Aker's West Virginia

From Tatiana's TOMATOBase

Aker's West Virginia
Maturity	late
Growth habit	indet.
Leaf type	regular
Fruit color	red
Fruit shape	beefsteak
Fruit size	large
Fruit type	slicer

Contents 1 B.C KO T 2 MAN ST T 3 MI FL J 4 IL LO N 5 TX AN S 6 Seed Availability

B.C KO T

85-90 days, indet., large regular leaf plant, large red beefsteak tomatoes up to 1 lb, excellent well balanced flavor, no cracking; a must grow for everyone who likes old-fashioned tomato flavor.

2007 Notes:

Grown from the 1996 seeds, only one plant made it, and the fruits ripened late, but the flavor was still very good.

Seed Source:

MD ES H 07 (Howard Essl, Maryland) / NY MA C 97 (Carolyn Male of Latham, New York) / NC LE C (Craig LeHoullier of Raleigh, NC) / Carl Aker, Pennsylvania

Year: 2007

Location: Zone 7b, PNW, Anmore, BC, Canada (760 ft above sea level)

---

MAN ST T

A delicious old heirloom from West Virginia. The deep red oblate beefsteak type fruit average 10 ounces and have excellent taste, on the tangy side. Good old-fashioned flavor that is perfect for a tomato sandwich or sliced. The gorgeous fruit are usually blemish free. Indeterminate, regular leaf foliage.

Source

Heritage Harvest Seed

Location: Carman, Manitoba, Canada

---

MI FL J

Large vines need caging or staking, 90 days, moderate production of large (about 1 lb) meaty and juicy red fruit with very good rich flavor.

Source 

Craig LeHoullier of Raleigh, NC

Year: 2003

Location: Augusta Michigan

---

IL LO N

85 days, indet., regular leaf plant with good yield of 1-1.25 lb beefsteak fruit, very good taste.

Source 

NC LE C 97 (Craig LeHoullier of Raleigh, North Carolina)

Location: Oblong, Illinois

---

TX AN S

85 days, indet., regular leaf plant with avg to high production of 10-16 oz red beefsteaks, very good flavor.

Source 

Marianna's Heirloom Seeds 04

Location: Bastrop, Texas

---

History

• Family heirloom from West Virginia, from Carl Aker, Pennsylvania. Sent to Craig LeHoullier in 1996 by Mr. Aker, who, since 1993, has shared heirloom tomato varieties with Craig. This came to Craig labeled simply "West Virginia"; Craig amended the name to "Aker's West Virginia" to avoid confusion with other listed SSE tomatoes named "West Virginia".
• First appeared in Seed Savers 1997 Yearbook listed by Crail LeHoullier (NC LE C) and Carolyn Male (NY MA C).
• This is one of the 100 heirloom tomatoes mentioned in Carolyn J. Male's book "100 Heirloom Tomatoes for the American Garden".
• Seven commercial sources noted for 2004 in the Garden Seed Inventory 6th edition.

---

Other varieties originated from Carl Aker

• Heart's Delite
• Aker's Oxheart
• Aker's Plum
• Nicky Crain (a variety given to Carl Aker by a friend)

---

Related

• Aker's West Virginia Black (a cross or mutation?)
• Aker's West Virginia, Chuck Wyatt's (a different strain or seed mixup?)
• Aker's West Virginia Potato Leaf

---

Seed Availability

Year	Commercial Vendors (Catalog)	Seed Savers Yearbook (listings)	Seeds of Diversity - Member Seed Directory
2011	.	.	.
2010	Tatiana's TOMATObase Seeds Casey's Heirloom Tomatoes of Airdrie Full Circle Seeds Heritage Harvest Seed Marianna's Heirloom Seeds Sand Hill Preservation Center - sold out for 2010 Tomato Growers Supply Tomatofest	8	.
2009	Tatiana's TOMATObase Seeds Casey's Heirloom Tomatoes of Airdrie Full Circle Seeds Heritage Harvest Seed Marianna's Heirloom Seeds Tomato Growers Supply Tomatofest	8	.
2008	Heritage Harvest Seed Marianna's Heirloom Seeds Sand Hill Preservation Center Tomato Growers Supply Tomatofest	8	.
2007	Marianna's Heirloom Seeds Sand Hill Preservation Center Tomato Growers Supply Tomatofest	7	.

---