Vinson Watts

• General Info
• More Pictures (plants, green fruit, etc.)
• Seed Availability

Vinson Watts
Maturity	midseason
Growth habit	indet.
Leaf type	regular
Fruit color	pink
Fruit shape	beefsteak
Fruit size	large
Fruit type	slicer
Variety type	heirloom
Country	USA

Tatiana Kouchnareva (B.C KO T). Vinson Watts - ripe fruit. 2013-10-02.

B.C KO T

indet., regular leaf plants. Large pink beefsteak fruits, 10-14 oz. Very good flavor. (15 seeds / packet)

Seed source:

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds 06

Year grown: 2011 (crop failure), 2012 (crop failure), 2013

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

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IL LO N

80 days, indet., regular leaf plant with a high yield of 10-18 oz pink fruit with very good flavor.

Seed source:

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds 06

Year grown: 2007

Location: Oblong, Illinois

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History

• An old Virginian heirloom grown in the Berea and Moorehead, Kentucky area. The seed originated in Lee county, Virginia. It had been grown and improved for 50 years by Vinson Watts, a retired college administrator, who passed away at the age of 78 in March 2008. Each summer Vinson Watts saved the seeds of those tomatoes that were most disease resistant, tender and of exceptional flavor. His neighbors, first in Berea from 1956 through 1967 and later in Morehead from 1968 through March of 2008 were very aware of the improvements he was making.
• Read more here: [1]
• First offered commercially by Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds in 2006.
• Here is a story from Orlando Sentinel from September 10, 2006 by Andy Mead, Lexington Herald-Leader:

"Watts got seeds for what would eventually become his tomato in the spring of 1956, when he was associate dean of labor at Berea College.

The seeds came from a man named Wilson Evans. Evans was from Virginia, and his family had grown the tomato there for years.

Evans told him he wanted to try other tomatoes, and he asked Watts to take over the annual regeneration of his family's tomato, to keep them pure and true.

For years, Watts called the tomato the Wilson Evans. He gave Evans a few plants each year. When Watts moved to Morehead in 1968 to become Morehead State University's first personnel director, he started sending Evans seeds.

The two friends argued for a while about what to call the tomato plant that was getting a little tastier and heartier every year that Watts selected only the best seeds to carry forward.

Finally, the tomato was different enough for a name change.

"I told him he had squandered the right to call it an Evans tomato, so it's the Vinson Watts tomato," Watts said. "

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Picture Gallery

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  Bill Jeffers, Evansville, Indiana. (IN JE B2). Vinson Watts. 2007. (uploaded with owner's permission)

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  Tatiana Kouchnareva (B.C KO T). Vinson Watts - ripe fruit. 2013-09-11.

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  Tatiana Kouchnareva (B.C KO T). Vinson Watts - ripe fruit. 2013-10-02.

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  Bill Jeffers, Evansville, Indiana. (IN JE B2). Vinson Watts. 2007. (uploaded with owner's permission)

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  Tatiana Kouchnareva (B.C KO T). Vinson Watts - sliced fruit. 2013-09-11.

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  Tatiana Kouchnareva (B.C KO T). Vinson Watts - sliced fruit. 2013-10-02.

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  Tatiana Kouchnareva (B.C KO T). Vinson Watts - leaf. 2013-06-12.

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  Tatiana Kouchnareva (B.C KO T). Vinson Watts - plant. 2012-05-25.

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  Tatiana Kouchnareva (B.C KO T). Vinson Watts - plant. 2013-06-12.

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  Tatiana Kouchnareva (B.C KO T). Vinson Watts - plant. 2011-07-09.

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  Tatiana Kouchnareva (B.C KO T). Vinson Watts - plant. 2013-07-02.

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  Tatiana Kouchnareva (B.C KO T). Vinson Watts - flower. 2013-06-12.

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  Tatiana Kouchnareva (B.C KO T). Vinson Watts - flower. 2012-06-27.

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  Tatiana Kouchnareva (B.C KO T). Vinson Watts - flowers. 2012-07-29.

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  Tatiana Kouchnareva (B.C KO T). Vinson Watts - flowers. 2012-07-29.

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  Tatiana Kouchnareva (B.C KO T). Vinson Watts - baby fruit. 2012-07-29.

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Seed Availability

Year	Commercial Vendors	Seed Savers Yearbook (Member listings)	Seeds of Diversity (Member listings)
2018		.	.
2017		.	.
2016		.	.
2015		.	.
2014	Tatiana's TOMATObase Seeds - new Southern Exposure Seed Exchange TomatoFest	.	.
2013	Blue Ribbon Tomatoes Delectation of Tomatoes - new Southern Exposure Seed Exchange TomatoFest	.	.
2012	Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds	3	3
2011	Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds Southern Exposure Seed Exchange TomatoFest	3	3
2010	Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds Southern Exposure Seed Exchange TomatoFest	3	.
2009	Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds Southern Exposure Seed Exchange TomatoFest - new	3	.
2008	Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds Southern Exposure Seed Exchange - new	2	.
2007	Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds	1	.