Sey I don't have Big Rainbow this time around, but I've got three big bicolors. I was very disappointed with my biciolors in cool weather, but when day length and temperature rises they seem to me to deliver on yield and sweetness. I also love bicolors, but after being crazy over them for a while, I've thinking they are all basically the same thing. My Hillbilly just blushed its first tomato a couple of days ago. It was started from seed on about February 8, so the plant's DTM here was ~76 days for me (early!)

Hope you get to make your own pic soon. Bicolors are so photogenic!

PC

I had the plan on a BR earlier this year. It just did not work out on getting one in the ground. I have one in a container that I am going to get into the ground once I pull one of the spring plants. I have however planted Old German, and Jubilee. It may be just an fluke thing but the Old German has quite a few fruit that set. It is just they are maxing out in size on the smaller side of things as in around the 4 to 8 ounce size range. As for Big Rainbow I Plan on at least one in my fall plants.

Grown it past seasons, very robust, large fruit, late for my zone. Due to lateness production was moderate. Def one to be planted into WOW.

I am growing a Big Rainbow but bought a small plant on impulse way later than I should have. I noticed it had a very stocky stem and didn't grow tall and leggy. I set it out 7 days ago and its first bloom was yesterday. It seems to grow more slowly than other varieties. Now that it is going, it seems to be picking up steam but it definitely felt like a slow starter. My start had been experiencing some cool weather in the store though.

Next year, I would like to start from seed, plant out early in a WOW and a wrap like Linda says. This year, I will be grateful to get fruit. Maybe if there is green fruit at the end, I will pull it up and hang it in the garage.

Sey, I dream of your picture too. The delicious bicolor I ate last year looked like that.

I have grown the Big Rainbow for several years now and it is one of my favorites. It has great flavor and was one of my best producers last year. I have 17 different varieties of heirlooms this year and I planted more Big Rainbows than any other. You will not be disappointed! They do take forever its seems like to start ripening, but the wait is worth it! The BR tomatoes do not seem to be near as bad at getting "ugly" and disfigured as many of the other heirloom beefsteak tomatoes either.

silocity ... Thanks a lot for your comment and encouragement (hehe).
BTW: where are you located ? You can put down your location/zone in your profile. That would be very helpful for those reading your posts.

My BR is is just flowering. Probably it will take 60 days from flower to ripe fruit. So how about the end of July ? I'll take it. By then I should be harvesting dozen or more varieties.

BTW: I am also growing Ananas Noire and Mr. Stripy, my other favorites.

On a second thought, we may talk about YOUR favorite bi-colors , other than BR too. Yeah, why not !
I always wanted to grow Old German. Maybe next year. Anybody is growing OG ? maybe we can exchange seeds .

Sey

Sey, this is my third year growing Big Rainbow. It is a keeper so far... like the guy above said, the fruit is usually blemish free and fairly large. Only about half of my fruit are as colorful as the one picture you posted. On the other half, the red marbeling was only located on the bottom third of the fruit. I have also noticed that some of the fruit's shoulders never turn from green to yellow. It is a later tomato, but not by much... at least for me here in zone 7b, Charlotte, NC

Thanks, ncreg

Your climateis much warmer in summer months than here although we are almost zone 8. But still I can grow just about any kind of tomato I want. The only thing is that they will have SHORT harvest time and so will produce less.

But I try not to grow the Long Season varieties.

I did a quick Gooling on it . I visited 3 site :

--- Maturity :(DTM) 85, 80, 90

--Fruit size : 16 oz : 16oz , (upto) 32 oz.

--Plant size : 3-4ft,,,4-6ft, 6-8ft.

I will average those numbers. That will be a very scientific method. hehe

Sey

Gorgeous tomatoes. What does BR taste like? This is the first I've heard of it. Maybe next year!

Juicy and fruity sweet. Very tasty. Large plant size. Good disease resistance. Great slicer.

My Ananas Nore's tasted like that : Fruity, juicy, sweet with pleasant acidity.
I look forwards to tasting BR. I had Pineapple last year it was tasty too .

The yellow one was pineapple. I think the one on the right was mr. stripy.and on the left was either ML or CP. ... 4oz average. No biggies.
They had actually much darker color. the camera flash made them look pale.

and this is Ananas Noire ... 19.5 oz

this was another AN, earlier, slicedAt that point I did not know its name. The sign says " Not Cherokee Purple.".

I have 3 plants growing this year.

Sey

Seysonn,

I am in Zone 7a in southwest Virginia. I am a Black, Brown, Blue tomato freak! My favorites that I have grown in the past are the BR, Chocolate Stripe, Cherokee Purple, Black Krim, German Johnson and Mortgage Lifter. I have added several new varieties this year. I am growing Blue from Tula, Chocolate Cherry, Indigo Rose, Violet Jasper, Pink Boar, Amazon Purple, Paul Robeson, Purple Russian, Indigo Rose & Black Pineapple (Ananas Noire). There are a couple that I can't think of right now, but will probably remember once I post this. I have 125 plants in the ground and most are doing great despite the dry weather we have had over the past three weeks. I have watered with my homemade drip irrigation system-it would take half of my evening to keep up with it otherwise. On the plus side, the whole month of May was very warm well above seasonal average, so once I planted my plants, they have thrived. I have numerous golfball size tomatoes on many plants. I figure to have cherry varieties by mid June and larger varieties by July 4. Once I figure out how to download pictures, I will share. I am a little embarrassed by my many staking/caging techniques, but I have tried to evolve and improve over the years as I plant more and more tomatoes. I have cages, trellis, stakes and fencing and will eventually get to using only one method once I figure out what works best.

silocity,
You have some impressive and POPULAR varieties. I am growing like 6 of those. I have roughly 30 vars and about 50 plants.
So you are doing great in zone 7a, SW VA.

To post pictures, it is very easy. You can do it directly from your computer:

1- at the bottom of box, click on the camera icon. it will take you to your computer.
2- Now that you are in your computer , find the folder where the picture is located..
3- pick the picture (double click or right click then click open)
at this pint you are back to your post and you will see the picture on the screen, in your post..
Want to upload more ? Just repeat the above steps.

Sey

Hello All,

This is my first time growing tomatoes (actually the first year having a garden :D). I'm in WI, zone 5b. I started from seeds on March 26 for five varieties: Porterhouse, Yellow Pear, Italian Ice, Big Rainbow and Black Krim. They are all doing very well. I ended up having more seedlings than I can plant (I have a small back yard garden). I keep two plants for most varieties and gave the extra to my neighbors. I later bought a Purple Brandywine seedling from Home Depot, which I heard it is a very tasteful variety that I can't afford to miss. :P

The picture below is one of my Big Rainbow. I just transplanted it to the ground yesterday. It look pretty healthy so far and is about to flowering. Can't wait to see the fruits!

Welcome. Julia
Your plant looks very healthy and strong . It shouldn't be too long before it flowers. Have you fertilized it yet ? IF it is not because of the camera/lighting, it looks a bit pale to me. Think of it, BR has lighter foliage than some other varieties..For example BK should have darker foliage, normally. Check and compare.
Another thing: I would prune all lower leaves that either touching or almost touching the ground and MULCH the bed, to prevent soil splashing and prevent from quick drying out.
The other preventive procedure that I do is spraying with fungicide on a One to TWO weeks interval, depending on the weather. .

Alright. Have a great first season !

Sey

Beautiful Garden Silo!

Julia,

Your plants look wonderful and I wish you the best on your new gardening adventure I have no doubt that after this year, you will have at least twice as many plants next year-I can speak from experience.

Hoosier40, thanks for the compliments I have added to my garden over the past several years and tinkered with selling at the farmers market last year with limited success. I truly did the sell thing for enjoyment and the ambiance of the marketplace and did not look at it from a money making aspect. I have expanded and hope to have more products and more interest in heirlooms this year. Unlike last year where I set up at the local market, I have found a farmers market where there are more people who understand the differences between the hybrids and heirlooms and I can better market my veggies.

I checked out the market I mentioned before and they had a stands filled full of Cherokee Purple, Black Krims and about 8 more varieties all at the bargain price of $4.50 a pound. People were buying regularly. The kicker are that those tomatoes were greenhouse grown and tasteless!

I simply can't wait to actually taste the first real homegrown tomato of the year!

Here is a shot of my garden. Part of it, of course

and in this bed are my Big Rainbow(center back row), Big beef, Black from Tula (front left) and a CP (front right)I am using my hoop as part of support system along with stakes and a frame. I anticipate that those plant will get huge.

Sey

Sey,

Thank you for your warm welcome and great tips. I have been reading posts on this forum for a few months and learned a great deal from you experienced gardeners. This is a great community!

The picture above was taken under morning sun through my cell phone, so the leaves did appear a little pale. I took another picture this evening and the color is more accurate. So you can help me find out if this color is normal. Interestingly I found, the color of my Big Rainbow and Black krim is actually quite similar. My Porterhouse has a little darker green. I did use a little bit 4-6-4 organics fertilizer during transplant, but not much. I know tomatoes are heavy feeders, especially when they set flowers and fruits. I will apply fertilizer more regularly after my tomatoes are on the ground.

I do see a problem now. In the past weekend, the weather here in WI
had a big drop with strong N wind, so I covered my tomatoes seedlings
with row cover three nights in a row. However, I did not use any
support under the row cover, just loosely cover them, I found some of my
tomatoes broke their top tender leaves and showed yellowish /darkness . I don't know how serious the damage is. Will
the top leaves come back? I heard people usually cut the top
branch/leaves off to control the height of tomato plant. I'm afraid my
tomato plants stop growing taller.

Is neem oil safe to use on healthy plant to prevent fungus? I have one bottle at home.

Mulching
is a great suggestion. What people usually use for a veggie garden? Can
I use straws under tomato plant to serve as mulch?

Silocity,

Thank you too for your kind words. I sure want to grow more plants but I only have limited space in my back yard. I also grow some peppers, eggplants, melons etc, so I guess I would have to keep maximum 12 tomato plants! I'm so admire of your tomato jungle and the big lot!

Hi Julia,
I suspected that the camera lighting was the reason. The new pictures show perfect foliage.
For mulch there are several that I personally like :
--- Wheat Straw
-- Pine Straw
-- Hay
-- Pine Bark mulch/nuggets.

It all depends on what is locally available at reasonable cost.

Have a great grow season !

Sey

For growing in the ground, Pineapple was our favorite, and Big Rainbow close behind, before the redwood roots took over. Just the right amount of sweet fruitiness for us. I'm growing in eartboxes now, and don't think these would work, but I might just give it a try; we liked Pineapple that much.

Gorgeous pictures, everyone. Sey, it's wonderful to see pictures of your whole garden. I can picture it in my mind now. I really like your mini-hoophouse, and I think your T-posts actually look very nice, they go with the look of the raised beds. I look forward to seeing your weave as the plants grow.

My Big Rainbow has grown a lot in veg stage the last two weeks since being planted out. It has also started flowering, but it's too soon to see if fruit has set. Pineapple, however, has a number of embryonic fruits! EXCITED!! (Not a bicolor, but the sickly Kellogg's Breakfast I "rescued" from the store looks like a whole different plant now and is also setting fruits.)

But in exciting news, I checked yesterday and found at least one set fruit on most of my plants! The only ones I couldn't find fruit on were the BR, Mortgage Lifter (about the same stage as BR), and inexplicably, a cherry tomato called Sweet Baby Girl. As far as the BR and ML, we are having perfect conditions for fruit set right now so I hope as many set as possible very soon, because the fruits that set now will definitely ripen. Once a few more weeks go by, it'll be too late to get to the finish line. So, I am pleased.

I know the PNW isn't the best place for growing bicolors, but I am hoping my bicolors have a wonderful sweet flavor and are not bland. I cannot forget how good that one was last year. I will try not to water too much, they are in 20 gallon containers so hopefully that helps. Next year, I want to try Annanas Noire, because Sey, your picture looks delicious!

Thank Jenn
Yeah, in PNW things happen sloooowly in the garden. But help is on the way. According the long term forecast , we will have some VERY nice weather for the next 10 days or longer.

Talking about Big Rainbow: Mine is just flowering. It is the tallest in that bed, close to 45". w/ thick stem and nice foliage. I looks like that is is going to be a LATE one in my garden.
Ananas Noires ( 2 ? 3 plants) doing fine. They are shorter and more compact, with nice darker foliage. My another bi-color , Mr. Stripy, is coming along nicely.

Isn't Gardening Fun !

Oh, I LOVE, LOVE Big Rainbow, we usually grow 2 or 3 plants every year. I didn't plant any this year and I know I'm going to miss them. (Growing only Mortgage Lifters this year to save seeds.) I hope you enjoy BR's as much as we do. They are a treat not only for the taste buds, but they are real Eye Candy, too.

Edie

That's nice to hear, Edie. You must need a whole LOT of seeds if you are devoting all your tomato spots to Mortgage Lifter? (Or are you worried about cross pollenation?) That reminds me, I need to go get some bridal favor bags!

I am pleased to report that when I was out "buzzing" my plants this morning, I discovered one of my embryonic Pineapple fruits has started growing and is now pea sized. Big Rainbow, still too soon to tell, but I believe fruits will set soon. Big Rainbow has the thickest stem of any of my plants!

I forgot to mention before, my Dad's girlfriend took me tomato shopping and I had planned to buy an Old German, but the Pineapples looked to be in better shape. I do believe she got an Old German though - she couldn't resist, because my Dad is an Old German himself :) She fed me the delicious bicolor from last year I can't forget. I hope she and I can compare the taste of our tomatoes and perhaps trade seeds this fall.

Jenn

Two Pineapples growing for sure - the pea size one is now nickle size, and there's a new pea. Big Rainbow may have set a fruit but it's hard to tell. Big Rainbow seems stingy with its flowers for me so far. I know it is my fault for starting it so late, but Mortgage Lifter which was smaller when they were put in has a lot more blooms. What about everyone elses?

Good to hear that , Jenn.
I hope my BrBoys will also start growing.
My sole Big Rainbow is one of the biggest plants. It has flowers but so far no fruits insight. I also have a Bear Claw which is supposed to have large tomatoes. But still in flower stage.

Sey

Big Rainbow is finally working on some fruit!

I'm afraid Big Rainbow will be a Big Disappointment, but it's my fault. I should not have started it so small and late. I should not buy long season tomatoes on impulse. And never again at Fred Meyer. Both plants I got from there were very slow to get going. Big Rainbow seems normal now, but my SunSugar never grew normally; it grew into a dwarf shrub. The fruits are fine though.

Anyway, about the bicolors... Pineapple is going to be great, it has fruit all over it! Not as much as Cherokee, but Pineapple will definitely be in the "medium high" production category, not "low." And for what I have heard about Pineapple, getting even moderate production is wonderful. Big Rainbow and Mortgage Lifter both look like they will start setting lots of fruit now, but I question how much can ripen. Well if the weather holds the same, maybe!

Kellogg's Breakfast has set a fair number of fruits for having been bought severely stressed and given the worst spot in the bed!

Jenn

My Big Rainbow is HUGE but fruitwise it is lacking. I will check it closely today. Black frm Tula next to it is doing much better.
With unusually nice and warm June, most of my varieties are not doing as well as I expected, that includes Big Rainbow too. My star performer in beef steak category is CP.
I have had this problem this season that fruits will set ( no drop) but won't grow. Maybe it happened in that past seasons too but I did not pay attention. I only remember that happening with Pineapple and RC Mortgage Lifter..
Anyway, I will check my BR and will report.

Sey

I look forward to getting an update from you, Sey, and everyone else who's growing BR!

We grew Big Rainbow in central Ohio last year and it seemed like it took forever to start setting fruit. By the time we got ripe fruit, the plants were huge, but once we started getting ripe fruit, we got a LOT of it. It just kept on producing into the late season. Might have been our latest tomato to still be getting nice, ripe fruit on. Planted them a little earlier this year and already have some decent size fruit, so hopefully they won't ripen as late this year.

Jenn,
I checked my plant the other day. Not very promising. I found couple of tiny fruits and lots n lots of flowers. The plant itself is almost 7ft tall.

Sey

Seysonn, don't despair yet. My plant last year was huge before it had any noticeable fruits on it, then it produced like crazy till after most everything else. The flavor didn't exactly knock my socks off, given it's reputation, but it definitely produced a lot of poundage of tomatoes.

hockingapple, ..thanks for reassurance.
Like I said, it has just started setting and basically it is only the start of our harvest season. We have about 3 more months to go before it cools off and the rain begins.

Sey

I first grew Big Rainbow in 2011 and had fantastic results - close to 200 tomatoes on one plant, many over 1 pound. Delicious. Dehydrated they had a sweet taste reminiscent of apricots. Since then I have been plagued with early blight, other diseases, and low yields. I do have a few this year, off of 2 plants, 8 tomatoes so far.

Cathy... 200???!!!! Is that a typo???!!!

200 - not a typo but it is not precise. I wish I had counted that year, I do count now. My notes say that I picked 10 - 15 tomatoes per day, mostly Big Rainbow (I only had 4 plants total) for most of August and September. On Aug 14 I noted the largest big rainbow was 2 lbs, 1 ounce. I took out the plants in mid October and estimated the 200 Big Rainbow count in my notes. I also estimated about 40 Carbons and Rowdy Reds.

Since then, I have not had anywhere near those types of counts on other plants except for cherries like Sun Gold.

< "...close to 200 tomatoes on one plant..." > Wow!

Wow, Cathy. That sounds like quite a tomato year. I thought I was doing great with over 25 on my Pineapaple plant. Your Big Rainbows look gorgeous. Thanks for the tip about drying them - I will definitely try that.

I count 8 right now on my Big Rainbow. One is large, 4 are medium and 3 are small. Strangely enough, although growth started out slow with this plant, it's now my tallest.

Here's what it looks like today. I guess the tomato got heavier, because now I see the top instead of the bottom.

It seems like the Pineapples are smaller than the largest Big Rainbow. But they are plentiful. A bug obviously liked them too. (Anyone know what kind of bug that would be?)

I am growing Big Rainbow too. It is my favorite bi-color. As others have said, it doesn't set fruit early but when it finally does set fruit the production is pretty decent for such a large tomato.

Once again, and still my Big Rainbow is a disappointment , so far. Flowers, YES, fruits NONE.
What is more is that it is huge in every dimension. The Black from Tula is doing great
I might just call it a ZAP. I'll just let it be for now.

Sey

My Big Rainbow's have been coming in for a couple of weeks now. Although the plants don't look great, they have been producing in large amounts. Here is a couple of photos of what I have picked since Saturday. There are other varieties pictured as well like Mortgage Lifters, German Johnson, Black Krim, Cherokee Purple, Chocolate Stripes, Indigo Rose, Chocolate Cherry & Speckled Roman.