Suggestions for good not too late bi-color

[GaryStPaul]

Hi, folks. I've grown very fond of the look and taste of orange or yellow tomatoes with red splotches or striping. Two from this year's list were Dagma's Perfection and Orange Russian 117. Dagma was reasonably early, but stingy. OR117 was pretty (pointed heart shape) and tasted very good, but quite late. My impression is that most of these bi-colors tend to be so.

Can anyone recommend some good ones that would come in earlier for this Minnesota gardener?

Thanks.
Gary

[bitterwort]

Gary, this was a pretty unusual growing year for us in the Twin Cities, I think, so you might be having a somewhat skewed impression of bicolors if this is the first year you've grown them. At least, I had a large gap in fruit set from that awful heat we had midseason, which made the normal late varieties ripen just in time for our unusually early first frost. :-( I did get some Mary Robinson's German Bicolor and Pineapple this year and a friend at work got quite a few Lucky Cross fruits from a plant she got from me.

In more "normal" weather, I've gotten good yields and flavorful fruit from Pineapple, Little Lucky, and Lucky Cross... and Virginia Sweets too, if memory holds. I've also grown Orange 117 and I don't recall it being exceptionally late, so you might chalk it up to the year.

[Tania]

Gary,

Northern Lights was one of the earliest bi-color in my trials.
http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Northern_Lights

[GaryStPaul]

Thanks, bitterwort and Tania. Those are good suggestions. I did grow Lucky Cross, but didn't get many; same with Virginia Sweets (0 fruit). I wonder about Old German and Oaxacan Jewel. Gary

[patty_b]

I grew Nature's Riddle from Baker's Creek this summer and had ripe tomatoes by August 9.
in zone 5 Ohio.

[clara]

Gary, what about a red variety with sprinkled yellow stripes! You should try Feuerwerk/Fejerwerk - it's a beauty, but I don't know how early it will be in your climate. clara

[kath]

Originally Posted by GaryStPaul

Thanks, bitterwort and Tania. Those are good suggestions. I did grow Lucky Cross, but didn't get many; same with Virginia Sweets (0 fruit). I wonder about Old German and Oaxacan Jewel. Gary

I had the first ripe fruit from Oaxacan Jewel on 8/3 from a 5/13 plant out in zone 6b.

Earlier bicolors to ripen for me this year were:

Virginia Sweets 7/24 from 5/13
Arkansas Marvel 7/27 from 5/12
Golden Cherokee 7/26 from 5/13
Hawaiian Pineapple 7/29 from 5/13
DeWeese Streaked 7/30 from 5/13
Hillbilly PL 8/2 from 5/13
Tennessee Surprise 8/1 from 5/14

Northern Lights was my earliest bicolor last year.

[Iva]

Kath, you seem to have the same planting out date as I do in my climate. Anything that ripens here before August the first, I consider to be acceptable for regrowing...
My earlier bicolors were Ananas Noir (green and pink inside), Copia and Isis Candy. Old German ripened August the fifth but is still worth growing...

[kath]

Originally Posted by Iva

Kath, you seem to have the same planting out date as I do in my climate. Anything that ripens here before August the first, I consider to be acceptable for regrowing...
My earlier bicolors were Ananas Noir (green and pink inside), Copia and Isis Candy. Old German ripened August the fifth but is still worth growing...

I grew Ananas Noir last year and liked the taste- it produced fairly early as I recall and had good production, too.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by kath

I grew Ananas Noir last year and liked the taste- it produced fairly early as I recall and had good production, too.

Kath, I have to admit that when someone asks about a bi-color, which usually means a gold/red bicolor of which there are a few hundred with names, I have to wonder about something like Ananas Noir which I consider to be a quad or penta or hexa color.

Yes, I've grown it, but not a second time. Same for most of the multi-colored ones so nothing specific to Ananas Noir alone. And yes, I do know that many do like ones like Ananas, but I don't.

[kath]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

Kath, I have to admit that when someone asks about a bi-color, which usually means a gold/red bicolor of which there are a few hundred with names, I have to wonder about something like Ananas Noir which I consider to be a quad or penta or hexa color.

Yes, I've grown it, but not a second time. Same for most of the multi-colored ones so nothing specific to Ananas Noir alone. And yes, I do know that many do like ones like Ananas, but I don't.

Carolyn, I only mentioned Ananas Noir because Iva had just suggested it. Since Gary might be considering it, I shared my experience from last year. I thought all those colors were pretty, although many others don't seem so fond of tomatoes with hues similar to those of fading bruises. Although the taste was very pleasant to me, it's not one I'll likely grow again either.

[patty_b]

Carolyn, do you think Ananas and Pineapple are just similar or the same. I am never quite sure and I am still growing out the one that I rec'd as Kentucky Pineapple. Last year Pineapple did well and KY. P. did not this year I have the Ky. P. and the Pineapple did not grow. Has anyone did a side by side on Ananas and Pineapple?

[kath]

I thought Black Pineapple and Ananas were supposed to be the same, so I grew those side by side and couldn't tell any difference. I also grew Pineapple that year, which was different in plant growth and fruits.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by kath

Carolyn, I only mentioned Ananas Noir because Iva had just suggested it. Since Gary might be considering it, I shared my experience from last year. I thought all those colors were pretty, although many others don't seem so fond of tomatoes with hues similar to those of fading bruises. Although the taste was very pleasant to me, it's not one I'll likely grow again either.

My bad Kath b/c I answered just from seeing the new posts at the top and didn't take the time to read the later posts, including the one where Iva suggested Ananas Noir.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by patty_b

Carolyn, do you think Ananas and Pineapple are just similar or the same. I am never quite sure and I am still growing out the one that I rec'd as Kentucky Pineapple. Last year Pineapple did well and KY. P. did not this year I have the Ky. P. and the Pineapple did not grow. Has anyone did a side by side on Ananas and Pineapple?

Patty, somewhere here there's a long thread about what you received as kentucky Pineapple and I think I remember that it was concluded that your KY Pineapple was just Pineapple with KY attached to it. If you want to do a search here you can do it if you have time, to maybe find that thread.

What I don't know is what your KY Pineapple turned out to be like, maybe that was in that other thread, I jsut can't remember.

Having grown both pineapple and Ananas Noir I see them as being radically different.

Pineapple, as first introduced in the SSE YEarbook years ago is a typical gold/red bicolor and originally offered by Gleckler's many years ago, perhaps Adam's father or even grandfather were the main ones there at the time, and as I and others have noted, it's one of several hundred of gold/re bicolors that have names, many don't.

Ananas Noir was found in a field of Pineapple plants but no one knows what crossed with a Pineapple blossom to get a selection that was named Ananas Noir which has far more colors , both exterior and interior, than any gold/red bicolor I've ever grown, so isn't Pineapple.

Just my opinion having grown both.