Eva Purple Ball or an imposter?

[Fert1]

I pulled my first fruit today from what was supposed to be my Eva Purple Ball plant. It doesn't look quite right to me for EPB, and I'm wondering if I had a labeling mishap. The fruit is cracked around the stem end, and has yellow shoulders. It looks more like what I would expect from a Rose or Pink Brandywine plant, but the size is right for EPB.

I recall EPB as being pretty much perfect little round globes with no splitting or cracking, and very even ripening. The plant is behaving about right for EPB, and the size of the tomatoes is mid-sized. Could it be environmental, or did I screw up? Opinions?

[JerryL]

It’s hard to tell if you have an environmental situation or a screw up but what you describe is not what I get for EPB.

Mine have always been perfect globes with very even ripening. They’re size being about half way between a golf ball and a tennis ball, maybe 6 oz. or so. They are pink fruit with almost a silvery cast to them. I think quite tasty.

[cottonpicker]

I tend to agree with your inclination towards "labeling mishap". EPB is a favorite of mine & I've never seen it any different than a perfect ball shape having no blemishes and a distinctive color.

LD

[Fert1]

The more I think about it, the more I'm pretty sure I goofed up in some way. The shoulders of the tomato are also slightly scalloped. It looks nothing like EPB from previous years that I've grown it. It seems like I always wind up with one mystery plant every year, whether it be from an inadvertant cross or mislabeling.

Now I've got to figure out just what I do have here. It doesn't really match anything else I'm growing this year as far as I can tell. I keep all my seed packets in a big plastic bag. It's even possible that a stray seed found its way in the EPB packet somehow. Could be just about anything if that's the case. I just hope it will be good. I'm kind of disappointed that I won't be getting any real EPB tomatoes this year. It is one of my faves.

[landarc]

My experience with EPB is limited to last year. I found it to produce smallish (salad) sized tomatoes that were all little globes, no pleats of lumps at all. All fruit were blemish free also. I found the taste mediocre at first, but, each one got a little better than the one before it, unitl it became quite a tasty little tomato.

[Fert1]

The times I've grown it before, my fruits were perfect, pink globes with no cracking, scalloping, yellow shoulders or any signs of imperfections. They were in the 8 - 12 ounce size category, not a huge tomato, but big enough to be a pretty good slicer. Flavor was strong and excellent. In fact, I considered the flavor as good as the best ones, including Pink Brandywine, but it doesn't have the creamy texture of BW. It is more of a juicy tomato will more seed locules.

Sounds like there may be some imposters out there. I think I've grown the real thing in the past, but I'm pretty sure what I have this year is something else. Sounds like some others here may not have had the real thing either. I think I'm probably the guilty culprit for my own mixup this year. I've just got to figure out what the heck it really is. I will miss the real EPB.