| The Bloody Butcher Tomato
is another well known early season tomato that produces 2-3 inch
red fruit in the 3-4 ounce range in clusters of 5 to 9. Compact
indeteriminate plant that offers mature fruit in 55+ days. Some
growers at DavesGarden report it to be tasty and delicious, while
others disagreed. We'll put it to our taste test this year with
my wife, the tomato connosieur.
Gregori's Altai Tomato: This one was recommended
to us by Darrel Jones of SelectedPlants.com who said it would
resist the high temperatures of the Oklahoma Summer (Hot weather
resistant tomato) and is a good producer of pinkish-red beefsteak
style fruit in the heavier range of 8+ ounces in 65-70 days
on indeteriminate vines. Reported to be very delicious with
great crop production. Online seed sellers report this variety
comes from Siberia and originated in the Altai Mountains on
the Chinese border and West Siberia, and also near the Kazakhstan
border.
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May 10th Update: There has been hardly any
rain until the last few days, which hasn't been enough to cause
the rapid growth we got last year from 2 weeks of rain. The
growth so far this year is very disappointing and will cause
problems later on when the high temperatures come in and affect
the blossoms and fruit set.
These are the four 10 gallon containers where
I will be growing and comparing our 4 early season variety tomatoes
for 2010. From left to right, Siberian, Stupice, Gregori's Altai
and Bloody Butcher. The Siberian and Stupice are about 2 weeks
younger than the Gregori's Altai and Bloody Butcher. Although
we purchased our dream home with 2.5 acres last October, the
spacious area we have designated for our future garden will
not be ready until 2011 as we are busy cleaning up and taking
care of other "to dos." The area below is the future
home of our 6500 square foot garden area.
Panorama of Future Garden
(Opens larger image in new window.) More clearing
and work needs to be done before this garden area is completed,
including the installation of raised beds and irrigation. This
is behind our house and includes 6500 square feet. There is
probably another 65,000 square feet of garden space off to the
right of this image, which is to the north. So there is plenty
of room to grow, or grow all our own food I should say.
Siberian and Stupice
Undersized at a little over six weeks old. A lack
of rain this May/April so far has prevented the rapid growth
I was hoping for that we got last year. Nothing is better for
fast growth than plenty of natural rainwater and sunshine. Note
the leaves on the Stupice at right, this is a potato leaf tomato.
The good news is we are expecting rain the next 3-5 days and
that should promote some good growth.
The Stupice and Siberian are both very early season
tomatoes, 55 to 57 days respectively, and we will be informally
comparing them for speed, taste, size and production. I doubt
I will be weighing and measuring each tomato as it comes off
the vine, so the comparison will be subjective.
Gregori's Altai & Bloody Butcher
Gregori's Altai on the left, Bloody Butcher on
the right. Notice that like the Stupice, the Bloody Butcher
is a potato leaf tomato. It's also an indeterminate plant, but
on a compact vine that's shorter than other indeterminate tomatoes.
These two tomatoes are approx. two weeks ahead of the Siberian
and Stupice above.
The Bloody Butcher offers fruit much faster than
the Gregori's Altai, but that's not why we are comparing these
two. I want to compare them for their ability to stand up to
the Oklahoma heat. They are really different tomatoes (see above
description) so there is not much else to compare, but we will
be reporting on size and taste, as well as heat and disease
resistance.
Future Updates will be posted here:
Siberian & Stupice
June through Sept. 1
Gregori's Altai & Bloody Butcher,
June through Sept. 1
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