West Virginia 63

silverseed · June 19, 2015

I'm growing West Virginia 63 this year for the first time, Anyone else grow it and if so how do yo like it ?

friedgreen51 · June 19, 2015

I have one plant. This is the first year that I have grown it. Received the seed from the seed give away by WVA. University celebrating the 50th anniversary of the development of this tomato. I work with a guy whose Dad was a grad student at WVA University and helped the developer, Mannon Gallegly, with his field trials. My co-worker still grows them, and he is the one who recommended them to me.
It is doing well. Not a huge plant, but blooming and setting fruit. Shows pretty good disease resistance.

WVTomatoMan · June 19, 2015

I've grown it several times. Nice little canner type tomato with pretty good flavor.

Fusion_power · June 20, 2015

Several variants of late blight spreading today can overcome the genes used in WV63. It is still a good variety for canning and sauce. If you want to dig into this variety more, look up the genes ph2 and ph3. WV63 to the best I recall has ph2 and possibly two other genes that have a small effect on late blight tolerance.

silverseed · June 20, 2015

Yes, I was growing it for it's resistance to late blight also trying Celebrity VFFNTAST and Mountain Merit VFFN varieties, Any suggestions for next year ? What's the most late blight resistant variety ?

Fusion_power · June 21, 2015

Any variety that combines ph2 and ph3 will have high late blight tolerance. Iron Lady is one that you might try.

**carolyn137** · June 21, 2015

And for a cherry tomato with ph2 and ph3 and some other tolerances, I highly suggest Mountain Magic F1.

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/fletcher/pro...tain-Magic.pdf

And now the Google search, lots of places sell it.

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=Mountain+Magic+F1

The above was bred by Dr. Randy Gardner, who has bred the Mountain series that many know and many others, and I've known Randy for many years going way back. He's retired now but still breeding tomatoes, mostly at the old family farm in VA but he and his wife spend winters back in Fletcher. Fusion has been trialing many of his new ones, most now with heirloom tomato genes included, and that's how I initially met him when he was looking for some heirloom varieties to include in his breeding to introduce some flavor genes. Initially it didn't work out well for him since the fruits were too soft for commercial use, so he dropped that project and only in the past several years has gone back to using some heirloom varieties.

He released three F1 cherry types at the same time, Mt magic, Plum Regal and Smarty, a grape one. He sent me a boatload of seeds for all three and I made a seed offer here at Tville that was very popular.

Just my opinion, but taste-wise I liked Mt magic best, then Smarty, then Plum Regal. I think all had ph2 and 3 but didn't recheck. And I know that several breeders are now using the ph2 and ph3 ones in developing new varieties.

Carolyn

Spartanburg123 · June 22, 2015

My brother-in-law is growing 40 of these WV '63's. He swears by them, not only for taste, but the ability to thrive while other plants around them succumb to blight. It's a great plant....

silverseed · June 22, 2015

Thanks for the report on your brother-in-laws tomato's, I did a lot of reading on disease resistant varieties and that is why I picked West Virginia 63. Also trialing a couple of hybrids with resistance to blight. My plants look great so far we will see how it goes. I just really hate blight lol. Thanks everyone for your reply's.

Spartanburg123 · June 22, 2015

Sure thing! I'll post a pic of some of his plants soon.

June 19, 2015	#1
silverseed Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2015 Location: Stow, Ohio Posts: 41	West Virginia 63 I'm growing West Virginia 63 this year for the first time, Anyone else grow it and if so how do yo like it ?

June 19, 2015	#2
friedgreen51 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: North Carolina Posts: 159	West Virginia 63 I have one plant. This is the first year that I have grown it. Received the seed from the seed give away by WVA. University celebrating the 50th anniversary of the development of this tomato. I work with a guy whose Dad was a grad student at WVA University and helped the developer, Mannon Gallegly, with his field trials. My co-worker still grows them, and he is the one who recommended them to me. It is doing well. Not a huge plant, but blooming and setting fruit. Shows pretty good disease resistance.

June 21, 2015	#7
carolyn137 Moderator Emeritus Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Upstate NY, zone 4b/5a Posts: 21,169	And for a cherry tomato with ph2 and ph3 and some other tolerances, I highly suggest Mountain Magic F1. http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/fletcher/pro...tain-Magic.pdf And now the Google search, lots of places sell it. https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=Mountain+Magic+F1 The above was bred by Dr. Randy Gardner, who has bred the Mountain series that many know and many others, and I've known Randy for many years going way back. He's retired now but still breeding tomatoes, mostly at the old family farm in VA but he and his wife spend winters back in Fletcher. Fusion has been trialing many of his new ones, most now with heirloom tomato genes included, and that's how I initially met him when he was looking for some heirloom varieties to include in his breeding to introduce some flavor genes. Initially it didn't work out well for him since the fruits were too soft for commercial use, so he dropped that project and only in the past several years has gone back to using some heirloom varieties. He released three F1 cherry types at the same time, Mt magic, Plum Regal and Smarty, a grape one. He sent me a boatload of seeds for all three and I made a seed offer here at Tville that was very popular. Just my opinion, but taste-wise I liked Mt magic best, then Smarty, then Plum Regal. I think all had ph2 and 3 but didn't recheck. And I know that several breeders are now using the ph2 and ph3 ones in developing new varieties. Carolyn __________________ Carolyn

June 19, 2015	#3
WVTomatoMan Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: West Virginia - Zone 6 Posts: 594	I've grown it several times. Nice little canner type tomato with pretty good flavor.

June 20, 2015	#4
Fusion_power Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Alabama Posts: 2,250	Several variants of late blight spreading today can overcome the genes used in WV63. It is still a good variety for canning and sauce. If you want to dig into this variety more, look up the genes ph2 and ph3. WV63 to the best I recall has ph2 and possibly two other genes that have a small effect on late blight tolerance.

June 22, 2015	#8
Spartanburg123 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2014 Location: Spartanburg, SC Posts: 1,262	My brother-in-law is growing 40 of these WV '63's. He swears by them, not only for taste, but the ability to thrive while other plants around them succumb to blight. It's a great plant....