Eva Purple Ball and Cherokee Purple

[creister]

I am growing EPB for the time, and 2nd year for CP. Do they both start out slow, or are they somewhat compact plants? It seems to me that CP was somewhat compact, may about 5' last year and grew kind of slow, but that may be in relation to its overall size. My other plants seem to be growing well.

[carolyn137]

Both should be indeterminate and I don't know how that translates out to height b'c I grow my tomatoes by sprawling.

So not compact at all and I've never noticed that either one is any different in terms of rate of development from the majority of hundreds of other varieties that I've grown.

One exception is Riesentraube. It's such a cute stocky short plant to start with but then rapidly becomes an indeterminate monster.

And most of the heart shaped varieties seem to start out slowly for me and then burst into their normal indet, nature as well.

[KCMO_Don]

I am affraid to sneeze in the general direction of my German Red Strawberry seedlings!!!
SOOO fragile looking!
My Big Beef is a FREAK of nature from a nuclear powerplant!!

[Earl]

CP, in my garden, is always a short indeterminate, 5 feet sounds about right. Carbon has the same habit. As it seems does the other large fruited black types.

[Fert1]

In my garden, both CP and EPB tend to be a little on the short side for an indeterminate, whereas some varieites will turn into monsters. So that would be typical from my experience.

[Tania]

Haven't grown EPB, but Cherokee Purple for me is not a monster indet. - it is about 5-6' tall and manageable size. Much smaller plant then Brandy Boy, Brandywine, or Aunt Gertie's Gold

[Gimme3]

Criester....a CP bolts from the gate, It absolutely Jumps upon settin root....and its a horse that will run right beside a Big Beef, an challenge it,.....but it will never win that race. A CP is a mighty strong plant, and a mighty early gate buster.

an Eva Ball is a plant that grows in it's own Beautiful world...blind to any competition. What you got to worry about w/Eva is disease. Keep it healthy,..an you got some FINE .....Beautifull.....JOY....an Surprises comin....))) Aint no
tomato on this earth....that does what an Eva does....except Eva...))) i hope you get to see it ....an taste it...))) Expect about a 4 -5 foot high plant...maximum.


I'm growin an Eva, myself, jus to feel the Joy once again, an refresh my seeds. Caint wait to hear,.....what YOU....Criester...lol....experienced from it....YO IMPRESSIONS !!!....)))

[creister]

Good to hear from you Gimmie,

How do CP and Eva handle the Georgia heat and humidity? We've had good weather so far, but have a seven day heat wave forecasted starting Thursday. Some days will be close to 100. In fact, north wind yesterday, southwest wind this a.m., which means hot. lol.

[barkeater]

Nice to know CP and Carbon are smaller indeterminates. I may be able to squeeze an extra plant in the row they are in.

[gardengalrn]

CP for me was also a smaller indet. Carbon was in a bucket last year so I attributed its size to that.

[Suze]

Originally Posted by creister

I am growing EPB for the time, and 2nd year for CP. Do they both start out slow, or are they somewhat compact plants? It seems to me that CP was somewhat compact, may about 5' last year and grew kind of slow, but that may be in relation to its overall size. My other plants seem to be growing well.

CP and EPB are a bit on the compact side for indets, and I love them both.

In my experience, the CP shows more general tolerance of foliage diseases than the EPB does.

[Gimme3]

Criester,...i'm gon try an give you my most honest thought upon yo question. you need to simply weigh it...thru Time, and your OWN ....experiences/efforts...)))


a CP ...in my opinion, is blight resistant, but very susceptible to Verticulum wilt. Thats why i tell ya...its a Gate Buster. I personally do not enjoy ANY smoky-flavored tomato, therefore, while i Truly admire a CP, an it's a Mighty wonderful, Productive plant....with a Heritage behind it, i genuinely Appreciate....it simply aint a cultivar i desire to grow. Some people absolutely Love this particular taste/flavor....an i'd try my best to help along, if this is what they want. A CP flourishes in Southern heat/humidity, as good as any other.


An Eva Ball....tough question to answer, from a Southern grower's perspective. in my opinion, Eva is a very unique, beautiful cultuivar, quite capable of livin out it's life in a normal season, but it's a non-asserting plant. it will never encroach upon it's neighbors....it seeks simple elbow room, and peace. Eva gets sick, eventually,...in my climate, but i'm tryin to learn more ways to prevent that. I put Eva right beside a Tona dos cherry...i love em both.

As i told ya before....you got one FINE......SURPRISE ....lol


if you are able to grow out a Eva purple balll.....i aint gon tell ya what it is....thats part of growin it...an the beauty that will come...naturally.


Believe me...Eva has a wonderful trait.....that will surprise you, in a good way, if you....like Joe Walsh sang...."Tend yo Garden"...)))

[bigcheef]

Dang it Gimme,

I don't have room for any more mater plants this year, but you keep wettin my whistle for one of those purple balls and I'm gonna have to pay top dollar to have one shipped to my house so I can see what you're talkin about.

I really like Cherokee Purple, but that was the first "real" tomato I tried last year when I was just startin out. I'm sure I haven't even hit the tip of the iceburg when it comes to the wide variety of flavor combinations available in heriloom's and OP's. I've got almost 40 plants this year with almost everything new to me so I hope to educate my palat this season and find out if any of the varieties I'm growin get me as worked up as EPB gets you :wink:

BTW, if I ever have my own seed catalogue, I’m hiring you to write the descriptions!

RIK

[Fert1]

Originally Posted by creister

How do CP and Eva handle the Georgia heat and humidity?

I can't speak for Georgia, but here in SC, I've had good luck with Eva setting fruit in the high temps. Not so much with CP. I do like the flavor of CP, even though I don't consider it smoky or salty, just sweet and tomatoey (is that a real word? LOL). MY CP stops setting fruit in the heat, but does okay in cooler spells.

If I remember correctly, one of the things Eva is known for is being able to set fruit in hot and humid climates, and for me it has done well in that regard.

As far as disease resistance goes, I haven't really noticed either CP or Eva as being espeically more or less resistant than any other variety. Septoria Leaf Spot is prevalent in my yard, but the Ortho treatment stops it in its tracks. Last year everything I had got some sort of hollow-stemmed wilt. The wilt pretty much wiped out every variety. Can't say one held up any better or worse than any other. That was the first year I'd experienced such a problem.

This year I'm planting in a different spot, and so far everything is very lush, green and healthy looking. I truly hope it stays that way. If everything wilts again this year, I might just cry. Really, there might be tears!