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Felknor Ventures TT041112 Topsy Turvy Strawberry Planter | 
| Brand: Felknor Ventures
Category: Lawn & Patio
List Price: $15.99
Buy New: $6.99 (On sale from $14.99)
as of 9/9/2010 09:17 CDT details
You Save: $8.00 (53%)
New (13) from $6.99
Seller: Back2Baysics
Rating:  19 reviews
Sales Rank: 2679
Color: Red/Green
Batteries Included: No
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.5 x 9.5 x 23
MPN: TT091112
Model: TT041112
UPC: 740275000984
EAN: 0740275000984
ASIN: B001WAL3XA
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | Grow delicious, juicy strawberries all season long in just 3 simple steps | | • | Upside-down planter forces water and nutrients to flow directly down from root to fruit | | • | No pesticides, digging, weekend, or backbreaking work required | | • | Grow parsley, basil, oregano, rosemary, mint, and other tasty herbs too | | • | Simple to set up and maintain |
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Product Description
Grow delicious fresh strawberries right outside your door patio, deck or balcony. Simply place any strawberry or herb plant in the Topsy Turvy® Strawberry Planter, add potting soil, hang it up and then water. Sun warms the plant like a greenhouse and the root system thrives inside the planter. Hanging in the air eliminates any ground fungus, harmful bacteria, cutworm damage. There's no need for pesticides, digging, or weeding. If you enjoy fresh herbs, parsley, basil oregano or rosemary the Topsy Turvy is ideal.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 19
Passable, but bad instructions and fades in the sun August 21, 2010
Silea (Portland, OR)
I'm having some success growing strawberries in this contraption, but it's not the miracle the ads would have you think.
First, don't plan to put this in your front yard if you have neighbors who will complain about eyesores. The red plastic of the container bleaches and fades out within a matter of weeks. It's worst at the bottom, which is most visible since the strawberry fronds don't droop much.
Second, the included hook is all but useless. I got a shepherd's hook instead, which works wonderfully and lets it stand free in my yard where it gets plenty of sun.
Third, the instructions are useless. They advise filling the planter with dirt, then adding the seedlings, then watering. Unfortunately, the soil compacts quite a bit on the first watering, pulling the plants down. This is bad, as strawberries don't like having their crown (the bit just above the roots) buried. I muddled through with this method, but next year (if i use it again) i'll fill it, water it, then dig out space for the seedlings.
Fourth, if you're using anything other than tiny plant starts, shoving them in through the front the way the instructions recommend is all but impossible, damages the roots, and makes a horrible mess. I started pretty late in the season (i had just moved cross-country), so the only strawberry plants i could find were already in 3" pots. I had to put them in by putting the whole plant inside the planter and feeding the leaves and steps back out through one of the holes.
Fifth, unless you have a strawberry in every single hole, water will pour out of the planter. Which leads to...
Sixth, the straps that keep the planter from tearing apart actually overlap some of the holes, and will kill the plants in those holes if you're not very clever and lucky.
I may use this planter next year, depending on where we're living, but i think i'll switch to a standard strawberry container (sorta like this, but clay and much prettier) as soon as my situation permits.
 Didn't even hold up to one growing season August 17, 2010
Crazy 8 (Iowa)
I bought the strawberry planter in March and put plants in it in late April. In July, a hanger cable broke. In August, the fabric tore just below the top ring. I doubt I will see a single strawberry before this planter falls apart completely, and I definitely won't be able to use it again next year. My Topsy-Turvey tomato planter is still in great shape. Apparently the strawberry planter is made with much cheaper materials and/or made by a different manufacturer. I am very disappointed. This was a huge waste of money.
Not worth the trouble, use strawberry pots instead July 30, 2010
Luke Strong
Where do I start... For starters it is very difficult to place plants inside the little holes without breaking stems and leaves due to very sharp edges on the openings. Strawberries need to be planted in loose acidic soil, however, after watering, gravity compacts the plants down to the point that the top two rows (10 plants) pull themselves into the planter and hide the crown. This inhibits any new growth since the crown is no longer exposed. Since the holes are sharp and are in a closed position, you need to be vigilant checking for new growth and sometimes have to pull it out from the holes. I had numerous incidences of new leaves growing up into the planter that had to be pulled back out.
Since the planter compacts the soil, drainage becomes VERY POOR, leading to improper use of iron for strawberry plants and chlorosis, nothing that an iron supplement can't fix. The instructions say to water almost every day, I have not watered mine in 4 days and the soil is still moist, 6 of the 15 plants have now rotted off, even though I never watered daily. Even in the 90 degree heat that we have been having I still have moist soil with very infrequent waterings. I don't know how they can claim you can't overwater, but clearly these plants are overwatered.
The only strawberry plants that are doing well are two new ones that I had runners go into new REGULAR pots, those plants look fabulous. All of the strawberries that I have obtained from this plant (and there have not been many) are about the size of a pea, and I used the really good Quinault variety that is supposed to be disease resistant too and 2" diameter fruits.
I have been container gardening for years, my tomatoes, peppers, basil, green onion and parsley look fantastic (all in normal pots), my topsy turvy looks like it needs to be taken out back and shot.
Working great so far. July 19, 2010
Z. Law (Michigan)
I think its most important to note that these do not come with any plants or soil. its just like buying a pot. (The plants and soil for two of these cost me 60 dollars).
That said, the plants seem to be growing great, and its very nice to know its impossible to over-water them. Looking forward to the delicious products.
 Works well so far July 3, 2010
Schnups
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Bought that June 2nd offline together with the plants and some potter soil that already has fertilizer in it. Be careful that thing is - once full with soil and water - really heavy! The strawberries really need a lot of light to get going. And you need to water in chunks until it starts dripping out through the holes on the bottom (!) - and not on the sides. If you do it carefully that seems to work well. Takes around 10 minutes for me when I add it in smaller sips until it has gone through and starts running out of it.
The plants so far (this is now 4 weeks) have gone nuts in growing but we had little strawberries so far. A few flowers wilted early on as that watering is really important and you can't forget about it a single day!
The greenish plastic things covering the openings seem to tear very easily so I doubt that will last more than a year and replanting should be impossible.
It is a bit annoying that the water tends to come out on the sides quite easily instead of going through until the bottom. So make sure you water in sips and in the middle. As that might explain why some people experience that strong wilting. Since I've done strawberry growing on the ground too I knew already how much water strawberries need and that they the leaves and fruits should preferentially not touch soil to avoid ants and such eating them. Which makes me believe the general idea is good but the design can be improved.
But so far we like it. But you really need to get into the watering, maybe automatic watering would be a good idea.
Update august 2010: We had already many strawberries so far but I think I will buy another strawberry variety next year, they are quite small. The ones I bought were just "as is" Walmart ones and seem to be not too great, had no details to it. There seem to be varieties especially fitting for such hanging gardening. So pay attention to get good plants! Watering is still no problem, can't confirm the complaints about plants dying at the bottom. What I realized though: even though I consider our tap water quite good quality the plants get yellow leaves in some areas if I don't let the water sit in the jug for one day. Might be residual chlorine or something? So try to not water them directly from the tap.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 19
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