Royal Purple Tomato Review & Photos

Received Royal Purple as a freebie gift from breeder Lee Goodwin when I placed an order with him in late June for Sweet Lee (his own creation named after himself).
Potted it up into a 2 to 2.5 gallon (8-10 L) container out in the open garden during the first week of August. By late September, three full flower clusters had bloomed, but because of cold weather moving in, I pinched it back to just two clusters.
That pot is definitely way too small for this plant; the leaves wilt instantly if it doesn’t get watered every single day. Aside from being thirsty, it looks like a completely healthy, leafy vine with regular foliage. Not sure if I will even get to sample a ripe one this season with nighttime temperatures dropping down to 39-46°F (4-8°C), but fingers crossed.
Here is what it looks like as of October 9, 2015. First cluster setting nicely.Edited October 11, 2015 by Drosera

Seeds from Redko. Indeterminate. Grew inside the greenhouse, vine has moderate foliage, ran it on two stems. Topped the plant at 6 ft (1.8 m) because seeds were started late on May 7.
Productivity was below average, maturity was mid-season. Flavor was fairly simple with a mild tart kick. In my greenhouse, this variety lost across the board to Purple Passion, even though they grew right next to each other in the same bed. (To be fair, it might have been starved of heat, since that bed was fourth in line away from the sun). Picked the last tomatoes on October 4.

I completely forgot to take pictures of my ripe harvest. The color was stunning, very rich and dark. The flavor was a little plain, but I chalk that up to my late planting and having the fruit ripen in late October without enough sunshine and warmth.
I can’t complain about yield at all: it set fruit reliably, didn’t drop blossoms, packed plenty of tomatoes per cluster, and ripened every one of them. The vine stayed completely healthy with zero disease right up until hard frost, but in my patch, it was easily the biggest water hog around.

I am growing this variety this season as well, but the difference in fruit shape has me confused 🤷. Mine is growing as an oblate slicer, but the catalog photo on Redko’s seed site shows an entirely different shape. Online searches turn up photos of oblate fruit for this variety too. So what is the true shape supposed to be?

Eva77 wrote: I am growing this variety this season as well, but the difference in fruit shape has me confused…

My seeds came straight from the breeder, and the fruit turned out oblate.

Alisa wrote: My seeds came straight from the breeder, and the fruit turned out oblate.

Redko used the stock photo taken directly from J&L Heritage Seeds (the breeder’s original site). In their official listing, the fruit shape is described as “broad at the top, tapering along prominent ribs to a blunt end.” Yet for some reason, almost everyone growing it ends up with oblate beefsteaks.

Botsad wrote: In their official listing, the fruit shape is described as “broad at the top, tapering along prominent ribs to a blunt end.” Yet for some reason, almost everyone growing it ends up with oblate beefsteaks.

When I bought seeds from the breeder, the variety was brand new and likely still unstable. That explains why the fruit shape may have drifted or differed from the original description.