Question on origin of Eva's Purple Ball - Page 2

**carolyn137** · September 28, 2012

Darrel, you said in your above post that you thought Eva Purple Ball might be a modern variety.

So I wanted to share with you that it's almost a dead ringer for a variety that's called Redfield Beauty.Both have that white mottling on the surfae and are of roughly the same size and shape, although one SSE lister says cherry sized for redfield, which is wrong, and both have a tendency to fall off the vine when fully ripe.

Redfield Beauty was released in 1897, here's a link to Victory Seeds with a description, since Mike has a special interest in Livingston varieties and Red field Beauty is thought to be a selection from the Livingston variety Beauty.

http://www.victoryseeds.com/tomato_redfield-beauty.html

And here's Tania's desription:

http://t.tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Redfield_Beauty

Redfield Beauty I think was one of the varieties that either Craig or I got out of the USDA PC Grin back in the 90's when it was still possible to do that.

My stacks of SSE Yearbooks on the floor to my left it too much for me to look through right now, but I did pull out the 2000 which was near the top and saw that I did list in in 1995 and I was the source to almost everyone who listed it in 2000. If I found my original listing it would have had an NSSL accesion number.

All to say that many of the Livingston varieties turned up in Europe in the late 1800's and early 1900's so could there be a relationship between the two and Eva Purple Ball started out in Germany with Joe Bratka's relatives?

it's a possibility but the fact is that Redfield Beauty dates from about 1897 so is not a modern variety,I had grown Eva Purple Ball before I grew Redfield Beauty and was a bit surprised to find that they were so much alike. But for me Redfield was a bit lighter pink, a bit smaller and I thought the taste of Eva was much better. But both also had that distinctive white surface mottling.

But of course who knows whose hands the seeds had passed through before I got them. Eva went directly from Joe Bratka to me, but Redfield was donated to the USDA, as I noted and Mike at Victory seeds also notes in his description and does indicate an NSSL accession number.

Fusion_power · September 29, 2012

Carolyn, I've known of the Redfield Beauty similarity for a long time. The difference I see is that Eva Purple Ball has a distinctive trait that gives it tolerance to early blight in my garden. The only place I could see that trait coming from was a wild species as noted above. I suspect therefore that EPB has a more recent origin since the disease tolerance genes don't show up until about 1930.

DarJones

**carolyn137** · September 29, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fusion_power

Carolyn, I've known of the Redfield Beauty similarity for a long time. The difference I see is that Eva Purple Ball has a distinctive trait that gives it tolerance to early blight in my garden. The only place I could see that trait coming from was a wild species as noted above. I suspect therefore that EPB has a more recent origin since the disease tolerance genes don't show up until about 1930.

DarJones

I think your important words were " in my garden" and I say that b'c in the 90's I was growing out EPB for seed stock for my SSE listing a lot b/c it was very popular ASAP and in my tomato field almost every year most of my plants would have Early Blight and most had Septoria as well, and EPB was affected with those two foliage diseases just as often as the others.

I can't remember how Redfield Beauty reacted b'c I only grew it once or twice.

And I wish I still had those data books from my 1990 growouts b'c back then I grew a lot of varieties that were pre-1900 ones, many from what Craig and I got out of the USDA, but alas, I no longer have those data books b/c somehow they got lost or misplaced when I moved to this new location in 1999. The move up here was terrible b/c I had to be out of my place in Latham by such and such a date and then found out that they were rebuilding the bridge one crosses to access my road up here and the moving van wasn't allowed to go over the temp bridge b'c of the weight. Now why did you remind me of all that for it was a huge headache and a REAL mess moving up here, and, ah, I was still working full time and had to hire packers from the moving CO and couldn't be there when they were packing since I was still working.

New, not spashback Early Blight infection, wasn't the same every year and that's b/c it depended on how often EB spores were in the air and in rain droplets, which was not a constant.

How did Redfield Beauty do in your garden as compared with EPB with respect to EB.?

casino · December 30, 2012

There is a reference in many posts to the cross: Big Beef X Eva Purple Ball
I think that is an interresting cross that I would like to try.
Does anyone have any seeds willing to share / trade.
Joe

September 28, 2012	#16
carolyn137 Moderator Emeritus Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Upstate NY, zone 4b/5a Posts: 21,169	Darrel, you said in your above post that you thought Eva Purple Ball might be a modern variety. So I wanted to share with you that it's almost a dead ringer for a variety that's called Redfield Beauty.Both have that white mottling on the surfae and are of roughly the same size and shape, although one SSE lister says cherry sized for redfield, which is wrong, and both have a tendency to fall off the vine when fully ripe. Redfield Beauty was released in 1897, here's a link to Victory Seeds with a description, since Mike has a special interest in Livingston varieties and Red field Beauty is thought to be a selection from the Livingston variety Beauty. http://www.victoryseeds.com/tomato_redfield-beauty.html And here's Tania's desription: http://t.tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Redfield_Beauty Redfield Beauty I think was one of the varieties that either Craig or I got out of the USDA PC Grin back in the 90's when it was still possible to do that. My stacks of SSE Yearbooks on the floor to my left it too much for me to look through right now, but I did pull out the 2000 which was near the top and saw that I did list in in 1995 and I was the source to almost everyone who listed it in 2000. If I found my original listing it would have had an NSSL accesion number. All to say that many of the Livingston varieties turned up in Europe in the late 1800's and early 1900's so could there be a relationship between the two and Eva Purple Ball started out in Germany with Joe Bratka's relatives? it's a possibility but the fact is that Redfield Beauty dates from about 1897 so is not a modern variety,I had grown Eva Purple Ball before I grew Redfield Beauty and was a bit surprised to find that they were so much alike. But for me Redfield was a bit lighter pink, a bit smaller and I thought the taste of Eva was much better. But both also had that distinctive white surface mottling. But of course who knows whose hands the seeds had passed through before I got them. Eva went directly from Joe Bratka to me, but Redfield was donated to the USDA, as I noted and Mike at Victory seeds also notes in his description and does indicate an NSSL accession number. __________________ Carolyn

September 29, 2012	#17
Fusion_power Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Alabama Posts: 2,250	Carolyn, I've known of the Redfield Beauty similarity for a long time. The difference I see is that Eva Purple Ball has a distinctive trait that gives it tolerance to early blight in my garden. The only place I could see that trait coming from was a wild species as noted above. I suspect therefore that EPB has a more recent origin since the disease tolerance genes don't show up until about 1930. DarJones

December 30, 2012	#19
casino Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Southfield, Michigan Posts: 318	There is a reference in many posts to the cross: Big Beef X Eva Purple Ball I think that is an interresting cross that I would like to try. Does anyone have any seeds willing to share / trade. Joe