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 produced 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.
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