It was the third year trying before I ever got even one tomato from Mr. Stripey, Pam. I decided that it was certainly not worth wasting space in my garden on it.

On the other hand, I was surprised by one called "Amish" Big Rainbow. It was prolific, producing many good sized tomatoes and hung in long after many others had thrown in the towell in our near record heat wave and drought last year. The tomatoes are a {{gwi:36748}}, some of which were pretty big and the taste was pretty good too. Not excellent, but a lot better than a store bought tomato and went well on a sandwich or burger.
Bill P.

There are two Mr. Stripey's but I assume you're growing the large gold/red bicolor one.

And my experience mirrors Bill's above as does the experience of quite a few folks in that Mr. Stripey often gives a srawny plant, not always, but often, and fruit production is not good, regardless of what the plant looks like.

There are about 100 different gold/red bicolor beefsteak varieties known and Bill has mentioned Big Rainbow and I think that's a great variety.

Bill, just a wee correction. Big Rainbow is not Amish although the Sunday supplement ads, etc., might represent it that way. It was introduced years ago to the SSE Yearbook by Dorothy Beiswinger of MN and has no known Amish connection.

Mr. Stripey seeds have been widely distributed and the variety is often found in the big box stores b'c the seeds were originally given to Seeds by Design by the former owner of TT who was a good customer of that CA wholesale firm. SBD provides seeds of many OP varieties to many places, so that's how it got so widely distributed. As I recall, the variety was either from GA or SC originally, I forget which right now.

And there are many other good gold/red bicolors. What they all have in common is soft flesh which means not good shelf life, and they are also affected by weather such that variety X grown one year may be sweet and lucious and the same variety grown the next year may be mealy and not so good.

But they are colorful and great when they are great.

Carolyn

My Mr. Stripey is doing just fine. I planted him about 5 weeks ago when he was 6 inches tall. Now he's about 3 ft tall and has several quarter-sized fruit which are growing rapidly. Maybe the breed likes cooler weather? It sounds like you're getting blossom drop and I can assume that it's been warmer in TX than here in WI. ;) I've been getting mostly highs around 80 and lows around 55-60. It would be interesting to hear if anyone else has experience with Mr Stripey and what their climate is like.

Mike

Thanks Carolyn. I remember when I first posted about Big Rainbow after my elderly neighbor became intrigued with the ad that you mentioned, that at least you told me that the Amish part was just advertising hype. That is why I put it in "marks" ":^).

Pam lives west of me and may have even had more rain than I have this year, which may have been detrimental to her Mr. Stripey's pollen, but my experience during those three years of trials were in pretty normal times for our area. As stated, I think that there are much better bets if one wants to grow a bi colored tomato.

Although other people's mileage may vary as mentioned by Mike, it really has not been hot here yet. Mid 90s tops, so far.
Bill P.

Thanks to all that responded. Carolyn, it is a reportedly (advertised) large tomato and the plant itself is one of the bushiest and largest. I don't think I'll waste the real estate on it next season ;-)

Pam