[3759allen]

they grow under controlled and artificial light and heat 24 / 7 (so no night time for the plants), plus with all the controlled chemical feeds going into them no wonder they grow taller than home grown.

don't taste any where near as good as home grown. i don't even waste my money on supermarket toms now, if there's none in the garden i do with out.

[Steveharford]

Did anyone else pick up on the comment at the beginningvthat they were grown in Rockwool substrate? That's if I heard it correctly. So with no soil of any kind and presumably lots of chemical feed, it's no wonder they dont taste as good as home grown.

[LottyLouis]

This IS the stuff of Science Fiction and we have every right to feel a little uneasy. We're close to the old Sci Fi movies where scientists were drafted in to help feed an ever-growing population - and some of the solutions make scary viewing! I agree Steve - just how many chemicals are we actually consuming when we buy commercially produced 'food'? We'll all be glowing in the dark next! 

[Growster...]

Of course, you're right, Steve. If you look at their own website, you can clearly see the media in which the toms are grown!

We like to grow toms in both the greenhouse and outside, especially down at The Patch, where we have about fifty this year. The outside ones down there are planted in as much manurey soil as possible, and the flavour we get from these is so much better than those grown in compost in big pots!

But we do get them that much earlier from the greenhouse!

[New shoot]

Hydroponic culture is pretty standard in these sort of set-ups.  I have dabbled myself in the past and produced some fairly decent tomatoes.  Its not so far removed from growing in gro-bags or pots and using tomato feed, but further away from growing in soil and using natural feeds like comfrey 

Gert did mention they use friendly bugs as biological controls, so not too many chemicals used.  I eat supermarket tomatoes without too many worries, but obviously ignore them totally when my own homegrown ones are available 

[Growster...]

It seems that Marmande are a popular variety this year, and we're hoping for big results, as they're huge and easier to skin for freezing!

They're grown outside mainly (I assume) as they're nearly a summer staple in France, and perhaps a flinty soil could make for big flavour as well.

We'll see one way or another...

[JayG]

I'm hedging my bets by growing one Marmande outside and one in the GH - first time with these and hoping to at least partly rediscover the long forgotten joys of eating beefsteak tomato salad dressed with olive oil and possibly garlic in countries like Italy and Greece. 

[mumofstig]

I'm hedging my bets by growing one Marmande outside and one in the GH - first time with these and hoping to at least partly rediscover the long forgotten joys of eating beefsteak tomato salad dressed with olive oil and possibly garlic in countries like Italy and Greece. 

You can always live in hope - I don't much fancy the other option  - 

Live in hope or Die in despair. Dombey & Son by Charles Dickens

[JayG]

Not quite that bad Mum - don't really know why but I'm not expecting beefsteaks to be as easy as smaller varieties, but despair would only be a matter of wondering whether to buy a few from the supermarket (and then not doing so!  )

Marmande are sometimes unhelpfully described as 'semi-bush' - does anyone have any idea what that means in practice (remove just half the side shoots?  )

[Headgardener22]

Marmande are sometimes unhelpfully described as 'semi-bush' - does anyone have any idea what that means in practice (remove just half the side shoots?  )

Semi-Bush or Semi-Determinate are sort of halfway between Determinate and Indeterminate (they're better described as semi-indeterminate as they have fruit along the vine). They usually grow to about 4ft tall and then stop with straggly side-shoots. Because they only grow 4ft or so, there's less space for fruit trusses on each vine so to increase the quantity of fruit its a good idea to let a number of sideshoots develop which then need to be independently supported.

[mumofstig]

If you want to keep it bushy just nip off any upward growth above flower trusses, and allow all the sideshoots to grow/fruit.

If you'd rather it grew more upright,  only allow a few sideshoots from lower down - each of these may each need their own cane.

Either way they need quite a bit of support when they're carrying lot of fruit 

[lettice]

Amazing the way they grow things commercially.
But I have yet to taste a shop bought tomato that tastes anywhere near a home grown one.
Green credentials fail though, as the plastic trays you buy them in have to go in the normal bin.
What temperatures were they growing them at?

I grow Marmande, always outside. They do require support as the fruits are heavy and they are great croppers.
In pots, I place two plants, this helps to balance the load over the pot using canes, pegs and string. I tie stones to the lower end of the string.
Marmande are semi determinate, so I do leave a few side shoots, normally one on each truss and alternate sides.
I let them grow to 4 only trusses, after removing the lower leaf truss, makes the main stem sturdier.
I've shown my technique below, but the plant is too small yet to be trussed onto the string support.

[NewSteve]

Lest we forget, the process of digging, muck spreading, weeding, feeding and watering to grow temperamental, selectively bred vegetables is not particularly 'natural' either. But without it we wouldn't be able to support a world population in the billions. And just because a small number of people like to do all of the above 'organically', that doesn't mean we can feed the world that way. Not with current methods, at any rate.

People will have their own ideas of where they're comfortable drawing the line. Is it just about taste? What if hydroponic tomatoes tasted great?

[JayG]

Marmande are sometimes unhelpfully described as 'semi-bush' - does anyone have any idea what that means in practice (remove just half the side shoots?  )

My suggestion was intended to be tongue in cheek, but turns out to be somewhere near the recommended practice - thanks for the tips HG22 and MoS. 

Edit: Thanks to Lettice too - hadn't noticed you'd edited your post with further tips. 

[Headgardener22]

People will have their own ideas of where they're comfortable drawing the line. Is it just about taste? What if hydroponic tomatoes tasted great?

Did you ever see this article on the GM tomatoes which were loved by the population at large (at the time) because they could be picked ripe, tasted excellent, and lasted on the shelf but killed off by a combination of Monsanto a change in public perception of GM.