Chapman Special

• General Info
• Seed Availability

Chapman Special
Maturity	midseason
Growth habit	indet.
Leaf type	regular
Fruit color	pink
Fruit shape	beefsteak
Fruit size	large
Fruit type	slicer
Variety type	open-pollinated
Country	USA

B.C KO T

Indet., regular leaf plants. Fruits are large pink beefsteaks, but not as large as 'advertised' by the seed originator. 8-14 oz. I know this cultivar was listed in 'Red' section of the SSE Yearbook, but my fruits were definitely pink (seeds from the original lister, who was not specific about the fruit color).

Seed source:

Al Anderson of Troy, Ohio (OH AN A) 07 / Nelson Gray, Milan, Ohio / Frank Chapman of Norwalk, Ohio

Year grown: 2013

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

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History

• The original seed came from Frank Chapman of Greenwich, Ohio, who has been working on this selection for 56 years selecting for largest fruits (3-4 lbs) and saving seeds.
• This is the information that Nelson Gray, Milan, Ohio got when he visited Frank Chapman:

In 1947 Frank Chapman lived in Greenwich, Ohio, a town of about 1600 people - near Willard, Ohio. His neighbor bragged about his large tomatoes which originated from seed that the neighbor got from the California Extension Service. After Frank lost the contest that year he got the neighbor to give him ten seeds. From that time Frank Chapman has selectively chosen the seeds from his biggest tomatoes each year for 59 years.

Frank Chapman was in New Guinea during World War II with MacArthur and has strong opinions about him, a banker, active with the local 4-H and County fair, and a Cleveland Indians fan who would go south for Spring Training in Florida until his health slowed him down. Just a wonderful, interesting man.

The Willard paper ( Willard is a town of 6800, nicknamed "The City of Blossoms") around 2000 ran a story on him and his tomato. Frank says the tomatoes are awfully big but leaves it to others to say how large their weight really is. He offered anyone who was interested in getting ten seeds to drop him a line, figuring five or ten people would write him. He has saved all of the envelopes from the 124 people in the Willard area that wanted his seeds."

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Picture Gallery

• 

  Tatiana Kouchnareva (B.C KO T). Chapman Special - plant. 2013-06-12.

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  Tatiana Kouchnareva (B.C KO T). Chapman Special - flower truss. 2013-06-12.

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  Tatiana Kouchnareva (B.C KO T). Chapman Special - ripe fruit. 2013-09-05.

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  Tatiana Kouchnareva (B.C KO T). Chapman Special - sliced fruit. 2013-09-05.

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Seed Availability

Year	Commercial Vendors	Seed Savers Yearbook (Member listings)	Seeds of Diversity (Member listings)
2018		.	.
2017		.	.
2016		.	.
2015		.	.
2014		.	.
2013	Delectation of Tomatoes - new	2	.
2012		1	0
2011		1	0
2010		1	.
2009		1	.
2008		1	.
2007		1	.