[AlistairMcLennan]

Hi folks,

My marmande beefsteak tomato plants have what looks like a flower head growing where I would normally expect the growing stem to be.  Is this normal? Have attached a pic to show.

Hopefully the knowledgeable folks here will be able to help.

Cheers

AL

[Lardman]

Can't say if it's normal or not as this is my first year growing beefsteak toms, but I noticed the same thing on my brandy wines. The main stem just disappeared   

[Fairy Plotmother]

I lose main stems on my tomatoes all the time! .........I keep pinching out the wrong shoots.

[snowdrops]

I think it must be, it's happened to some of mine for a few years, I just let a side shoot grow to replace it.

[crh75]

Marmande are a semi-bush variety, so don't take all the side-shoots off.

[azubah]

Beefsteak tomatoes produce really weird flowers, not like normal ones. Mine are branching out all over the place and I just let them get on with it. Can't say if yours is normal or not, AL, but if it branches out somewhere else it will probably be OK.

[Headgardener22]

They're called Megablooms.

Basically they are two or more flowers fused together. I think its caused by cold weather when the flowers are starting to grow.

Assuming they get fertilised, the resulting tomato(es) will also fuse together and you'll get bigger than average tomatoes with catfacing.

Nothing wrong with them some people try to grow them so that they can grow super-huge tomatoes.

My experience is that megablooms happen with the first truss and not with later trusses.

[JohnB47]

I have a Black Russian that's doing the same thing. The stem to the flower head is flattish too, so it looks like a double fruit coming right enough. There is a second flowering branch so perhaps this variety is a semi bush too.

[Growster...]

Our Marmande are doing that as well, and while I'm growing two greenhouse plants as cordons, I also have four outside which will eventually turn up as a supported bush - hopefully!

The fruits will be a surprise, as they'll already looking like odd shapes, like Black Krim, but the flavour is reckoned to be superb!

Fingers crossed!

[Headgardener22]

Marmande are a semi-bush variety, so don't take all the side-shoots off.

What I've seen said about growing semi-determinate is not to take the sideshoots off the first stem but to take any sideshoots off subsequent stems. That way the plant bushes a bit but not so much that it stops the later trusses from ripening.

[Snoop]

I've grown Marmandes for a few years and they've all done that. What seems to happen is that you get a big, flattish looking flower when the main stem stops and the plant goes hell for leather with side shoots. I never pinch off the side shoots of my Marmandes but they will need supporting otherwise they'll flop and break off under the weight of the toms and toms that end up resting on the ground are more liable to rot.

I end up with wooden stakes shoved into the ground all over the place to support the side shoots. But I don't mind what it looks like, just so long as the plant keeps on producing.

[Headgardener22]

I've grown Marmandes for a few years and they've all done that. What seems to happen is that you get a big, flattish looking flower when the main stem stops and the plant goes hell for leather with side shoots. I never pinch off the side shoots of my Marmandes but they will need supporting otherwise they'll flop and break off under the weight of the toms and toms that end up resting on the ground are more liable to rot.

I end up with wooden stakes shoved into the ground all over the place to support the side shoots. But I don't mind what it looks like, just so long as the plant keeps on producing.

The slight difference between you and others is that in Spain you get a a longer growing season so your tomatoes will have longer to ripen than in the UK. The later trusses on Indeterminate and Semi-determinate varieties (like Marmande) are unlikely to ripen so we need to reduce the total number of trusses that we let set fruit.

[mumofstig]

The later trusses on Indeterminate and Semi-determinate varieties (like Marmande) are unlikely to ripen so we need to reduce the total number of trusses that we let set fruit.

You may do, but I just leave them to get on with it and use the green ones for chutney 

[Snoop]

I've grown Marmandes for a few years and they've all done that. What seems to happen is that you get a big, flattish looking flower when the main stem stops and the plant goes hell for leather with side shoots. I never pinch off the side shoots of my Marmandes but they will need supporting otherwise they'll flop and break off under the weight of the toms and toms that end up resting on the ground are more liable to rot.

I end up with wooden stakes shoved into the ground all over the place to support the side shoots. But I don't mind what it looks like, just so long as the plant keeps on producing.

The slight difference between you and others is that in Spain you get a a longer growing season so your tomatoes will have longer to ripen than in the UK. The later trusses on Indeterminate and Semi-determinate varieties (like Marmande) are unlikely to ripen so we need to reduce the total number of trusses that we let set fruit.

I think I'm going to add something to my strapline or whatever it is that you call it. Oliveview has a very long season and I envy her just as much as you do. She's picking aubergines now, I have about six leaves on my plants. Spain has a huge landmass and climate conditions vary drastically around the country. Last frost where I live is usually around 10 April but temperatures at night are often below 5 ºC till mid May; first frost mid October and we hit -6 ºC and below by the end of October. The only real difference between a lot of the UK and where I live is that temperatures are more extreme here: way too hot in the summer and way too cold in winter (+44 ºC high in the shade in summer, -17 ºC low at night in winter).

[Aunt Sally]

The later trusses on Indeterminate and Semi-determinate varieties (like Marmande) are unlikely to ripen so we need to reduce the total number of trusses that we let set fruit.

You may do, but I just leave them to get on with it and use the green ones for chutney 

And fried green tomatoes are Yummy with breakfast (add a little sugar and seasoning while cooking).