Tomato 'Bush Goliath'

Purchased this plant at a local home improvement store nearly 2 years ago, and planted it in a growbag containing 10 gallons of potting s...Read Moreoil and some organic tomato fertilizer in early April. This little plant was amazing. In 3 days it started flowering. In 7 days I saw little green tomatoes! It produced numerous large tomatoes, not quite beefsteak size, on a stocky strong plant that reached about 3 1/2 feet high. It produced furiously for 3 months, then stopped and turned yellow. I would describe the flavor as average for home-grown, much superior than what you buy in the grocery store, but not quite as flavorful as the heirlooms like Brandywines. But the ease of growing this tomato in a container was very satisfying. I have not had this kind of success growing a good container tomato, and I have tried lemon boy, Roma, San Marzano, Juliet, and others in a container with low productivity or too much blossom end rot.

The tomatoes are smooth, relatively free of problems with disease (in my Northern California zone 9), have no problems with cracking nor with blossom end rot. I would grow again if I can just find the plant again. I think I will have to mail-order for seeds as these plants are not widely available in my area.

I also just started growing this plant and put two in those Topsy Turvy devices. It's the first time I have used them so I will pass on m...Read Morey experiences with it. So far I am not overly thrilled. The plants don't have any clue on what way to grow. As they grow out they are growing upward. I fear this may harm them later on when they start to bear fruit.

I just bought a Bush Goliath Tomato Plant at my local home improvement store. It looked so much healthier than all of the others!
...Read More I also got one of those "Topsy Turvy" hanging tomato planters. Has anyone used one of these, and if so, do you think this particular plant will do well in it?

Thanks!

It's only July 1, but so far I have nothing but good things to say about this plant. I haven't grown tomatoes since I was a kid with my m...Read Moreom, but after seeing my 4 year old (who loves tomatoes) start to get excited about gardening and growing plants, I knew we needed to have a tomato bush. In our smallish yard, the only place sunny and suitable for a tomato is the patio, which dictated that I needed a smaller determinate variety to go in a container. The tag for the Bush Goliath said it produced decent sized fruit and was good for a container, so I purchased a smallish plant at the grocery store nursery about two months ago and planted it up to it's neck in a large pot. We harvested our first tomato today, and have another blushing orange on the plant, along with bunches of smaller 'maters quickly growing! After the first set of blossoms (where these first tomatoes came from), it took quite a while to get more, but I'm assuming that this is because the plant was establishing roots. Once more blossoms started to set, now they just keep coming and coming. I'm pleased that it's doing well in a container so far, and I hope it continues through the rest of the summer with some careful watering and fertilizing. The tomato itself was pretty tasty--as others mentioned, nothing absolutely extraordinary, but considering I'm going for something that will grow in a pot and give a decent yield, I can't complain at all. It was sweet and not too acidic, and certainly much better than grocery store hydroponics! Depending on how this baby finishes up the season, we'll probably have one of these on our patio every summer :)
UPDATE: It's August 18, and we've had a dozen tomatoes from this one plant, with about seven more ripening right now. Some have only grown to the size of ping pong balls, but the largest (which the kids and I just munched with some kosher salt) was five inches in diameter--not bad for a patio pot!

Jan 23, 2006 Wayne, NE zone 4-5

I haven't tried this one before but am going to order now based on what everyone has sai...Read Mored here. A note though about starting seeds indoors which I always do.. I sprinkle a little orchard spray powder (the kind that's usually mixed with water) on top of the soil after planting the seeds. It helps prevent damping off. I suppose garden dusting powder would work too as long as it includes a fungicide.

I ordered this as part of a set of plants from Totally Tomatoes. I normally grow my own heirlooms from seed, but have had bad luck with ...Read Morewilt so just bit the bullet and ordered a set of Goliaths. This plant is perhaps the latest of my Goliaths to produce, but it is just so healthy and absolutely Loaded with fruit! I would warn anyone who grows this to give it a very sturdy support as it is especially bushy and the fruit especially heavy. The flavor is good enough; not particularly complex, but for the amount of home-grown flavor for the space, it is absolutely worth trying. By the way, I am growing it happily with my flowers and not in my tomato patch..a great bonus.

This was my very first tomato grown...definitely good enough to get my attention, slightly better than average taste but prolific enough ...Read Moreto make up for missing flavor, recovered nicely from hail damage.

Extremely productive little tomato plant. As noted already, this makes a wonderful "landscape tomato". Average taste. A little slow to ri...Read Morepen in the North.

I planted one of these tomato plants in my flower garden and I am so happy with the results it is compact and is LOADED with tomatoes I s...Read Moretarted off the season with a little blossom end rot but quickly cured it with a little lime I am keeping two houses in tomatoes as we speak. Great plant, great tasting tomato, include it as a filler in with your flowering plants, as mine seemed to attract quite a few ladybugs to my garden which is good for all things planted around them.

I ordered the seeds for this Tomatoe, started them in seed pots,in Feb.then I put them in the sunlite inside, in a cardboard box about 1...Read More4 inches tall. The Plants grew out of the box.When I planted them, I cut all the leaves off except top two and, trench planted, the plants in hills like one would plant potatoes.My garden space was 12 by 18 ft and I had a total of 12 plants. To my amazement I had over 350lbs of some of the best Tomatoes I ever grew. I grew another type this year and wish had stuck with the Goliath Bush.
Try these you to will be astounded at the crop, taste and the uniformity of these babys.
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