in the container after your last frost date is another solution.
Water generously after transplanting. It’s very important that there is enough moisture to help the seedling acclimate to its new environment. I like to pour water over the container until it flows out of the bottom of the pot. It’s helpful to check the plant placement and soil moisture before suspending the basket, as it is easier to access the planter at this stage.
Hang in a Sunny Location
All tomatoes require full, direct sunshine to thrive. It’s essential to find a bright, south-facing location for your hanging planter. Baskets grown in shady environments may have disappointing yields because a lack of sunlight often leads to reduced flowering and fruiting. Hang your basket at the edge of a porch or patio where it gets at least six to eight hours of sunshine per day.
Avoid north-facing or east-facing orientations. Swivel hooks can be helpful for rotating the planter, ensuring even sunlight distribution on the plant. Otherwise, your planter may grow most of its foliage and fruits on the brighter side. This can be nice in wall-hanging planters, but it can cause lopsided weight in a circular suspended pot.
Pinch and Prune Regularly
Most tomatoes benefit from pruning and sucker removal. Suckers are the side shoots that develop between the main vine and leaf clusters. Every sucker has the potential to grow into an entirely new vine. Leaving suckers on the plant can lead to an overgrowth of foliage at the expense of fruit.
They are called suckers because they “suck” energy away from fruit production. To prevent this, practice sucker removal regularly.
Use your fingers or sharp, sanitized pruners to remove suckers as they form. Notice these little growth tips forming in the “elbow ditches” where a leaf stem intersects with the main vine. Some vigorous varieties produce suckers all summer long, while others don’t require much maintenance.
Once plants have significant foliage, check on them at least once or twice a week to see if pruning is necessary. Any excessively long vines can be pruned at the tips to promote fuller growth near the center of the basket. This also signals to the plant to focus its energy on fruit production rather than growing more vines.
Many hanging varieties also benefit from pinching. While we typically want vining tomatoes to climb upward, we need basket tomatoes to stay stout. Pinching the tips of the plant encourages it to bush out and send its vines cascading down. You can start pinching while the seedling is young and notice how lots of lateral vines grow outward from the center, yielding a fuller, bushier plant with ornamental value. Avoid pinching any vines with flowers or fruit.
Ensure Pollination
Lack of pollination is a common challenge when growing in hanging planters. Bees are less likely to buzz around your patio or porch unless there is an abundance of floral resources in the vicinity. If you notice that plants are producing lots of flowers but very little fruit, you may need to intervene with hand pollination.
In the botanical world, tomatoes have “perfect” flowers, which means that each flower has both male and female parts. So, the male pollen just needs to shimmy down into the female part (pistil) of the flower. Bees are very efficient at pollination because they vibrate around in the flower, evenly distributing pollen. But if bees aren’t present, there are two ways you can mimic their buzzing pollination efforts:
One hand-pollination method is simple shaking. The wind is often sufficient for pollinating tomato flowers, but hanging baskets are typically protected from heavy breezes. You can grab the base of the plant and gently shake it around to mimic the wind. Alternatively, hold the container from the chains and rattle it to help pollen move around in the flowers.
The second hand-pollination method requires the manual transfer of pollen inside the flowers. Luckily, this is simpler than it sounds! You can use either a small paintbrush or an electric toothbrush. A paintbrush can be gently swirled around in each blossom, but if you use an electric toothbrush, keep it on the outside of the flowers. Simply vibrate the external base of the blossoms to mimic the activity of a bee.
This should ensure lots of sweet cherry fruits in the next few weeks!
Water and Harvest Consistently
Hanging baskets require watering several times per week, depending on conditions. Most planters are not exposed to rain, so you will need to check the soil moisture regularly and use a hose or watering can to replenish thirsty plants. In ultra-hot weather, be sure to check the root zone every day. Tomatoes in hanging planters will still wilt and turn yellow if they don’t receive enough water. Dry, crispy leaves are a sign that the plant is majorly dehydrated.
Watering is particularly simple in a hanging basket because you can see where the moisture flows. Hold a hose or watering can at the base of the plant and try to avoid wetting the foliage. Water until the moisture pours out of the drainage hole for 20-30 seconds, then stop.
Wait to water again until the soil has dried out a bit. You can stick your finger several inches into the pot to feel the soil moisture. Aim for the consistency of a wrung-out sponge. Do not let the soil fully dry out because big fluctuations in soil moisture can lead to issues like blossom end rot.
FAQs
Is tomato food good for hanging baskets?
Tomato-specific fertilizers are ideal for hanging planters because they are balanced with species-customized nutrition higher in potassium and phosphorus. These blends help tomatoes produce more fruits and flowers. While nitrogen is essential for tomato growth, you don’t want to over-fertilize with nitrogen, as this can lead to an overgrowth of vines and leaves at the expense of fruit.
Do hanging tomato plants really work?
As long as you choose the right hanging planter, soil, and compact variety, tomatoes grow excellently in dangling baskets. Cherry tomato clusters beautifully cascade down the sides of a suspended planter, offering easily accessible treats all summer long. Be sure to hang the basket from a secure hook in a bright location with at least six to eight hours of sunlight per day.
