PlantFiles: Tomato
Lycopersicon lycopersicum 'Goliath Hybrid'

This Tomato was a big dissapointment, first off the plants were unhealthy from the start, were slow to grow, and friut production was poor, friut that did set had bad sun scorhing and taste was bland, pass on this one.

Our first to raise Goliath in a garden next to woods. In a side-by-side comparison with Improved Whopper, I was pleased with both the size of the Goliath fruit and the production of the plants. Was also able to generate second and third seedlings by propagating from suckers.

I was not satisfied with Goliath. Everything I read about this variety was postive. However, the only thing that remained consistent was the large size of the tomatoes. These tomatoes did not keep well after harvest and the taste did nothing for the tongue.

I did not like Goliath at all. Fruit didn't ripen until mid-July - later than other varieties that were supposed to be mid-season. The fruits were not large, and flavor was just terrible - harsh and sour, no matter how ripe. Very unbalanced. Texture was hard and woody. (I am comparing it to the heirlooms of course, which is maybe unfair :-)

While it is true that Goliath is more prone to catfacing than smaller-fruited varieties, it is usually only a minor problem and does not affect the interior or the flavour. I found the same attributes as most other reviewers. This plant is vigorous, disease resistant and produces an ample crop of large rich-tasting tomatoes. In a taste test, it beat Big Beef hands down. Goliath set the new standard for my garden this year. I just need to remember to order more seeds from Tomato Growers!

Note: This variety is more productive if pruned to 2 or 3 main stems. One stem will give you noticeably lower yields, even taking into account the slight difference in tomato size.

We grew the Goliath Hybrid as a trial this year and weren't really that impressed with it. The fruits were large but were worse about cracking and more malformations than my other varieties - Big Bite, Better Boy Early Girl. The Goliath's flavor was alright but a bit of the mild side in my opinion. My Early Girls and Better Boys seemed to perform a lot better -more tomatoes, uniformity of fruit and no cracking, better flavor.

I join the chorus of Praise for this tomato. I ordered a "Goliath Collection" of four types (Early, Bush, Italian, and this one) after having lousy luck with wilt with my beloved heirloom varieties. It's productive, delicious, handsome, and healthy. And early. This one and the "Italian Goliath" beat even the "Early Goliath" in bearing fruit. They keep well and are uniformly large and tasty, meaty and sweet. Very little cracking and dropping off the vine. Have been good for slicing (BLTs!) and roasting, and even sauce as they are quite meaty. A great tomato here on Cape Cod, land of the capricious summer weather.

The best performer for the Houston area that I've had in years. Did great in my combination of poor soil and terrible heat and humidity. I've used both Goliath and Goliath Early.
My only complaint was they matured and all got eaten weeks before our local garden's center tomato contest

We have been using this hybrid for our home garden the past several years. Have had good luck with Goliath and Early Goliath. One time, we had low germination with the Early Goliath, but other packets of this seed have been fine.

We have many people ask what kind of tomato we grew after they had either tasted the tomato or had seen the plants in our garden. I am sold on this variety.

The seeds I planted in February germinated quickly and are growing nicely under grow lights. I have never had good luck starting tomato seeds indoors until I tried Goliath.

As a long ime gardener who moved to Ft. Lauderdale area a few years back, I just put in a winter garden for the first time (had to demolish 400 sq feet of patio concrete to do it!). Planted one Goliath tomato amidst a selection of many varieties, to see which performed best in this hot, humid environment.

Goliath exceeded all other plants, including beefsteak, which also made many large tomatos, but had many cracked or misshaped fruits. Some others did well, too, but none did better, or made more large well shaped and tasty tomatos.

Will be planting more, as long as I can get either the plants or the seeds. Does anyone have a see source they can recommend?

We planted golioth for the first time this year 2003, and like the others here said,they were large, tasty,and early. I have already purchased the seed for next season and they will be our main crop for the table and canning.

I have been growing Goliath hybrid as a greenhouse crop,since 1997.Because I grow vegies [mostly]organicaly,I have had a lot of disease problems,mostly spread by insects,but some soil born also,Goliath and miracle sweet are the only survivors after years of testing [close to 100 varrities][although this year Johnnys big beef is still hanging in there.When you have 700 plants in close proximity to each other for 10 months it takes a lot disease resistance to survive-this one has.

I have been growing Goliaths in Northern Wyoming for the past 3 years and have nothing but praise for the disease resistance, heavy production and delicious flavor. I start from seed on 3-1 of each year and set out in a portable greenhouse about 4-15 anf have tomatoes by 7-1 of each year. It is the only variety I will have next year! I agree that you should only use seed purchased from a reputable dealer.

I have grown this plant for 5 yrs now, and each year the amount of fruit produced is remarkable. I start with seed from a seed company, never save seed as I did that one year and was surprized that I got in return about a third of the crop I had been getting. This is a super tomatoe and I only grow this type anymore. Excellent taste, 1 lb+ fruits, and produces a huge yield. 12 plants produced 325lbs
in 2002. Try it you will like your results that you get.
Geodes

I bought 6 Goliath tomato plants while on a fishing trip to Tennessee. We live in Illinois, so our planting time is late and winter comes fairly early. Goliath produced ripe tomatoes by July 4. The fruits are fairly large; I estimate the largest ones so far are about 1 1/2 to 2 pounds. The plants are healthy, full of fruit, and have lots of blooms. I've top-pruned the plants to ensure that the fruit on the vines ripens before cold weather. This tomato variety will get more room in my garden next spring!

Never knew of this tomato until this year. I planted 36 plants and had a very big crop of tomatoes. First ripe tomatoe June 15, and had a lot of large ones. Canned a lot of tomatoes, gave a lot of tomatoes away and they're still putting on tomatoes. Nice large fruit, good taste - great tomato.