~~~ I suspect that I might need to water several times a day once the plants get larger. Will one gallon be large enough? ~~~

5 gal wasn't lrg enough for my upsidedown experiment and I'm in a much more moderate climate than you.

I really hate the words can't or even shouldn't buuuttt ... Know what I'm sayin?

I have tomatoes hagning in 5 gallon Topsy Turvys and you will have to water them daily once they are a large plant and when you have very hot days. But it will work. But then zone 10 is alot different than zone 6. The soil will definately heat up. Mine only get 6 hrs of sun. I think it's the kind of thing you only want to do if you have to. On the plus side, they are disease free.

In northern climates(I am in 5a) I do not use anything but 5 gal containers. Soil wise it is within the productive range on most plants by soil volume. I have recently been thinking of this. My reasoning is that I do not have mid summer halting of fruit set. So I want to grow the plant to a reasonable size and then set fruit. In Chicago Toms are considered heat loving. I suppose kale is considered heat loving in northern Canada.

A big plant at the end of August for me is a lot of fruit at once for a month until the season starts to wind down.

However further south the only thing good to do is grow foliage on hot days so I can see why one may want to have more room in southern zones perhaps.

I tried upside down coco lined wire baskets that would dry out in arid southern zones for sure but they still dry out here on hot days. My solution was to wick it in from a reservoir. Depending upon the weather and the wick it can last 2 days or more. On several dry 80 degree days it kept the soil moist. If you don't have cotton cloth you can buy some burlap and wrap around cotton. If I did not do this watering daily would be a must.

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