These guys dont really work that well* altho they do work, its just another Billy Banks Oxy Clean, Shammie sham, that people will want to try out
You can grow tomatoes in them and the plants will fruit but for something like an indeterminate type, i doubt you get any subsequent fruitings, not only do you limit the amount of root space, you force the roots to grow up against gravity...using more energy than is necessary also you alter the flow of hormones, the mechinisms that control them, as well as many cell to cell communication channels
Gravitropism I believe is what many of you are talking about in response to the plant growing towards the light... fungi do the same, theres even a speices that has a compound lens, sort of like a very primitive insect eye, that can orientate itself towards the light, thus increasing the chance for healthy spore dissemination and future growth.
Statoliths and Statocytes also play a major roll, i just read up again on this in my Post Harvest Class this year in College, o yeah getting a edumacation...
Statocytes are cells, amylopasts to be more percise, for those who dont already know are store houses for starch, that contain "statoliths" which can actually sense the orinetation of the plant in realation to gravity. They mainly alter hormone transfer, esp. auxins, and a whole bunch of other stuff yall dont care to know... anywho
Back to the tomato... it works but the bag heats up super fast, since theres no cooling buffer around, like a soil profile... thats why they sell the automatic feeder with it, your going to need a daily water due to increased evapotranspiration since your basically putting a moist cool substrate in a bag... which is going to draw heat from the surroundings in...
Stick with Mother Nature, she hasnt gone wrong yet...for most of us anyway :stonedsmilie: