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This is my second year of growing tomatoes, but the first time I have had a Big Rainbow. The way it grows is completely different than any other tomato plant that I have. It is thick, short, and stalky. It looks very healthy and is producing big tomatoes, but I am unsure if I need to treat it differently than the other 8 heirloom plants.

Does anyone have any knowledge on why Big Rainbow is different?

Does yours have regular leaf foliage? From what I've read, Big Rainbow is an indeterminate with corresponding growth habits and the plants can get pretty big.

I'm growing Rainbow Dwarf, which has potato leaf foliage and grows stocky with shorter leaf internodes, though I believe it still reaches 3-4 ft -- they didn't want to stay with the "shorter than 30 inches group when I was trying to grow them for winter indoor growing.

Thick, short, and stocky. That doesn't sound like Big Rainbow, which is a typical rambling sprawling indeterminate that can reach 6-7 feet in the right climate.

As far as the foliage, it's thick & curly. The plant is about 2 1/2 feet tall & 2 1/2 feet wide. The tomatoes are the size of a softball. Thanks for the information & I'll have to go online and check out a dwarf rainbow.

This is what the tomatoes look like and the leaves.

you can find Rainbow dwarf here. Not sure what you have there. As Feldon said it is not true to type of Big Rainbow. Interested tot see ripe fruit if you could post up some pics when that comes around.

After looking at several other sites on big rainbow I'm not sure what I have either! Being a new tomato grower I just went with what the tag says! I will most definitely post ripe pics.

It would help to know roughly where you live (can you please add it to your profile?) and where you bought the plant from. That might help narrow down what it is. Unless my eyes deceive me, that is rugose foliage which is a telltale for a dwarf tomato variety.

Here is the most recent pic. Thanks for your help Feldon. I will update my profile.

I bought the plant from my local Orchard Supply Hardware. I believe my growing zone is 9. Thanks again for the help.

Well I picked it and here is what it looked like. The tomato itself was sweet and very delicious.

Looks like it has clear epi (skin) giving it that translucent look. Very pretty!