Could it be possible there are some distinctly different strains of this variety?

*****

No, there are no strains of Aker's West Virginia. It should be indet and RL with nice large red beefsteak fruits.

The DTM doesn't bother me either since they're pure guesstimates for it depends on where some grows, in a geographic sense, how they grow their tomatoes and what the weather was in the season they recorded the rough DTM's
and what amendments they might use.

I just took a glance at the DTM's for Akers from those who list it in the SSE Yearbook and DTM's ranged from 80-95 days.

As grown by me in my zone 5, and I've grown it many times, it's usually about a 75-80 day variety.

And it's a darn good variety and a staple for many folks.

Carolyn

potato leaf indeterminate beefsteak, flattened and heavily ribbed on the top

Clearly you got a mislabeled packet or at least it had some mislabeled seeds in it. It happens unfortunately, more often with some suppliers than with others.

As Carolyn said, DTM doesn't mean much but Akers is a RL beefsteak with no ribbing. We grew it several times, most recently 3 years back. Great production and flavor but a late producer for me so I'd call it 80 days.

Dave

Thanks for the feedback. I actually grew this variety roughly 10 years ago. Even gave away seed to some friends and also my daughter (who will get me started again this next spring as she has saved seed).

My memory did not stretch back good enough to remember what happened to my seed (I must have lost the entire envelope
somehow) and I was even shakey on remembering what the DTM and fruit characteristics were. I decided to buy some fresh seeds last year and you know the result. By the way, whatever that potato leafed beefsteak was it has earned a regrow in my garden this next spring. I have been clicking around on the internet looking at various seed sources and noting the divergence in DTM.

Then finally, in a casual discussion with my daughter comes the information that she has seed saved from stuff I gave her years ago.

So we have at this end a clump of senior moments. At any rate Akers will be in my garden next spring (I hope) and all will be as it should be, god willing!

My first experience with Akers Tomatoes, from a greenhouse perspective they are a very fast grower. Also in the transplant phase, they seem to perk right back up. I would say as a grower, I would recommend them.