Eva Purple Ball is pink and should be pink. The word purple started being used in the late 1800's to mean varioua shades of pink.

The only varities I know of that actually do have a tint of purple are Purple Calabash and Noire des Cosebeauf.

There are no strains of Eva Purple Ball and color perception can vary with individuals.

Are all other traits that one expects for EPB as they should be in terms of fruit size and shape, leaf form and plant form? I'd find it hard to believe that you had one of the two varieties I mentioed above as having a tint of purple b/c they aren't that common and they don't resemble EVP in other ways.

What was your seed source?

Carolyn

Carolyn,
To be honest I am a newbie when it comes to heirlooms. This year was my first year of heirlooms and only my second year as an adult gardener (I had been stuck in apartments prior to buying my house in 2006). So I am not the best judge of what EPB should look like. However, I have a few more green ones on the vine and I will take and post a picture of the plant and the ripe fruit when that happens. My source was a local seed saver my mother knows. The funny thing is that none of the other seeds she offered were dark fruited. The others were Marianna's Peace and Brandywine so I don't know how it could be a seed mixup. I also don't think that it is a color perception issue. I have Hungarian Hearts growing alongside them and they, to me, look pink. My EPB (or whatever they may be) are definitely much darker. Anyway, I could go into taste but that is truly subjective and I also am doubtful that my tomatoes are representative this year with all the heavy rain. BTW, I am about to buy your 100 Heirlooms book from SSE. Can't wait to get it.
-Scott

I made the mistake of planting Eva Purple Ball next to Purple Cherokee. I planted too close (still a newbie) and the vines are intertwined and I can't tell one from the other. All the tomatoes from those two plants look the same to me.

Scott, why don't you go to tomatogrowers.com and take a look at the picture of Eva Purple Ball and the description, which notes it's dark pink, and then compare it with the darker colored varieties.

Also look at the pictures there of Aunt Ginny's Purple and Pruden's Purple; neither of them are purple, just a darker shade of pink.

Carolyn

Hmmm...I still think my tomato was quite a bit darker although similar in size and shape to EPB. I know that color photography is subjective to many factors but I will try and post a chromatically correct image when the next one ripens. Should be within the next four days or so.
-Scott

Did you ask the grower what other varieties they grew this year? (Or if you started the seed, what varieties they saved seed from.)Maybe it was a seed mix up. It could possible be a small black tomato they were also growing, some of those types look purple to me.
Remy

I made the mistake of planting Eva Purple Ball next to Purple Cherokee. I planted too close (still a newbie) and the vines are intertwined and I can't tell one from the other. All the tomatoes from those two plants look the same to me.

****

Methinks there might be a seed mixup there b'c Cherokee Purple isn't purple, it's what I call a pink/black, same general color as Black from Tula, and the fruits are beefsteak shaped while EPB is a ROUND med to dark pink fruit and in no way should resemble Cherokee Purple, which isn't purple. ( smile)

Carolyn

Thanks, Carolyn - that's an interesting hypothesis! The fruits are mahogany colored, similar indeed to Black from Tula, and are beefstake shaped. Perhaps I mixed up the seed and planted two CP's.

In another seed mix up, my "Black Krim" plant is growing smallish (about 4 oz), spherical, red tomatoes. Definitely not Black Krim. I'm not growing anything similar to this, so I know I didn't mix up the seed in this case.

Thanks - JoAnne

So here is a mostly ripe fruit next to a Hillbilly PL for contrast. The plant is rather small (3.5 ft) but indet. with regular leaves.

Scott, what you show on the right is not Eva Purple Ball, it's one of the so called black varieties with the typical green shoulders but there's no way of knowing what it might be since you said that the others you got from this seed saver were OK.

But what was labelled EPB isn't EPB.

So you don't have EPB but do have a different variety. ( smile)

Carolyn

Thanks, Carolyn! I will ask what blacks she has been growing, if any. Otherwise, I will just maintain it as a mystery variety since I have already saved seed from one.

black tomatoes?

Like these?

I always love the gaga effect these tomatoes have. For the record, there is no doubt that you have something other than Eva Purple Ball.

On a separate note, I have two different crosses in my garden this year that prove very conclusively to me that Eva Purple Ball belongs in a really good breeding program. The crosses are the most early blight and nematode tolerant plants in my garden.

DarJones

Before folks start asking about what Darrel just pictured, it's an experimental variety still being developed and to most folks it actually looks blue.

And seeds are not commercially available.

There appear to be several different lines of this blue one and so those folks who have grown it say it's sweet or awful, depending on which line they got and from whom and where and how grown.

You can Google it and try entering Blue tomato and see what you get b'c there's quite a bit already on the net about this development.

Darrel, your crosses sound interesting and I'm glad Eva Purple Ball is working out well for you. A look and taste alike for Eva Purple Ball is Redfield Beauty ( slightly lighter colored but also has the same surface tiny white dots and also falls from the vine when ripe as does EPB) which was grown commercially many years ago and you might want to take a look at that one as well in terms of parentage for your crosses.

Carolyn