big rains, saturated soil?

If it really is under a Black Walnut, that would do it.

tj

If it was because of BW tree, they would just wilt and die. And probably it would have happened long time ago.
Your plants are diseased. Likely EB ?? I cannot be sure without a close up pictures.

It really is under a tree. The tree is at the top right corner of the picture. I didn't know they were bad for tomatoes until halfway through summer (first time gardener). What is EB and what do you need a close up picture of? Anything I can do to save the plants?

You didn't do anything wrong. Some of my early tomatoes look like yours, and the explanation is a flash of septoria leaf spot that occurred three weeks ago, during a 3-day cool rain. Nothing to be done -- only the cherries came out of the siege unscathed.

I figure on some kind of problem with spring tomatoes and set out a few fast determinates in early July, which are blooming now, no disease. Young plants always resist problems better than old ones.

if it is really under a BW tree, no chance. I have one, and no solanacea survives it. They just drop dead. It is incredible that those tomatoes have survived until now.

Tomatoes under BW will live until the roots of each meet and then its sudden death. Depending how the soil was worked at planting is a factor on how long they live.

tj

It does not take long. A tomato has approximately a one cubic yard root ball reach at maturity. It is less than a quart at transplant. Unless you are so far out of the drip line that roots are sparse, in my case, even at 40 ft from the beast, it is a matter of weeks.
Solution to this problem: trench every year one foot from the beds, two feet deep if possible, lots of organic matter tilled in, and grow resistant veggies. No solanaceae, no brassica, no asparagus. Grow legumes, allium, cucurbitaceae, herbs and carrot type veggies (carrot, parsnip, parsley, celery).

Thanks glib. Next year I plan to move the tomatoes to the other end of the garden. I have to figure out some other veggies to grow at the walnut tree end, I don't really have room to move the whole garden. Thanks for the suggestions. I never knew walnut trees could do that, live and learn. Do you garden near your tree, if so what do you grow? And you mentioned trenching a foot from the garden, could you elaborate, I'm a little confised what you meant. Do you mean grow resistant veggies outside of the regular garden area to help the problem? Thanks again

Trench means dig a trench between your garden and the black walnut. Cut all the roots you can find. An axe and a handsaw will be handy, if the soil is wet you can cut through soil with a handsaw. Small roots can be cut with the spade directly. That will leave some dead roots under your garden, but good microbial activity is all you need to decay the juglone to low levels. In my previous garden I would double dig every second year, cut every root (these were maple roots), and backfill. With a BW, maybe every year.

The BW is in the front yard. I tried to plant first tomatoes (instant death), then garlic and squash. The latter were really small, so resistant is a relative term and you are forced to trench if you want a crop. Juglone weakens all plants. Most herbs survived, except for thyme which is smaller every year, so right now in front I have all manner of herbs and flowers. Sage, parsley, sorrel, mint, oregano, marjoram, lemon balm, nettles, fennel can all take the juglone. Chives does not grow but does not die, and basil does not like that area at all.

I'm not sure about the black walnut situation, but I'm in MD just south of the PA line and everyone in my area is experiencing tomato disease. I posted something about this in the Market Grower forum. I've been spraying fungicides since I put the transplants in the ground, but my tomatoes are still looking pretty bad. It's much worse than last summer.

I wish I had succession planted like Planatus did, but never got around to it. I do have some tomato transplants that were supposed to get planted in my high tunnel weeks ago for a fall harvest, but I'm behind on that. I've up-potted them a few times and they are very healthy, so I may still plant them.

I think I've got blight and septoria leaf spot in my field. Last week I tore out some of my worst plants. I do have one blight-resistant variety of tomato, "Defiant", which is definitely faring better than the others.

I lost all my tomato plants this year, I think it is blight.