May 10th, 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.
Update June 1:
As you can see from the pictures above, three
weeks of good rains and lots of Sunshine have spurred some
strong growth in both the Gregori's Altai tomato plant on
the left, and the Bloody Butcher tomato on the left. I added
liquid fertilizer on June 1st, approximatley 1 month after
transplanting. The rain has done a lot of my watering for
me, but the rain showers will slow down soon. I will be
adding rock mulch to keep the soil cool and using a moisture
meter to monitor the tomato plant's watering needs. As noted
at the start of our 2010
journal page, the Gregori's Altai produces larger
fruit than most other early season tomatoes, but does so
in 65 to 70 days with about 8 ounce beefsteak style tomatoes.
I am trying this plant this season to test it's resistance
to high temperatures. The Bloody Butcher is a potato leaf
early season tomato (55 to 60 days), that is also resistant
to hot summers but produces smaller fruit in the 2 to 3
ounce range.
Gregori's Altai tomato on the left, Bloody
Butcher tomatoes on the right.
Update: July 2
The Gregori's Altai produce one large tomato,
and then it stopped for a long time. The plant seems to
be really struggling in the Oklahoma heat. A few small fruit
have popped out, but it seems production is going to be
really low for this one. Lots of yellow leafing and dried
branches that have needed pruning. Personally, I don't think
this one is working out for me in my Zone 6 climate.
The Bloody Butcher is doing better, and the
plant is standing up to the heat quite well. However, fruit
production is below average. This may might be caused by
the high temperatures, but my Siberian and Stupice, as well
as San
Marzano tomatoes and Roma
tomatoes are carrying on much better than the
Bloody Butcher.
Sorry, no good pictures available of the Bloody Butcher,
and there is nothing really to show for the Gregori Altai
tomato, which has been very disappointing.
Update: August 10
As I reported in the Siberian and Stupice
section, the temperatures this summer were too extreme and
the tomato plants suffered heavily after the heat cranked
up in late July and August. The flowering blooms melted
off as temperatures stayed above 100 degrees for more than
two months. Production crashed. It was reported that this
was the 2nd hottest summer in 100 years and it sure felt
like it.
The Gregori's Altai was a bitter disappointment
and it only produced about 5-6 decent tomatoes all season
long. The Bloody Butcher fared a little better this season
and probably produced 10 to 15 usable tomatoes.
Despite laying down a rock mulch and watering
once a day, the heat was just too much for these tomatoes.
Two months of a heat index averaging 105 will do that and
I am going to end the season early for these two varities.
Next year, I'll be reporting on some heat tolerant hybrid
varities such as the Spitfire, Sun Leaper, Sunmaster, Solar
Set, Solar Fire and Heatwave. I will also include and report
on some other early season tomatoes, as yet to be decided.
