VR Earliest of All Tomato

80 days, indeterminate — The vines of 'VR Earliest of All' have regular leaves, are productive, and are resistant to Verticillium wilt. The fruit are red in color, oblate in shape, weigh between two and six ounces in weight, are smooth skinned and beautiful. A nice fresh eating and canning variety.

'VR Earliest of All' is one of forty-five old standard tomato varieties that the L. G. Denby led tomato breeding program at the Canada Department of Agriculture, Summerland, British Columbia, developed and introduced between the 1950s into the 1970s.^[1,2]  Partnering with plant pathologist G. E. Woolliams, the team worked to breed the disease resistance from 'Loran Blood' into important commercial tomato varieties, including the original 'Earliest of All', so that they could be grown in areas afflicted with Verticillium wilt.

The letters "VR" in the variety's name is added to differentiate the newer disease resistant strain from the original version. Our seed is grown out from USDA accession number PI 293594 which was donated to the collection by Agriculture Canada on October 6, 1963. Each packet contains approximately 20 seeds.