Aloe 'Goliath'

Had not seen a mature one of these hybrids but had heard about them for years and been looking forward to seeing one. Then, amazingly, s...Read Moreeveral showed up at my local nursery! So of course now I have one, though no room to plant it. This is a sought after hybrid with leaves half-way between the two parents- dark green and rubbery like barberae with the wideness of vaombe, and teeth about half way between the two. However, overall effect is more Aloe barberae-like than vaombe like, since it generally branches eventually and tends to lose the leaves cleanly.

Can say this now that it's been growing in the ground for nearly a year... it's a fast grower! Just like it's parents, though looks like it's gonna be closer to Aloe barberae in growth rate- doubled in height in just 9 months! These plants are well known for putting most of their efforts into making leaves rather than getting tall quickly, so do not attain the great height and size of the other popular Aloe barberae hybrid, Aloe 'Hercules'. This top-heaviness is sometimes so great the plants literally collapse or fall over, so I personally recommend removing the lowest leaves early on before this can happen. The stem diameter eventually seems to catch up to the huge forces being applied to it, but at first is (or seems) far too thin. Still, an overall impressive tree aloe with nice colorful red flowers in winter.

And now that I have had one growing in the garden for about 4 years, I am still enamored with it. If I keep the plant well pruned so it does not have hundreds of pounds of water-filled leaves weighing the thing down, that toppling or collapse is a lot less likely. It is a great looking plant and mine finally bloomed this year- very nice! Flowers not really like either parent, though I suppose the overall inflorescence is more like Aloe vaombe.

Plant is prone to mealy bugs, particularly once it branches and the bifurcation forces the huge, long leaves to flop over a bit allowing less air flower and light to reach the meristem (which is where mealies love to live in larger aloes). Look for these and treat.