The miracle of Dutch selection - the Marmande tomato: what is good and how to grow it on your own plot
The Marmande tomato was developed by the French company Vilmorin Seed and first appeared on sale in 1897. The variety was named after the French city of Marmande. In this area, until the 60s of the 19th century, viticulture was practiced, but grape phylloxera, or grape aphid, imported from the USA, destroyed the vineyards. Farmers began to grow tomatoes instead of grapes.
Let's take advantage of their experience and tell you how to grow a French tomato in a Russian dacha.
Characteristics and description of the variety
Marmande has been one of the most popular in Europe for more than a hundred years. What qualities allowed the tomato to gain such fame?
Subspecies Super Marmande
With the growing popularity, tomato seeds began to be produced in Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, the USA and other countries of the world.
Breeders from many countries worked to adapt the French variety to growing conditions. Thus, in Spain the variety Marmande RAF (resistente a Fusarium) appeared, which means “Marmande, resistant to fusarium.” French breeders decided to “decorate” the old Marmande and brought out the unusually bright Marmande Montpellier.
Dutch breeders recreated and improved the variety, calling it Super Marmande. On the Russian market you can find this and the classic name Marmande.
Distinctive features
This variety is early ripening (75-100 days), semi-determinate (140-180 cm), salad with a classic sweet and sour taste.It is unpretentious in care and grows well on any soil, both in open and closed ground.
Sturdy, strong and compact bushes are moderately resistant to frost and resistant to fusarium, verticillium and a number of other diseases.
Fruit characteristics, yield
The fruits are set in clusters of 4-6 pieces. They are flat-rounded, ribbed, weighing 150-250 g.
The photo clearly shows that the fruits are especially ribbed at the stalk. The pulp of the fruit is fleshy, oily with four chambers. The purpose of the fruit is universal, but it is better to eat everything fresh. Productivity – 9-10 kg per 1 sq. m.
How to grow seedlings
Strong seedlings are the key to a rich harvest. How to grow good seedlings?
Seed preparation
Good seedlings begin with preparing the seeds. Remember that pre-treatment disinfects the seeds and accelerates their germination.
A well-known collector of rare and exotic varieties of tomatoes, a tomato expert who has tested 1,300 varieties of tomatoes, Lyudmila Kodzasova, advises treating tomato seeds with 40° vodka: “vodka awakens, accelerates and disinfects.” She recommends soaking the seeds in vodka for 15-20 minutes, then rinsing them with water and planting.
Belarusian scientist Ivan Russkikh recommends treating the seeds with undiluted brilliant green or chlorhexidine from the pharmacy. Treatment duration is 30 minutes, rinse thoroughly and plant.
Container and soil
Cups of sour cream, mayonnaise, beer, etc. are suitable as containers for growing seedlings. Holes must be made in the containers.
Important! The depth of containers for growing plants must be at least 10 cm in order for roots to develop.
It is easy to buy soil or substrate in a store or collect it under birch trees in the fall.
Before pouring the substrate into the planting container, Large shells of eggs or walnuts are poured into them as drainage. The containers are filled with substrate, not reaching a few centimeters to the edge. Then the earth is compacted and poured with boiling water and a pink solution of potassium permanganate.
Sowing
When planting, pay attention to the timing of fruit ripening and estimate when you are going to harvest. Please note that tomatoes take 10 days to germinate. If you are not going to use additional lighting, it is better to sow in early March.
The seeds are carefully laid out on the prepared substrate and covered with a centimeter layer of soil on top, moistening the soil with water from a sprayer. Cover with a lid or plastic bag until “loops” of sprouts appear.
As soon as the “loops” appear, remove the lids, bags and place the containers with seedlings on the window.
Growing and care
When the seedlings have their second true leaves, pick them. Using a knife or stick, carefully prying up the root along with the soil.
Important! Before picking, water the seedlings thoroughly.
Plants are planted in moist soil, deeply buried, down to the cotyledons. You cannot water from above.
After transplanting, the seedlings are shaded for several days. When the first watering comes, it is advisable to water the plants with a solution of baker's yeast (a pack of baker's yeast, 1 cup of sifted ash, 1/2 cup of sugar, 3 liters of water). The baker's yeast mixture is prepared 3-4 days in advance, as it must infuse.
Seedlings respond well to watering with a mineral water solution: a glass of 1 liter of water.
How to grow tomatoes
Marmande is distinguished by its unpretentiousness in care - the harvest is obtained even on the most meager, lifeless soils.However, the better the conditions and care, the richer and tastier the harvest!
Landing
Before planting, first of all, prepare the greenhouse: wash the walls, burn the threads to which the tomatoes were tied.
The soil in the greenhouse is dug up, freeing the roots of previous plants, and two weeks before planting the seedlings, they are spilled with “Fitosporin”, a week - with a solution boric acid (1 tablespoon per 10 liters of water).
Planting of seedlings in the ground is carried out in stable warm weather. If you want to plant earlier, you will need shelter. Tomatoes are planted at a distance of 0.5 m from each other and 0.4 m between rows, not closer.
Before planting, prepare holes in which ½ bucket of humus is placed (rotted two to three year old horse manure), which is poured with a raspberry-colored solution of potassium permanganate, and then a tablespoon of potassium sulfate, a tablespoon of superphosphate, ½ cup of ash, a tablespoon of fish meal are added and everything is mixed.
Place the plant in the prepared hole at an angle of 45 degrees, orienting it from north to south, cover it with soil, compact it, and water it (1 liter of water).
After 10 days, the plants are watered with a solution, which is prepared from 100 g of yeast and 10 liters of water so that the tomatoes grow well and do not stretch.
Care
The most important rules of care:
- Water the plants not often - about once a week (1 liter of water per bush).
- To ensure that tomatoes set well, the seedlings are watered with potassium sulfate (1 tablespoon per 10 liters of water).
- Tomato plants also love foliar feeding with iodine, manganese, boric acid, Epin, and Zircon. Spraying is carried out every 10 days.
- During hot weather, be sure to spray tomatoes with boric acid.
- When the third cluster blooms, add calcium: 1 tablespoon per 10 liters. water.
- Ash is added several times during the season.
- The soil around the plants is mulched with a layer of 8 cm and watered with Fitosporin.
- The lower leaves are torn off.
About the formation of tomato bushes:
Features of cultivation and possible difficulties
Regular, moderate watering (excess moisture leads to destruction of the root system).
To prevent the fruits from cracking, make sure that the soil is evenly moistened. How to achieve this? First of all mulching soil. Mulching protects against overheating and moisture remains in the soil longer.
If, nevertheless, the soil is very dry, then water the bushes many times intermittently, without flooding. Watering is done with warm, settled water directly under the bush, no more than 1 liter.
During fruit ripening, watering is minimal.
Diseases and pests
The Marmande tomato variety is distinguished by its stable immunity to diseases and pests, but for prevention it is necessary to carry out treatment:
- spray with “Fitosporin”;
- mulch the soil;
- pick off the lower leaves.
The nuances of growing in open ground and in a greenhouse
When choosing a growing site, please note that the soil on which other nightshades (eggplants, peppers) grew is unsuitable for growing tomatoes.
When planting tomatoes, add compost, peat or rotted manure to the planting holes (fresh manure burns the roots of the plants).
Planting density – no more than 5 plants per 1 sq. m. Water warm, settled water.
Despite the fact that the bushes of this variety are compact, they need to be tied up, as the branches can break under the weight of the harvest.
Tomato variety Marmande must be planted throughout the growing season. The best yield is achieved when the bush is formed into two or three stems.
During extreme heat, tomato flowers in a greenhouse become sterile, therefore, it is necessary to reduce the temperature in the greenhouse: cover the top of the greenhouse with lutrasil so that the sun does not bake, open the doors and windows.
Harvesting and application
The first fruits are harvested 75-100 days after seed germination. The variety is early ripening. Since the fruits are dense, strong, they tolerate transportation well, are shelf-stable, have an attractive presentation, and are therefore good for industrial cultivation.
The fruits of the variety are sweetish and sour and have a universal purpose. The best use is processing into tomato juice. Fans of tomato jam also like this variety. In France, it is stuffed with soft cheese and baked in the oven.
Delicious recipe:
Advantages and disadvantages of the variety
The advantages of the Marmande tomato include:
- traditional, classic sweet and sour tomato taste;
- aroma;
- attractive appearance;
- easy to transport;
- long-term preservation of fruits;
- early ripeness;
- low maintenance requirements;
- resistance to many diseases and pests;
- productivity;
- This is not a hybrid, which makes it possible to collect the seeds yourself.
The disadvantages of the variety include the need for fertilizing and garter.
Farmer reviews
Vegetable growers call Marmande a lucky find. Tomatoes are used for fresh consumption and conservation. According to summer residents, this is the best variety for making tomato juice - it turns out thick and moderately sweet. Some complain about uneven ripening. Large fruits, in their opinion, ripen only at the bottom, and the upper clusters do not have time to ripen before frost.
The famous tomato collector Valentina Rarely writes: “The French handsome Super Marmande has earned many positive reviews among Russian farmers. Everything about it is perfect – the taste, the size, and the cultivation features.”
Private collector Anna, Moscow: “It’s not a bad tomato, even if you want to grow it for sale. The fruits are elastic and dense, do not crack and are perfectly preserved. During the growing period, regular fertilizing with fertilizers is important, and basic agricultural practices are also required.”
Zhanna, Moscow region: “Bushes 70-80 cm high. Delicious sweet tomatoes 100-150 g each. Productivity above average. Extended fruiting. Those above average are affected by late blight.”
Silva, Moscow region: “I’ve been involved in tomatoes for a long time, growing both varieties and hybrids. Among the low-growing tomatoes, my favorite is Marmande. The harvest is excellent every year. The fruits are large and very tasty. It is from them that I make the very first salads. I harvest before autumn, as the tassels ripen gradually. I advise you to plant at least 2-3 bushes.”
Vladimir, Far East: “I don’t garden; I buy tomatoes from my neighbor in the country. Once I saw fruits of an unusual shape. These were Marmande tomatoes. I took it for testing. Now I buy them every year. Delicious, sweet, meaty. Salads made from them are simply delicious.”
Conclusion
Growing heirloom French in your garden is not that difficult. In order for the harvest to please you, you will have to work hard in central Russia, since even the most unpretentious variety requires a lot of sun and warmth. It is necessary to water every week. Feed throughout the entire growth period. Your reward will be dense, bright fruits with a classic taste and good keeping quality.
Interesting video about the Marmande tomato: